My First Test Results...?

[stuuk1]

Ok so finally recieved my Api Master Test Kit (Freshwater) through the post today and got stuck in!

Im currently running a 48ltr freshwater tank, been running for around a month and a half now with fish in + live plants.

Ive now ordered a 240ltr Rio as the 48ltr is way too small (and I have been told mine is over stocked).

My results are as follows:

PH: 7.6
Hight Range PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite NO2: Somewhere between 0 and 0.25
Nitrite NO3: Somewhere between 10 and 15


Are these ok? Im guessing that the NO3 is a little high?

I have been doing a 50% water change each day (not today as I wanted test results without having done a water change). Should I carry on doing this? Also what am I looking for which will tell me that I only need to water change say once a week?

Any help will be much appreciated! Thanks guys and gals!

 

[Harlequins]

Ideally your ammonia & nitrite should be zero,keep up the 50% daily if readings are showing 0.25ppm,once your readings for these stay at a steady zero for 7 days without a w/c then your tank has finally cycled

Your nitrate reading is fine.

 

[stuuk1]

Ideally your ammonia & nitrite should be zero,keep up the 50% daily if readings are showing 0.25ppm,once your readings for these stay at a steady zero for 7 days without a w/c then your tank has finally cycled

Your nitrate reading is fine.

Sorry to sound stupid, I typed it wrong in my first post but, do you mean my NO3 is fine?

So I cant be too far off if all I have to do is get my two 0.25's down to 0? Thats excellent news!

 

[mattlee]

how many fish are in the tank? - with 50% water changes a day and still reading 0.25 you may well be a way off cycling unless you have a large stocking

also have you tested your tap water for nitrate? - nitrate is the end product of the cycle but it may also be present within tap water....

 

[stuuk1]

Ok, ill try and name them all (not sure of the names...)

2 x Catfish Loaches
2 x Glass Catfish
1 x Polkadot Loach
4 x cherry barbs
2 x Xray (small fish)
1 x Molly (used to be 4, 3 died)
4 x Molly Fry (only 2 weeks old)
1 x Red Tail Shark
2 x little fish (not sure what name, but same size as the little xray fish (about 1" long)
4 x Neons

Obviously overstocked. But they are all still very small. Should have the 240 Rio by end of next week which I will spend plenty of time cycling before adding the fish and giving them plenty of room!

I now feel like a terrible fish owner...

Edit: Just did that nitrate test on my tap water which showed up as 5.0? What advice can you give me on this? Is there anything I can do?

 

[Assaye]

The levels of nitrate are fine. They can get pretty high (into the 100s) without damaging the fish but if they get high it is usually an indication that you need to do more water changes.

The ammonia and nitrite readings are bad, though. Any ammonia and nitrite, however low, is bad for the fish. Keep up with your water changes (I'd try some slightly bigger ones) and good luck with your larger tank!

If your smaller tank becomes cycled, you don't need to cycle the big one. Just set it up, add the old filter pads to the new filter and pop the fish in. Don't add any more fish until the filter has bedded in properly but with the lovely bacteria boost from the old filter, the new one should be instantly cycled for the number of fish you have.

Then, if you want to add more fish, just do it a few at a time to avoid a mini-cycle.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree, we can teach you the use of nitrate(NO3) tests later. Right now they are not important but the ammonia and nitrite(NO2) levels are very important. As the others have said, you might want to even increase the percentage a little if possible.

The goal is to be a detective and figure out what percentage and frequency will -keep- both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm before you can be home again to test and potentially change water again. It sounds like you have been close to accomplishing this but now that you know that -is- the goal it should help you get an even better feel for it.

As Assaye said, the mature media (which is the developing "biofilter") is trying to grow to match your bioload (the fish) and can be moved over, along with the fish, to the new larger tank when it comes. What this will accomplish will be the possibility of a longer number of hours (or days) before you have to change water again to accomplish your 0.25ppm pattern.

Most Fish-in situations take at least a month or so to cycle.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. Welcome to TFF!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If you have not ordered the Jewel Rio 240 yet, you might want to know that they can be ordered for £350, with free delivery and extras (basic gravel, net, water conditioner).
http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/juwel/juwel-rio-aquariums/juwel-rio-240-aquarium-and-cabinet-beech.html?ref=googlebase

At the very least, this could be used as a bargaining tool for your LFS, to try and get them to match the offer

For example, the FairOak Maidenhead Aquatics said they would respond with their own deal for the tank and cabinet, but might not be able to throw in gravel.

