Some wacky readings on my fish tank

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HabsBettas

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Hello!

So I dosed stability for a week or so and I noticed that the pH was at 8.0-8.2 but I didn't test anything else until now. Here are the readings:

Ammonia: 1-1.5 ppm (I didn't dose any ammonia before but the tank had been cleaned from a previous failed cycle where I washed everything)
Nitrite: 1-2 ppm
Nitrate: 40 ppm

A quick pH test, and it's gone up to almost 9.0. I'm at a loss of what to do.

Notes: Tank is 5 gallons. I have a fluval bio media in there as well as a filter cartridge that has the carbon removed. I had previously tried to use walmart "clear ammonia" that foamed when I shook it so I washed everything and tried again. This time, I thought it would work, but the pH spiked again a day later.

Thank you for any help :)
 
those nitrates and nitrites are very risky. that pH is weird too. ammonia also seems to be too high. maybe do a 50% water change every day for like a week and test the water every day to see if they go down.
 
Picture of the tank so we can see what is in it?
Also a description of what items are in the tank, eg: plant substrate or plain gravel, limestone rocks, etc.

Take a sample of the tap water and test it for pH, ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. Write the results down and keep the sample of tap water. Retest that sample of water 24 & 48 hours later and compare the results.

Nitrate might be in the tap water. Nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading. So don't bother about nitrate until the nitrite is 0ppm.

The pH might be from rocks or substrate. The ammonia might be from the substrate or driftwood, if there is any in the tank.

You can take a sample of the substrate and put it in a bucket of tap water and monitor the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate over the course of a week and see if it is the problem. Have a separate container of tap water with nothing else in it and monitor that too. Then compare the results.
 
Picture of the tank so we can see what is in it?
Also a description of what items are in the tank, eg: plant substrate or plain gravel, limestone rocks, etc.

Take a sample of the tap water and test it for pH, ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. Write the results down and keep the sample of tap water. Retest that sample of water 24 & 48 hours later and compare the results.

Nitrate might be in the tap water. Nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading. So don't bother about nitrate until the nitrite is 0ppm.

The pH might be from rocks or substrate. The ammonia might be from the substrate or driftwood, if there is any in the tank.

You can take a sample of the substrate and put it in a bucket of tap water and monitor the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate over the course of a week and see if it is the problem. Have a separate container of tap water with nothing else in it and monitor that too. Then compare the results.
Tank contains two java ferns and some washed slate (not pictured) at the moment. Substrate is from walmart (Petsmart sold out).

The tap water so far tests this:

pH: 6.8-7.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 0 ppm

I didn't treat the tap water yet but I will soon to see if it's the problem. If it is, I wanted to do a fish in cycle using SeaChem prime doses

I had an idea (Thank you ThatFishGirl) to simply do a 50% water change until the pH is normal. This is so whatever is changing the values gets washed off and simply taken out of the water until there is none left. Thank you for the response.
 

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UPDATE: Tested the tap water and everything was normal but the pH. The pH went from 6.8-7.0 to 7.0-7.2. pH in my tank is back down to 7.8-8.0, so I am going to keep doing water changes.

Did a test on water hardness and alkalinity and heres what I got for my tank water:

150 ppm Water hardness
40 ppm Alkalinity
 
Okay so I had another thread about my tanks pH being really high (8.0) and I tested water hardness today and it's at 140 ppm. After some research, it turns out lowering pH is hard if your water hardness is too high. Mine is, and I wanted to use peat moss to get rid of both problems. But there lies a problem. Fluval peat moss is meant for big aquariums. My aquarium is only 5 gallons. And I already crammed a filter cartridge and some bio media in my PF10 filter, so I am confused. How would I fit peat moss into my tank to lower my pH and fix my water? Thanks :)
 
I have merged your two threads as the second is directly connected to the first.


Firstly, your water is not hard, it is at the top end of soft. 140 ppm = 7.8 dH.
Your KH (alkalinity) is low so altering pH is easy.


However, looking at your photo, your substrate may be the problem. White gravel is often crushed coral or limestone and these raise GH, KH and pH.
Can I ask you to do a couple of tests, please.

Check your tap water pH again, testing freshly run water then leave a glass of water to stand overnight and test that. pH often changes when tap water is allowed to stand, and yours may change to the same as the tank. We need to check that.

If you have any left over substrate, put a few drops of vinegar on it, and see if any small bubbles form. If there's none left over you need to take a bit out of the tank. Coral and limestone are made of calcium carbonate which reacts with acids such as vinegar. If there are any bubbles, the substrate is the cause of the high pH.

Even if there are no bubbles it could still be the substrate. The final test is to set up two small containers of water and put some gravel in one of them. Test the pH of both every day for a week. The water with no substrate is a control to see what happens if just plain water is left to stand for a week.


But to be honest, even if the substrate does nothing, I would still change it because it's white. Fish find white substrates stressful. The vast majority of fish come from rivers and lakes with dark floors which is why fish are dark when we look down on them. And light is reflected back up into the tank, which is also stressful.
 
The substrate did not bubble when I poured vinegar on it

Here is a logbook of my results as they come in:

Freshly run water pH: 7.0
24 hour water pH: TBD

Water in container pH: TBD
Substrate in container pH: TBD

I will probably change it anyway to a brownish gravel (I really like gravel/pebbles!) to not stress the fish, but I have to buy it first, so in the meantime I will simply wait.

Thank you for the help!
 
Update: I don’t know what’s going on with my ph tests. Pictures speak for themselves
 

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The first photo shows high range pH which looks ~7.4. The second photo is the normal range pH which looks ~ 7.6. The strip looks Between 7.2 and 7.8.

I would call your pH 7.5. A couple of decimal points either way is not of any importance.
 
The first photo shows high range pH which looks ~7.4. The second photo is the normal range pH which looks ~ 7.6. The strip looks Between 7.2 and 7.8.

I would call your pH 7.5. A couple of decimal points either way is not of any importance.
In that case, water changes are working! Thank you!
 
Just so you know, the two plants in the photo are not Java Fern, they are sword plants, a species of Echinodorus. I suspect they are Echinodorus grisebachii, var. bleherae. They will greatly benefit with a substrate fertilizer tab, one between them if you keep them close together, or one by each root mass if you separate them--and I would, as they will get fairly large. Seachem's Flourish Tabs are about the best you can get, one per plant replaced every 3-4 months.

If you do change the substrate (and I concur with @Essjay on this too), darkish brown is fine, but first consider the intended fish. As this is a 5g tank, substrate fish like cories will not be possible, but if they were, sand would be necessary. If you intend a Betta, it won't matter sand or gravel.
 
UPDATE: Solved. For some reason I think it might have been the test I was using. I ran the tap water fresh and it read the exact same as the water that had been in the tank for pH. Using the tetra strips, however, read the pH correctly every time and it seems my pH is anywhere between 7.0-7.5, which is okay for a betta. Thank you for your help everyone!

Things I'm going to change: Substrate, add some more plants, cycle the tank (finally)
 

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