Water parameters

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CraigDalton

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Hi there,

Quick question on water parameters. I've been reading higher than ideal levels of ammonia and nitrates and nitrites. Every week I do a 30-40% water change and the 2 tanks are well cycled around 9 months they've been set up.

Question is, does keeping the ammonia levels low in turn keep the nitrate and nitrites lower? Also is there any point every week or so say adding more bottled bacterial to help keep levels down? My tanks aren't over stocked nor over fed. I do weekly water changes as I've stated but what else can I do to keep levels lower without having to do a water change in both tanks every 3 days or so? For that quite frankly takes alot of enjoyment from the hobby.

Thanks
 
In a cycled tank there should be no detectable levels of ammonia or nitrite. How high are your levels? Have they ever been zero or have they always been above zero?

Sometimes, something can happen to kill the bacteria and then the levels do go up.
Did you use any medication before the ammonia/nitrite showed up?
Do you change the filter media, or wash it? And if you wash it, under the tap or in old tank water?

If the bacteria colonies have been damaged, using bottled bacteria will help regrow them, Dr Tim's One & Only is possibly the best one, though that's more easily available in America rather than this side of the Atlantic. Tetra Safe Start is another brand with a good reputation.
 
Once a tank is cycled, it doesn't mean that it is cycled forever.
It's a complex little ecosystem running in our glass boxes and changes occur from time to time, for a variety of reasons.

Higher ammonia, nitrites and nitrates suggests an over-abundance of organic waste in your tank. This could be due to over-feeding, not syphoning off enough physical waste from the bottom of the tank, or something has died.

You ammonia levels don't need to be kept low with fish in the tank...they need to be kept zero. If everything's running as it should be, you should have zero ammonia and zero nirite, with a low level of nitrate.
Assuming you haven't added un-conditioned water recently, then your beneficial bacteria population should be good enough, assuming you're not over-feeding, it's a clean tank and nothing has died. If, for some reason, your bacteria has taken a hit, then there's no harm in adding more of the bottled stuff.
I use Microbe-Lift products and they recommend top-up doses every so often.
 
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.
 
Hi there,

Quick question on water parameters. I've been reading higher than ideal levels of ammonia and nitrates and nitrites. Every week I do a 30-40% water change and the 2 tanks are well cycled around 9 months they've been set up.

Question is, does keeping the ammonia levels low in turn keep the nitrate and nitrites lower? Also is there any point every week or so say adding more bottled bacterial to help keep levels down? My tanks aren't over stocked nor over fed. I do weekly water changes as I've stated but what else can I do to keep levels lower without having to do a water change in both tanks every 3 days or so? For that quite frankly takes alot of enjoyment from the hobby.

Thanks
Thanks to everyone for your help! I actually did put a new filter in a week ago but I did rinse the new sponges in the water from the old ones and also added bottled fluvel bacteria but maybe it hasn't been able to catch up yet. I'll do another water change and vacuum the top of the sand substrate to take away all the waste.

Would I be right in saying that no ammonia will mean zero or atleast very low nitrates and nitrites? Am i correct when I say the bacteria breaks down ammonia into nitrites then the nitrites into nitrates so in theory no ammonia should be no nitrites or atleast very very little?

Thanks
 
I'd recommend large daily water changes until your tests are reading 0 both for ammonia and nitrite.

In a nutshell, one colony of bacteria eats ammonia and poops out nitrite...which a different colony eats and poops out nitrate...which we dilute with water changes or plants use as growing fuel.

As your ammonia levels peak your nitrite will begin to rise then ammonia will fall as nitrite peaks...then nitrate will rise as nitrite falls. When both ammonia and nitrite read 0 your tank is cycled
 
Would I be right in saying that no ammonia will mean zero or atleast very low nitrates and nitrites? Am i correct when I say the bacteria breaks down ammonia into nitrites then the nitrites into nitrates so in theory no ammonia should be no nitrites or atleast very very little?
Normally, in an uncycled tank, you would have ammonia and nitrites and maybe even nitrates.
As the ammonia is broken down, the nitrites should rise accordingly. This indicates that cycling in the tank has begun in earnest.
As the nitrites are broken down, the nitrates will rise...although these should not be an issue.
At this point, some would say that cycling is complete. It isn't, because it continues on and on. What is true is that the cycling has completed to the point where waste can be dealt with.

At this stage, I would be adding fish slowly, to build up their numbers, without overwhelming the beneficial bacteria.
 
Exactly, in hindsight perhaps you could have kept some of the old media to go in the new filter 🥴 I mistake I've also made in the past
 
Thanks again for the help. My tank has been cycled properly. It's been running with good readings for 9 months but just when I changed to a new filter it spiked but I'm guessing that's the main cause as it would hold alot of the good bacteria
In future, it's always worth keeping as much of the old filter media as possible, when changing to a new filter. For example, in a few months, I'll be swapping just one of my filter sponges for a new one, leaving the old one in place to keep on chewing that ammonia and stuff.
 
It's all a learning experience in this hobby. The help from everyone is very much appreciated
I've been in the hobby almost 20 years and I'm still learning!
 
I wonder if we all get minor ammonia spikes, but because a soft water tank is likely acidic we don't notice , and if we ever routinely test for ammonia, it has already stabilised.
 
In this case, the ammonia and nitrite spikes were caused by removing bacteria from the tank when the filter was changed so the tank has to cycle all over again. If the tank had been running longer (a few years) this wouldn't have been such a problem as by then there would have been bacteria everywhere in the tank not just the filter.

But yes, things we do can cause spikes. Adding more fish will potentially cause a spike until the bacteria have multiplied enough to cope with the extra ammonia. Accidentally overfeeding could possibly cause a spike as the uneaten food decomposes. But if the tank has been properly cycled, the bacteria should catch up quickly and it would be possible to miss such a spike. It's a mass loss of bacteria - either by killing them or removing them - which causes large, longer lasting spikes.
 

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