Nitrate Level Or ?

[countrygirl61658]

Hi I am wondering how high is to high on the nitrate level.My ammonia gets up to .25ppm before my weekly water changes but after I do them the ammomnia and nitite level are o the nitrate however is 5 ppm. I have one sailfin molly looking funny and wondered if this could have anything to do with it.He looks a little thin and swimming a bit wobbly tilting his head up somewhat. No other symtoms I can see.Everything else looks fine.I was out of town and didn't get my normal water change on monday.Did it today.Any ideas the other fish look fine?

 

[waterdrop]

If you are still getting ammonia a long time after the tank is supposed to have been cycled then there's a problem somewhere. Perhaps the filter is undercapacity. Perhaps the gravel cleans are insufficient. Perhaps there is ammonia in the tap water!

Your nitrate(NO3) level is not a problem at all. We generally recommend that NO3 is ok if it stays around 15 to 20ppm -above- whatever the tap water nitrate level is. So if you had 5ppm in your tap water then the range to stay at or below would be 20 to 25ppm and you'd consider increasing your gravel-clean-water-changes in some respect if your NO3 kept trying to creep above that. So yours looks like not a problem.

Another possible problem is that mollies (probably sailfins even more so) really like to be in very high mineral content water. The GH/KH and secondarily often the pH of the water they like is generally pretty high.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[countrygirl61658]

If you are still getting ammonia a long time after the tank is supposed to have been cycled then there's a problem somewhere. Perhaps the filter is undercapacity. Perhaps the gravel cleans are insufficient. Perhaps there is ammonia in the tap water!

Your nitrate(NO3) level is not a problem at all. We generally recommend that NO3 is ok if it stays around 15 to 20ppm -above- whatever the tap water nitrate level is. So if you had 5ppm in your tap water then the range to stay at or below would be 20 to 25ppm and you'd consider increasing your gravel-clean-water-changes in some respect if your NO3 kept trying to creep above that. So yours looks like not a problem.

Another possible problem is that mollies (probably sailfins even more so) really like to be in very high mineral content water. The GH/KH and secondarily often the pH of the water they like is generally pretty high.

~~waterdrop~~

I am overstocked Would it help to add a second filter or use the carbon and change it weekly. I have the whisper 40 0n a 29 gallon tank.Also since I am on well water is it Ok to rinse my filter media in my tap water or should I still use the tank water? Thanks for all your help!

 

[waterdrop]

Hi countrygirl,

Unfortunately, overstocking is not something that is resolved by adding filtration. Overstocking carries a number of different dangers and problems. One is that a given amount of water surface area (for instance, lenth times width on a rectangular tank) will only have enough gaseous exchange (O2, CO2 etc.) to sustain a certain bioload (this is part of what inch guidelines are about.) Likewise, biofilter capacity and maintenance can become problems and the fish can also suffer stress from overcrowding. So the big picture is that re-homing of fish is a more important priority in resolving overcrowding than trying to resolve it with equipment.

That said, it is of course true that more bioload will be able to survive if there is both greater water movement and more filtration. A whisper 40 is probably not up there with the best filtration one could run on a 29g. A medium size cannister filter would do a good job. An Eheim 2026, a Rena XP2, a Tetratec or perhaps a larger Aquaclear might be what I'd hope to find on a 29g.

In my opinion, the best way to proceed to deal with the problem would be to first begin adding an extra water change per week. Then I would begin a project to work hard on re-homing some of the fish. Finally, I would begin saving up some money to purchase a really good filter for the tank even after its bioload was brought down to proper size.

~~waterdrop~~