Water Stats

[Gooner]

Do my stats look ok, having a few problems with tiny paticles floating in the water. Can they be improved? If so, how?
I know it is good to have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite but a little concerned with the high nitrate reading and the general hardness, not sure what the kH is.

What I am looking for is crystal clear water, if it is at all possible.

Tank size: 30g
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 50
kH: 6
gH: >16
tank temp: 76f


1 x Blue Acara (Female) I think
1 x Kribensis (Female)
1 x Euro Ram
2 x Red Rainbows
5 x Rosy Barbs
1 x Bristlenose Plec
1 x Clown Plec

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nitrates of 50 is high but not awful, whats your maintenance routine cos high nitrates indicate you need to do more water changes.

have you checked your gh and kh of your tap water, your area could just be high, if your fish aren't showing any signs of disease you should be ok.

 

[Squid]

What filter are you using. IMO the nitrites are on the high end, but not a huge issue, and not the cause of the particles in the water.

I changed to a better external filter which helped my water clarity. How often do you change the white filter floss?

Squid

 

[Gooner]

Hi,
I do a regular water change of 25% every Sunday and test the water before and after, not sure why but that is what I was told to do (Testing before and after).
No I havn`t tested the tap water, I will do that when I get home from work and post the results.

I have recently pulled out the internal filter (Rekord 120) and replaced with an Eheim Ecco 2234. Ran the two together for about a week to transfer healthy bacteria and change the filter floss every week when I do a water change.

Am I doing OK?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi,
I do a regular water change of 25% every Sunday and test the water before and after, not sure why but that is what I was told to do (Testing before and after).
No I havn`t tested the tap water, I will do that when I get home from work and post the results.

I have recently pulled out the internal filter (Rekord 120) and replaced with an Eheim Ecco 2234. Ran the two together for about a week to transfer healthy bacteria and change the filter floss every week when I do a water change.

Am I doing OK?

if your getting nitrates up to 50ppm then i'd do more/larger water changes, either do a little one midweek or change 30-40%. are you also vaccing your substrate when you do water changes?

you don't need to test every single time before and after changes, whiel your tank is new and if you have any problems with the water levels or fish health then yes you should test it. you'll find once your tank has stabilised and matured you don't need to test so much.

 

[dogfood]

I would do a 50% WC then continue with the 25% and see if the Nitrates climb back up. If it does climb back up after a few weeks you will need to do WC more often or do bigger WCs. What are your Ammonia and Nitrate readings straight from the tap?

 

[Gooner]

Oh, How long does it normally take to mature?
Yes I do vacuum the substrate when I change the water, changed to sand about two weeks ago, started off pretty difficult but am getting the hang of it now. The sand started to look pretty dirty every other day so I am only feeding the fish once a day now, getting cleaner. However the tiny particles do not seem to dissappear.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Oh, How long does it normally take to mature?
Yes I do vacuum the substrate when I change the water, changed to sand about two weeks ago, started off pretty difficult but am getting the hang of it now. The sand started to look pretty dirty every other day so I am only feeding the fish once a day now, getting cleaner. However the tiny particles do not seem to dissappear.

very roughly 6 months, but that's dependant on an enormous number of factors.

yeah vaccing sand can be tricky, but you do get the hang of it soon enough!

i wouldn't advise feeding more than once a day anyway.

do you have any filter floss in the filter?

 

[Gooner]

Yes I have floss in the filter all beit the "Candyfloss" stuff, not the round pad type.
How much should be in there, losely, tightly packed or somewhere in the middle. It has got three trays, bottom one with a coarse blue sponge with ceramic media (Substrat Pro) on top, middle one full with ceramics and the top half full with ceramics and topped with floss (fairly tightly packed).

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Yes I have floss in the filter all beit the "Candyfloss" stuff, not the round pad type.
How much should be in there, losely, tightly packed or somewhere in the middle. It has got three trays, bottom one with a coarse blue sponge with ceramic media (Substrat Pro) on top, middle one full with ceramics and the top half full with ceramics and topped with floss (fairly tightly packed).

somewhere in the middle

sounds like you've got a good mix, i'd loosen up the filter floss a bit and change it for new see if that makes a difference, floss is one form of media that needs to be changed fairly regularly.

i've also found floss to be more effective in a small internal filter of it's own rather than in an external. so maybe get a little £5/10 internal stuff it full of floss and tuck it away in the back of the tank somewhere, might find that helps

 

[Gooner]

Thanks, Miss Wiggle.
Didn`t think of that. I`ll get a small internal one and give it a go, as long as it is not as unsightly as the monstrosity that I have just taken out.

Just a thought, I have a Juwel powerhead that came from the fitted filter, i`ll try the hardware section and see if there is anyway of rigging that up to filter the water.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thanks, Miss Wiggle.
Didn`t think of that. I`ll get a small internal one and give it a go, as long as it is not as unsightly as the monstrosity that I have just taken out.

Just a thought, I have a Juwel powerhead that came from the fitted filter, i`ll try the hardware section and see if there is anyway of rigging that up to filter the water.

yeah you probably can, i'm hopeless with DIY so don't ask me about that though!

but you can just get tiny little filters 6" or so long that you can fairly easily tuck away into a corner so they're not affecting the prettyness of the tank!

 

[dogfood]

What are your Ammonia and Nitrate readings straight from the tap?

?

 

[Gooner]

Dogfood,
I will post later when I get home from work, as previously mentioned in the thread.

 

[Gooner]

As requested, water stats straight from the tap.

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 50
kH: 6
gH: >16

They are exactly the same as what is in the tank Is that good or bad?