Nitrate

[TATTIESCONE]

Hi guys i was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on putting in the fluval clearmax bags in your filtration to combat nitrate. Are they any good or a waste of time

 

[erk628]

Never used them but water changes will take care of nitrates. I would do big water changes of like 50% everyday until you get them were you want them and then one weekly water change a week should keep them low. Live plants will help to.

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Never used them but water changes will take care of nitrates. I would do big water changes of like 50% everyday until you get them were you want them and then one weekly water change a week should keep them low. Live plants will help to.

Thanks for your reply. Ihave been doing water changes for the last few days about 30% and went to my lfs today and got tetra nitrateminus and fluval clearmix to try and eliminate the problem

 

[erk628]

Never used them but water changes will take care of nitrates. I would do big water changes of like 50% everyday until you get them were you want them and then one weekly water change a week should keep them low. Live plants will help to.

Thanks for your reply. Ihave been doing water changes for the last few days about 30% and went to my lfs today and got tetra nitrateminus and fluval clearmix to try and eliminate the problem

What are your nitrate readings?

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Never used them but water changes will take care of nitrates. I would do big water changes of like 50% everyday until you get them were you want them and then one weekly water change a week should keep them low. Live plants will help to.

Thanks for your reply. Ihave been doing water changes for the last few days about 30% and went to my lfs today and got tetra nitrateminus and fluval clearmix to try and eliminate the problem

What are your nitrate readings?

Im using a tetra 6in1 test kit which i know is not really that precise.Readings are nitrate 100,nitrite 10

 

[erk628]

How long has your tank been set up? Did you cycle your tank? Your nitrites should always be 0 a nitrite reading of 10 is very deadly. I would suggest getting a good liquid test kit most of use on here use the API master test kit.

 

[TATTIESCONE]

How long has your tank been set up? Did you cycle your tank? Your nitrites should always be 0 a nitrite reading of 10 is very deadly. I would suggest getting a good liquid test kit most of use on here use the API master test kit.

My tank has been running for over 4 weeks,i did everything to cycle it putting in bacteria and just adding a couple of fish.Everything seemed fine, readings were good and i thought id got through the cycle until a couple of days ago when the levels went sky high.I have been doing 30% water changes every day and have added another filter to supplement the existing one [aqua one pump in ar980 tank] in case thats not coping

 

[erk628]

What do you mean you put bacteria in! Was it the bacteria in the bottle? From the sounds of it your in a fishin cycle. I suggest you get a good liquid test kit like I mentioned above API master test kit is a good one. If I was you I would get it like today. The testing kit you have is just to inaccurate. As for the water changes I would bump that up to 50 to 75% every day and sometimes multiple times a day. You really want to keep your ammonia and nitrites down below .025 while cycling. I would suggest you read the link in my sig below you will find a lot of useful information there. Once you get the test kit post your reading here and we can help you out from there.

 

[TATTIESCONE]

What do you mean you put bacteria in! Was it the bacteria in the bottle? From the sounds of it your in a fishin cycle. I suggest you get a good liquid test kit like I mentioned above API master test kit is a good one. If I was you I would get it like today. The testing kit you have is just to inaccurate. As for the water changes I would bump that up to 50 to 75% every day and sometimes multiple times a day. You really want to keep your ammonia and nitrites down below .025 while cycling. I would suggest you read the link in my sig below you will find a lot of useful information there. Once you get the test kit post your reading here and we can help you out from there.

Hi erk628 date=17 jan 2010 13;45pm.I did a 50% water change at midnight and today i got the API master test kit. Readings are PH-8.0 Amonia-0. Nitrate-0 and Nitrite-5.0 thanks again for keeping in touch, i also added tetra nitrateminus into my tank before i went to get the test kit

 

[erk628]

Ok now that you have a good testing kit we can get to work to try and save these fish and get that tank cycled. The good news is your past the 1st stage of the cycle which is the growth of the bacteria that brakes down your ammonia. When you first start cycling your tank your ammonia reading will go sky high and in time bacteria will begin to forum on your filter to feed on the ammonia. The next step of the cycle (which is were you are) is when your ammonia finally reaches 0 and your nitrites start to rise. Now this is another type of bacteria that is beginning to form in your filter that will feed on this. Now the bad news is two things one this part of the cycle typically takes twice as long as the first step because this type of bacteria grows slower then the first type. The second thing is nitrites are just as deadly as ammonia.

What your going to have to do to give your fish a fighting chance in this cycle process is to do two things which are testing your water several times a day and doing several monster water changes a day according to the readings you get from the test kit. Now your goal in all of this is to keep your nitrite reading below 0.25ppm. Now here is how you can do this.

