Water Test Results Help

[tqfan]

a friend of mine has just tested their water, ammonia was fine at zero (according to the colour chart!) but nitrate and nitrite were through the roof!! i have honestly never seen that colour on those tests before!! it made me test my water, think i got a bit paranoid, lmao!!

the readings:
ammonia zero
no2 - kit only reads up to 3.3, and it was that dark pink/purple colour
no3 - kit only reads up to 100 or 110, and again it was that dark pink/purple colour

the readings came as a shock to me, as the tank looks lovely, bright and clear, the plants seem to grow well and fish seem fine!

it's a 4ft tank, roughly 130 litres (i think) with some tetras, barbs, catfish and rasboras, a BN plec and RTBS.

i am not fully sure how the cycle works, and always thought that if ammonia was zero (or there abouts) that nitrite and nitrate would also be low. obviously i'm wrong.

i've never thought about this in detail, as my own tank is fine (i think!) ammonia is zero, nitrite (no2) is 0.1 and nitrate (no3) is 10.

i'm thinking him adding quite a few new fish at once might have done it, but like i said, i'm not sure how the cycle works.

how would he correct his tank? daily water changes til the readings are down? how much of a change?

the little booklet i've got in my tester kit says that aquarium salt is fine for reducing the toxicity of nitrite or nitrate, can't remember off hand, but i thought some fish didn't like salt? would this help him?

thanks in advance!

 

[drobbyb]

If your friend has added fish recently, they may be in the middle of a mini cycle. When the bioload goes up, so will the ammonia and eventually nitrite as it is converted and finally ends up as nitrate. You can remove nitrate with water changes.

I would advise your friend to perform 50% waterchanges until the level drops below .25. They will need to keep an eye on the tank and keep testing until the presence of nitrite becomes undetectable. If the tank has adequate filtration and media, the mini cycle usually lasts less than a week.

I'm not 100% on the salt for detoxifying nitrite and nitrate, but those catfish won't appreciate the salt in the water.

 

[tqfan]

thanks for that. a water change will be getting done later, so i'll let him know 50% and daily. i'd thought daily anyway, just wasn't sure how much.

i wasn't sure about the salt either, you can't always believe what you read on the stuff you buy, lol!!

i've used salt to help get rid of white spot, and have cat fish, they didn't seem to mind at all.

thanks again.