Water Tested Today

[chrisbassist]

Yeah. I have nitrate. And some people get dome ammonia, but not a lot, and it's pretty rare.

Daily, twice daily, every other day, it's up to you. Just do the tests and if it needs it, do it.

 

[Fantail_John]

Yeah. I have nitrate. And some people get dome ammonia, but not a lot, and it's pretty rare.

Daily, twice daily, every other day, it's up to you. Just do the tests and if it needs it, do it.

Thank's

Done a tap water test this morning and the readings are:

Ammonia - 0ppm

Nitrite - 0ppm

Nitrate - 5.0ppm

Will i have to do anything as the tap water as nitrate in?

John

 

[waterdrop]

You won't have to do anything different because of your 5ppm nitrate(NO3) in your tap water. Once you are cycled, you will begin your weekly habit of a gravel-clean-water-change and other maintenance. A weekly nitrate(NO3) test for the first few months can teach you whether this maintenance habit is being effective enough. The most important thing is that nitrate(NO3) readings settle down and stay steady, rather than keep creeping up.

A typical example might be that someone with zero ppm NO3 in there tap might want tank NO3 to settle in somewhere at or below 15 or 20ppm NO3. In your tank you'd want it to settle in at 20 to 25ppm since you'd be starting with an extra 5ppm. Actally, even if it settled in at 40ppm you'd probably not do anything different.

I agree with Chris that a good starting point for your thinking about water changing is the idea of a 50% change cutting an ammonia value in half as an example. But its also good to realize that the effect of a water change is sometimes non-linear in the sense that a "dirtier" tank can be more stubborn about retaining substances in the filter and substrate even "through" the gravel-clean-water-change process and therefor may not test out in quite so predictable a fashion, so testing is still quite an important part of the process. As he said, you will figure it our for your tank simply by water changing, testing, logging the results so you can look back at them and then just paying attention!

As the others have said, at this stage you are in a full-blown fish-in situation with probably a lot of testing, water-changing and figuring out to do to keep your tank working its ammonia and nitrite numbers between zero and 0.25ppm and that will probably keep you frustratingly busy for a while. It will settle down eventually though!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fantail_John]

You won't have to do anything different because of your 5ppm nitrate(NO3) in your tap water. Once you are cycled, you will begin your weekly habit of a gravel-clean-water-change and other maintenance. A weekly nitrate(NO3) test for the first few months can teach you whether this maintenance habit is being effective enough. The most important thing is that nitrate(NO3) readings settle down and stay steady, rather than keep creeping up.

A typical example might be that someone with zero ppm NO3 in there tap might want tank NO3 to settle in somewhere at or below 15 or 20ppm NO3. In your tank you'd want it to settle in at 20 to 25ppm since you'd be starting with an extra 5ppm. Actally, even if it settled in at 40ppm you'd probably not do anything different.

I agree with Chris that a good starting point for your thinking about water changing is the idea of a 50% change cutting an ammonia value in half as an example. But its also good to realize that the effect of a water change is sometimes non-linear in the sense that a "dirtier" tank can be more stubborn about retaining substances in the filter and substrate even "through" the gravel-clean-water-change process and therefor may not test out in quite so predictable a fashion, so testing is still quite an important part of the process. As he said, you will figure it our for your tank simply by water changing, testing, logging the results so you can look back at them and then just paying attention!

As the others have said, at this stage you are in a full-blown fish-in situation with probably a lot of testing, water-changing and figuring out to do to keep your tank working its ammonia and nitrite numbers between zero and 0.25ppm and that will probably keep you frustratingly busy for a while. It will settle down eventually though!

~~waterdrop~~

Thank you kindly your information will help me with cycling and i'll keep you informed how it's going

Thank's to all that as helped me

John

 

[Fantail_John]

Tonights test's

Ammonia 0.25

Nitrite 0.25

Nitrate 5.0

So thinking of doing a 60 % water change will this be ok or should i keep it at 50 % ?

John

 

[chrisbassist]

That should be fine. As would 50. But if you're doing a large change I always figure it's worth doing a bit extra. Just to give you more time to do the next one.