Now normally this is how it works. Now your nitrite readings are 5ppm right now. So if you do a 50% water change it will knock that in half giving you 2.5%. Now after you do a water change you need to wait for about an hour or so before doing another reading to make sure that it will be accurate. Now after the hour is up and you do your next water change is should read around 2.5ppm. Now you do another 50% water change and in an hour test again and it should be 1.25. Now you just keep doing this until its at least 0.25ppm or lower.

Now to get a jump start on things I would do bigger water changes at first. Like test your water just for nitrites and then do a 90% water change. Wait an hour test again then do another 50 to 75% water change. Now your going to need to do this everyday until you get a constant reading of 0 for your nitrites and ammonia. Once you do the first couple of big water changes go by the 50% knocking in half rule to know how big of one to do to reach 0.25 as you can. Once they hit 0 then your nitrates will begin to rise. Now nitrates usually under 100ppm is just fine for fish. I like to keep mine in between 20 to 40 ppm or lower. The way to lower these is by doing water changes. Normally one weekly water change between 25 to 30% will take care of this.

Another thing I would suggest you do is test you tap water right out of the tap. Sometimes your tap water will already have some ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates present. If they do thats as low as you will be able to get it without adding something to your tank to help.

Now remember your in the longest stage of the cycle so it will probably seem that its taking forever and then one day you will get up do a reading and it will be 0 nitrites. Then its time to celebrate your cycle is done. If you haven't already I would suggest you read the links in my sig below there is a lot of useful information in there.

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Ok now that you have a good testing kit we can get to work to try and save these fish and get that tank cycled. The good news is your past the 1st stage of the cycle which is the growth of the bacteria that brakes down your ammonia. When you first start cycling your tank your ammonia reading will go sky high and in time bacteria will begin to forum on your filter to feed on the ammonia. The next step of the cycle (which is were you are) is when your ammonia finally reaches 0 and your nitrites start to rise. Now this is another type of bacteria that is beginning to form in your filter that will feed on this. Now the bad news is two things one this part of the cycle typically takes twice as long as the first step because this type of bacteria grows slower then the first type. The second thing is nitrites are just as deadly as ammonia.

What your going to have to do to give your fish a fighting chance in this cycle process is to do two things which are testing your water several times a day and doing several monster water changes a day according to the readings you get from the test kit. Now your goal in all of this is to keep your nitrite reading below 0.25ppm. Now here is how you can do this.

Now normally this is how it works. Now your nitrite readings are 5ppm right now. So if you do a 50% water change it will knock that in half giving you 2.5%. Now after you do a water change you need to wait for about an hour or so before doing another reading to make sure that it will be accurate. Now after the hour is up and you do your next water change is should read around 2.5ppm. Now you do another 50% water change and in an hour test again and it should be 1.25. Now you just keep doing this until its at least 0.25ppm or lower.

Now to get a jump start on things I would do bigger water changes at first. Like test your water just for nitrites and then do a 90% water change. Wait an hour test again then do another 50 to 75% water change. Now your going to need to do this everyday until you get a constant reading of 0 for your nitrites and ammonia. Once you do the first couple of big water changes go by the 50% knocking in half rule to know how big of one to do to reach 0.25 as you can. Once they hit 0 then your nitrates will begin to rise. Now nitrates usually under 100ppm is just fine for fish. I like to keep mine in between 20 to 40 ppm or lower. The way to lower these is by doing water changes. Normally one weekly water change between 25 to 30% will take care of this.

Another thing I would suggest you do is test you tap water right out of the tap. Sometimes your tap water will already have some ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates present. If they do thats as low as you will be able to get it without adding something to your tank to help.

Now remember your in the longest stage of the cycle so it will probably seem that its taking forever and then one day you will get up do a reading and it will be 0 nitrites. Then its time to celebrate your cycle is done. If you haven't already I would suggest you read the links in my sig below there is a lot of useful information in there.

Thanks again erk628 for keeping in touch.I just did a 25% water change before i read your reply nitrite was still at 5.0 will do a bigger change in an hour or so cheers mate

 

[erk628]

Np I'm on here a lot so ill keep checking in!

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Np I'm on here a lot so ill keep checking in!

Hi erk628. date=17 jan 2010-10.45pm. Just finished a 60% water change will have to wait till the morning for testing.At work all day tommorow,not back in the house till 8pm cheers mate

 

[erk628]

Sounds good just keep us updated!

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Sounds good just keep us updated!

Hi erk628 date=18 jan 2010 9pm just finished testing the tank, readings are; Ph 8.0,Amonia 0,Nitrate 10,Nitrite 0.5. What do you reckon about water change or should i let the tank settle. I havent been feeding my fish much due to the water conditions but they look great,bright and alert.cheers mate for your help