 

[stuuk1]

Hi again guys, thanks for all of your replies. Been doing tests and more water changes since my last post. Todays reading are as follows:

PH: 7.6
High PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite NO2: 0
Nitrate NO3: 10

So both the NO2 and NO3 have come down but Ammonia is still hanging in there at 0.25. Done another 50% change and will do the same tomorrow as usual.

Are both of my PH levels fine? Or will they fluctuate over time? Lower is better perhaps?

I had already ordered my tank (not with the cabinet as I have no room for it) for £301. Its the cheapest I could find it with free delivery. It should be here sometime next week. But with the filter, I have a feeling that the pads in my old tank will be smaller than the one in my new tank so.... can I place the pad on top of the new one and the bacteria will possibly change over to the new one?

I'd also perhaps like to keep the smaller tank going for a few fry which I have instead of keeping them in the silly plastic tank floating around at the moment. Does anyone have any advice about that?

Thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

Well, when you move the fish and the filter media over to the new large system, you could leave behind 20% of the media in the old system for the fry. You'd then need to continue treating both systems as Fish-In Cycles of course, but hopefully things would proceed normally in both tanks. You will need sets of fresh filter media to fit both types of filters so you can fill in the media areas that are not completely filled by the divided up mature media.

Your pH levels are fine and it should be remembered that they are harder to judge during any type of cycling. A while back you told us there was 5ppm NO3 in your tap water but you didn't specify your ammonia and nitrite results for your tap water. Should be assume they are zero ppm?

~~waterdrop~~
edit: "20" to "20%"

 

[stuuk1]

Ok, im back! I haven't been testing the water every day but have just been doing a 50% water change each day without fail.

Just tested water again and results are:

PH: 7.6
High PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite NO2: 0
Nitrate NO3: 10

I then tested my tap water fully and the results were:

PH: 7.6
High PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite NO2: 0
Nitrate NO3: 5


What should I do now? Continue with water changes until I reach 5ppm on my Nitrate? Or is this fine and perhaps I should monitor test results for next 7 days, if ammonia and Nitrite dont differ then I am finished?!

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

No, the Nitrate(NO3) is fine - you want it ideally to hover somewhere about 15 to 20 ppm -above- what your tap water NO3 is, so yours is even better than that and is just fine. Eventually you want to use that test regularly to verify that its not creeping upward on you, which would indicate you were not doing good enough weekly gravel-clean-water-changes.

Right now you need to ease down from the automatic big daily water changes and start to use your test kit to determine if the filter is beginning to keep your ammonia and nitrite at zero all by itself without needing you to help with water changes. Just don't let your fish be exposed to levels above 0.25ppm as you go about determining this. Once your system can go a week with no water changes and always having double zeros on ammonia and nitrite then your fish-in cycle will be over.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[stuuk1]

Thankyou so much for your help 'waterdrop' and everybody else who has poster comments.

Looks like I may be almost there and feels great! Im going to do another fish-in cycle with the new 240ltr tank anyway. Just for practice as I have a much greater knowledge now that what I did a month or so ago!

Infact im looking forward to doing a prope cycle of that tank and the one im doing now is a little bit of a mystery how all of my fish havent died in the process?!

Thanks again!!!

 

[stuuk1]

Just another quick question with regards to the swap over of fish tanks from my 48ltr to the new 240ltr....

I plan to keep my smaller one going. I have a spare filter cartridge, could I place that in with the now cycled one (two days in and still ammonia 0, nitrite 0) and would that transfer bacteria to the new filter without having to do a whole cycle again? Then I could perhaps take the original out and put that in my new tank without again repeating the whole cycling process?

Cheers

 

[waterdrop]

Well, unless I'm confused or have misunderstood some of the information I still think my advice was in Post #10 of this thread.

You have a "cycled" full set of biomedia in the filter of the smaller tank. You are going to divide that media 80/20, leaving 20% in place in the old filter and moving 80% of the media to the new bigger filter in the bigger tank. Simultaneously you are going to move all the big fish into the big tank and leave the fry behind.

You will then be in a "Fish-In Cycle" (which is quite different from a Fishless Cycle) and you will need to follow the procedures of a Fish-In Cycle on both tanks until the ending conditions of a Fish-In cycle is met in each case. The mature media in both filters will hopefully make the fish-in cycling periods of each tank be quite short, but that is unpredictable when changes like this are made.

~~waterdrop~~