Water Changes -Fish Been In Since Saturday Night

[Deleted member 107737]

Hi All,
 
So ive had my 8 baby platies in my 150 litre tank since satuday night. I did a 90% water change prior to putting them in.
 
So far they are all still living ( touch wood) and have finally started eating.
 
When and how often should  i be doing partial water changes??
 
ammonia and nitrite are still matching  that of my tap water but the nitrate is darker.
 
Its hard for me to say exactly what the ppm is ( with api tester):
 
1) if i hold it on the white card - tap water is dark orange and my tank water is red
 
2) if i hold it in mid air - tap water is light orange and tank water is dark orange.
 
Please advise.
 
Thanks,
 
Dave
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hi Dave,
 
I normally do weekly 30% water changes, give or take.  So what colors are the 3 readings for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for the tank water?  Ammonia should be yellow, nitrite should be light blue, and nitrates should be light orange'ish.  

 

[Zikofski]

i do 50 to 70% each week but i have plants, and are able to do this with ease in my tank, 30% should be enough, all you do water change for is to keep nitrAte in check, depending on what your tap water is.
 
my tap water is already 30ppm on nitrate so i allow up to around 60 to 70ppm, but i do a water change weekly no matter what values i get
 
a very good habit to get into

 

[CezzaXV]

You mentioned that they're the same as your tap water - can I ask what this is?

 

[Deleted member 107737]

The current water in my tank and tap water both test the same value for ammonia and nitrite.

 

[Gvilleguy]

And that level is??? It is hard to recommend a water change schedule without knowing what the tap water has for ammonia and nitrite. It sounds like your nitrates are okay if they are orange / light red.

 

[Zikofski]

yes even if your tap water has ammonia and nitrite in, you should still get 0 for both once you add it to the tank after a few hours as the bacteria will reduce that

 

[Deleted member 107737]

ok ammonia according to the api frehwater chart is somewhere between 0ppm and 0.25ppm. Its hard to tell because the colours are so simuular and looking at the test tube from different angles does give a slightly different shade of colour.
 
nitrite is o.1ppm. even my tap water is 0.1ppm. according to the JBL test kit chart 0ppm is yellow. well the colour of my liquid is nearly clear colour so closest to 0.1ppm
 
nitrate is always around 40ppm from the tap and in the tank also. It has never been less.

 

[CezzaXV]

The ammonia is probably fine. The API kit is notorious for being difficult to tell the difference between 0 and 0.25 unless you have the perfect lighting conditions to read the test in.

The nitrite, I'm a little more concerned about. Even if it comes out at 0.1 from the tap, it should still drop to 0 in your tank in the space of a few hours. However, if it's the same tank and tap, a water change isn't going to fix it so I don't know what to suggest.

I'm assuming you've set this tank up as a fry tank separate from your main tank. Did you take some media from your filter for the fry tank?

Or have I got this wrong?