Water Test Results

[m00ms]

hi all,
 
i am not new to tropical keeping but new to water testing.
 
i have had my new 200 lt tank running now for 2 weeks with the second week with 5 tetra bloodfins in tank.
 
i have just tested my water and got results of :ammonia 0.25,nitrite 0 and nitrate 20ppm.
 
was kind of happy with that until i tested my current 120 lt tank and my tap water and got the same results.
 
i used a pint glass to remove water from tank to test and a pipet to squirt water into test tubes,followed instructions.
 
rinsed pint glass,pipet and test tubes between tests to ensure no mix/contamination.
 
have i done wrong or does results sound right? using api master kit dated 2017.
 
thanks

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If you didn't add any ammonia to the tank while it was running for those 2 weeks, and you just now added the fish to the tank, chances are the test results are just fine.
 
 
In other words, you aren't cycled.  The tank shows 20ppm nitrate, because that's in your tap water.  You have a long road of water changes in your future, but you can certainly get through it.  Just keep the ammonia as close to zero as possible, even lower than 0.25ppm.  What's your pH? 
 
 
Also, since you have ammonia in your tap water, use a dechlorinator like Prime to deal with that. 

 

[m00ms]

thanks for your reply although i am still confused.
 
i use seachem prime in my water to use for water changes.
 
can i ask best action to take now as i have fish in tank and it sounds as my fish are living in tap water.

 

[SamB]

I'm curious. Take a cup and just get some tap water and test that..  
 
Best path forwards: Water changes with treated water (seachem prime should be ok) to keep the ammonia down while the good bacteria establishes itself on your filter media.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Of course they are living in tap water - just without the chlorine.  That's a good thing, actually.
 
After all, where did the water come from that you used to fill the tank?   The closer the tank water is to your tap water, the better.
 
 
 
Prime does not remove the ammonia from the water, it merely converts it to a non-toxic form until the bacteria convert it to nitrite, then eventually to nitrate.
 
 
The 0.25ppm ammonia may or may not be real... Prime with an API Test kit can produce a false reading of about 0.25ppm... It needs to be read in daylight, otherwise you may not get a proper reading. 
 
 
Your still cycling the new tank, but the tetras haven't produced enough ammonia to really be a "spike" yet.  It will happen.

 

[m00ms]

water i used to fill tank was tap water with prime.
 
take it best course of action now is water changes every couple of days and keep fed down to a minuim.
 
thanks for you help, less confused now...i think

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's it.  Test daily on the new tank.  Be ready to change the water when ammonia rises.

 

[Meeresstille]

I'm a little confused also. Did you say that your current, cycled 120 liter tank had the same reading as your tap water and the tank you are cycling (200 liter )? Had you just performed a huge water change on your 120 liter tank before you'd tested it?
 
Did you by any chance change the filter media, or rinse it with tap water? Or could you have forgotten to add dechlorinator at your water change that may have harmed the bacteria in your filter? 
 
That all three had the same reading sounds strange to me. At least the cycled tank (120 liter) should have been able to convert the ammonia from the tap water, even if in the form of ammonium, right?
 
One more thought: are you shaking the bottles from the test kit really, really, really well?

 

[m00ms]

yes i gave the bottles a good shake before use and also when testing gave test tubes good shake also.
 
the readings being the same in my 120lt tank which is couple years old now is what made me concerned.
 
i have strange feeling that when making my water for changing that i havent been using enough seachem prime.
 
my reason for changing from 120lt to 200lt was because i did a big clean in the 120 and then lost lots of fish.i put it down to too much cleaning in one go.i lost interest so i went to 200lt to get interest back.
 
i have been using seachem prime for couple of years now and never had problems.i brought a new bottle about 6 months ago which is when i had problems thinking about it.
 
unsure if seachem have changed the dose quantity or if for some reason i have been an idiot and been using less

 

[m00ms]

just checked my seachem prime and found that when i make water i am putting 1ml of prime into 25 lt of tap water.
 
going by the bottle that 1ml should be fine for 40 lt of tap water.

 

[Meeresstille]

If the ammonia does not go down in your 120 liter tank on its own then I think either the test kit is faulty or you must have lost the cycle somehow! Maybe you want to bring a sample of your water to your LFS and have them test it for you?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

A reading of 0.25ppm is fairly normal on the API test, if you're using Prime.  I don't know where the link is off hand, but I've seen it mentioned from API's (or Seachem's) customer service that these two products have issues - so a 0.25ppm ammonia reading while using Prime often is a false reading.  You could ask your LFS to test for verification, but they'll probably just use a strip, which is even less accurate than the API.

 

[m00ms]

could take water samples to my lfs and see what results they get as that will let me know if my test kit is accurate
 
good idea thanks for that.
 
only have 2 panda garra and two bristlenoses left in the 120lt so soon as the 200lt is cycled and safe they are getting moved over to there new home and i can close the 120lt down.

 

[m00ms]

been keeping an eye on my water levels on my new 200lt cycling tank and been doing 30lt water changes every couple of days using seachem prime and tap water.
 
i am finding that ammonia is staying at 0.25 yellow on api,is that fine or do i have to let ammonia rise under control to get cycle going? do i need to fed few fish in tank little more to raise ammonia level?
 
also tested ph and got blue 7.6 and brown 8 on ph range from tank and my tap water 7.6 ph and 7.4 ph range

 

[eaglesaquarium]

been keeping an eye on my water levels on my new 200lt cycling tank and been doing 30lt water changes every couple of days using seachem prime and tap water.
 
i am finding that ammonia is staying at 0.25 yellow on api,is that fine or do i have to let ammonia rise under control to get cycle going? do i need to fed few fish in tank little more to raise ammonia level?
 
also tested ph and got blue 7.6 and brown 8 on ph range from tank and my tap water 7.6 ph and 7.4 ph range

 
 
That's fairly normal.  You don't want the ammonia to be rising.  You want the ammonia to be dealt with as quickly as it is being generated by the fish.  5 bloodfins in a tank that size shouldn't produce much, especially with light feeding.  So, that's good.  A fish-in cycle generally takes much longer than a fishless cycle, but ultimately, it is a very tried and true method of cycling. 
 
 
What's the nitrite?  Still zero?  Two weeks is a reasonable amount of time before the nitrite spike starts during a fishless cycle, so its not unreasonable for it to not have shown up yet.
 
 
Have you stolen a bit of mature media from the other tank to help seed the new filter?  If not, I'd suggest doing so.  Even if it isn't a lot, it will make a difference in the long run. 
 
 
Did you take your water to the LFS for confirmation of your results?

The pH is a bit high for bloodfins, but they should be fine.  I would recommend checking into fish that prefer higher pH (and potentially harder water) for the rest of the stocking though... Rainbowfish, for example.