Water Test

[tammy12179]

i have an api water test kit. have done a test before approx. 2 weeks ago. from my reading i thought everything was fine. did another one tonight and would like to run the results past every one and see what they recommend i do if anything at all. any help would be gladly appreciated

PH 7.6 atleast
high rage PH about 8.4
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 20 ppm
ammonia .25ppm

this is a 25 g tank with live bearers and cories and 2 loaches

 

[pippoodle]

you need to do a 50% water change as soon as possible
you also need to cut your feeding down to every other day if your not already cos ammonia can be caused by over feeding , have you done a gravel vac recently if not do one as part of the water change incase you have any rotting food anywhere
test the water again tomorrow and then if the readings are the same do another 50% change
ammonia is a poison to fishies

was the tank fully cycled ?

good luck

Sarah x

EDIT - spelling

 

[tammy12179]

what has gone on in my tank lately is i have had underground filter in my tank for many years the set up quit working awhile back. i have had this tank up and running for years. but just in the last 2 to 3 months i have restocked it with fish before that it had a lonely female guppy in it. the other day i had ordered fluval 305 it has not arrived yet. so i decided time to get those underground filters out of there. it made a real mess out of my water originally i had a hob filter set up but then took a filter from one of my other 10g tanks and hooked it up as well to help clear the water i did a 20% water change as well last night. my water is crystal clear now so i figured time to do another. water test which i just completed. now i have one question it may seem stupid but it makes a difference when doing the water test do you hold the test tube right against the white on the card or just hover it above and read it because if you hover it i come up with a different reading.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Tammy,

Well that paragraph pretty much explains your problems!

We all argue a bit about where to hold the test tube. Personally, I clamp it right against the white part of the card because that way I can hold it in one hand. I think the more important thing is to be consistent about the lighting and what I'm doing with my other hand is adjusting the little spot lamp so that my reading is on 3 or 4 inches in front of this light, making sure I just do it the same way repeatedly. Repeated measurements that show trends are more powerful than any one measurement.

Unfortunately, the fish-load/filtration thing worked out backward for you! You ended up with "fish before biofilter" and thus find yourself in a "fish-in" cycle. If you find one of Miss Wiggles (or some others have it I think) posts on "fish-in" cycling there will be the techniques to follow.

Basically, because the undergravel filter bacteria either died out, or was at an extremely low level because of there being only one fish, you just do not have an operational biofilter and won't have one for at least about a month after you get the new one and start fish-in cycling it. It takes about a month, although you may be able to speed things up if we determine you could take some mature media from one of your other filter.

Meanwhile, you need to be the "manual filter" for your fish by frequently changing significant amounts of water. Your goal will be to figure out a water change schedule and percentage based on the feedback of ammonia and nitrite readings from your API kit. You never want either toxin to go over 0.25ppm, using the water changes to hold it between zero and 0.25ppm.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tammy12179]

thanks water drop i am a bit confused on why i do not have a bio filter running now. the reason i am confused is because i had a hob filter up and running for a very long time. when i say a very long time i am meaning atleast a year. my plans are when i get my new filter i am going to take some of the media out of the hob and put it in the new filter to help spead up the process.

 

[drobbyb]

You see, your fish produces amonnia. That ammonia gets broken down by bacteria. Seeing as you only had one fish, there were only enough bacteria to support exactly one fish. When you add more fish, it takes time for the bacteria to develop to the number needed to support the new fish. If you add too many fish at once, your bacteria will be provided with more "food" than they can process resulting in an ammonia spike. This ammonia spike can kill any or all of your fish as they literally suffocate in their own excriment.

 

[tammy12179]

thank you drobby i understand now good explanation some times i am alittle simple lol.

 

[drobbyb]

I'm glad it helped

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks for getting us together on that robby!

It could also be that I'm confused about how many filters you have and have made things sound worse than they might be! So are you saying that you had the HOB filter on this tank all along in *addition* to the undergravel filters? And its *still* there? It sounded like the HOB had been gone, taken off the tank a while back was my thinking.

But maybe the HOB was there all along, the undergravels where removed and then a small internal filter was taken from one of your 10g tanks and added along with the HOB. In that case, the HOB may well have "fish-in" cycled itself in the last 2-3 months as you were restocking and if the extra filter came from a tank with a stock of fish in it then it may be pretty well cycled too, so these two filters could be expected to probably handle your bioload until you get the new 305 cycled. The ammonia reading will hopefully then just be brief and caused by the stirring up of the undergravel debris just as you said.

I would definately test morning and evening and watch to make sure both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) are holding at zero, or else you will need water changes to help this filters along I think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tammy12179]

Sorry for the confussion water drop. i will try this again i know im comfusing lol. Had an original HOB filtering the tank for along time. The undergravel filter system was there but just not hooked up. Knowing that i am getting this new filter as well as thinking on getting sand (but the sand will be another step filter is frist) i decided to remove the underground filter that has been inactive for along time. The water got really dirty of course when removing the underground filter. so i decided to grab another HOB filter that i had on another tank and double filtered the water trying to clean it up as well as did a 20% water change. Then the following day i did the water test. hope that helps out water drop i confuse myself some times lol

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, I definately misunderstood. The biological function of your filtration should be intact and working. I'll bet your ammonia and nitrite are back to zero, have you been testing?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tammy12179]

I tested again last night the ammonia is still at .25ppm not budging but the nitrites are at 0. i hope i can get it to settle down soon then i will feel confident i know what i am doing. thanks for all the help water drop

 

[waterdrop]

Is there any chance your tap water does not measure zero ppm ammonia out of the tap or that your water company uses chloramination and you get 0.25ppm ammonia in the tap water after its dechlored? (you would measure a bucket of it maybe an hour after you dechlored it for this test I believe.)

If it turns out to be the tap water coming in that's adding the ammonia, then one usually compensates via smaller but more frequent water changes. If its a -tank- process that's doing it then its important to remember that your goal is to provide water change percentage and frequency such that 0.25 is that -max- its allowed to get to before you do another water change.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[tammy12179]

I plan on doing another water change tonight. I will take your advice and test the water in my bucket before i put it in after i have dechorinated it. i guess i will see what happens

 

[tez2k007]

I plan on doing another water change tonight. I will take your advice and test the water in my bucket before i put it in after i have dechorinated it. i guess i will see what happens

So what if it is the dechlorinating thats raising the level?