Nitrates

[welsh_jester]

hiya i took a sample of my water down pets at home and they said its showin up on the chart so cant have fish is there any fish i can get with a few nitrates? or could it be that it was the bottle i took it down in or something?

 

[Athena]

Do you have all the results for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates written down? If so, can you post the results here please.

Having a low to medium reading of nitrates in tank water is not harmful in itself - so I can't understand why they would refuse you fish for this reason alone. Was there an ammonia reading? Or nitrites? Those would be harmful to fish in even the smallest level.

And when they tested your water did they do it with a strip test? Or did they use a liquid test kit (i.e. put a sample of your water in a test tube, added drops from a bottle, shake it, add more drops, shake again, etc). Did you see how they did it?

Also, how long has your tank been set up and did you do a proper fishless cycle on it? Or have you just put water in it, turned on the pump and left it 2 weeks..?

The more info you supply the better help we can give.

Regards - Athena

 

[welsh_jester]

Do you have all the results for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates written down? If so, can you post the results here please.

Having a low to medium reading of nitrates in tank water is not harmful in itself - so I can't understand why they would refuse you fish for this reason alone. Was there an ammonia reading? Or nitrites? Those would be harmful to fish in even the smallest level.

And when they tested your water did they do it with a strip test? Or did they use a liquid test kit (i.e. put a sample of your water in a test tube, added drops from a bottle, shake it, add more drops, shake again, etc). Did you see how they did it?

Also, how long has your tank been set up and did you do a proper fishless cycle on it? Or have you just put water in it, turned on the pump and left it 2 weeks..?

The more info you supply the better help we can give.

Regards - Athena

yea they done the test tube one the sample chart showed it as light brown? the tanks been cycleing now for about 2 and half weeks mayb 3 last time i took test down it failed on ammonia now thats fine and nitrates is up what could be the problem? and is fish ok for it?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with Athena,

welsh_jester, its not clear from glancing at your posts that there's any mention of having learned about fishless cycling, but let us know about that...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[welsh_jester]

or mayb not

 

[waterdrop]

lol, ok, I'm going to take that as an "I don't get it" type of answer...

If that's the case then its going to be way better to slow down, take a step back and decide that learning some stuff here on TFF (what we call our fish forums) (and, what luck to have stumpled across this great beginner site!) is going to be a whole lot better than dealing with dead fish!

There are some great articles pinned here in the the Beginners Resource Center and nearby. Have you had time to read any of those?

You can read some of those and chat here in your thread about questions or checking that the way you understand it is correct. The members are great with this and quite enjoy this process and the fun of talking with newcomers.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Athena]

So how exactly are you cycling your tank?

Athena

 

[tom16]

I agree.

You will learn a lot.