 

[Fantail_John]

That should be fine. As would 50. But if you're doing a large change I always figure it's worth doing a bit extra. Just to give you more time to do the next one.

Thank's your a star

Again thank's for helping me out in this i'm very grateful

John

 

[Gvilleguy]

Apparently some tap water does contain ammonia! I tested my tap water twice with an API kit, and it tests 0.25 ppm for ammonia. I may have to buy water to put in my tank for water changes at this rate. I'd hate to get a stable, cycled tank, and then destabilize it with a tap water change each week!

 

[Fantail_John]

Apparently some tap water does contain ammonia! I tested my tap water twice with an API kit, and it tests 0.25 ppm for ammonia. I may have to buy water to put in my tank for water changes at this rate. I'd hate to get a stable, cycled tank, and then destabilize it with a tap water change each week!

So if you have ammonia in your tape water what can be done regarding cycling? As i tested mine this morning and it look like it was half way between 0 - 0.25. will i not be able to have a cycled tank or can i use something to cut down the ammonia?

John

 

[Gvilleguy]

Well - I'm fishless cycling right now - so I don't mind some default ammonia in the tap water, since I'm having to raise it up to 4 ppm anyway. Once I've cycled, then I will consider purchasing gallons of water from the store for my water changes.

 

[chrisbassist]

I suppose the best thing to do while cycling is try and keep the ammonia as close to tap water as possible. And just accept it won't reach zero until the cycle is finished. Eventually the bacteria will cope with it all and reach a stage where they will cope with the amount added with each waterchange.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Chrisbassist - good point. I hope that will be the case and that the bacteria will handle the weekly/bi-weekly load of water added to the tank.

 

[Fantail_John]

I suppose the best thing to do while cycling is try and keep the ammonia as close to tap water as possible. And just accept it won't reach zero until the cycle is finished. Eventually the bacteria will cope with it all and reach a stage where they will cope with the amount added with each waterchange.

Thank's again for your kind help

So will it cycle if it keeps close to the tap water readings, as i'm sat here worrying it not going to cycle, but the conditioner should help as it makes the ammonia safe to fish so will it not harm the bacteria? What about leaving the water to stand for 24 hours will this help?

John

 

[waterdrop]

Leaving water to stand doesn't accomplish anything with regard to the ammonia. In the past many people used to draw water and let it sit so that the chlorine would gas out. That still works for people whose water departments use chlorine but more and more water departments are using chloramines (ammonia and chlorine bonded together) which do not gas off and thus stay with the water much longer. When chloramines started to be used, the conditioners all changed formula to be able to handle chloramines in addition to chlorine. There is a tiny bit of ammonia that is freed up when the chloramine bond is broken but it wouldn't be the 0.25ppm you are seeing, that is apparently simply in the water source.

Another thing accomplished by letting tap water stand is that CO2 gasses off. Higher levels of CO2 are retained in tap water when it is under the greater pressure in the pipes that allows us to have "running" water. This can be of interest to aquarists who are trying to get rid of a particular algae called black brush.

In practice, having a little ammonia in the tap water is no big deal. Part way through a fishless cycle, the A-Bac colony usually becomes large enough to handle it (0.25ppm is not much compared to 5ppm!) and from then on it will be quickly handled after a water change. A good habit for people who have this is to simply be aware that if they divide their water changes into smaller changes but at a more frequent interval, they will make it easier on the fish and bacteria. Its a little bothersome during a cycle as you have to be aware of it but it works out.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fantail_John]

Leaving water to stand doesn't accomplish anything with regard to the ammonia. In the past many people used to draw water and let it sit so that the chlorine would gas out. That still works for people whose water departments use chlorine but more and more water departments are using chloramines (ammonia and chlorine bonded together) which do not gas off and thus stay with the water much longer. When chloramines started to be used, the conditioners all changed formula to be able to handle chloramines in addition to chlorine. There is a tiny bit of ammonia that is freed up when the chloramine bond is broken but it wouldn't be the 0.25ppm you are seeing, that is apparently simply in the water source.

Another thing accomplished by letting tap water stand is that CO2 gasses off. Higher levels of CO2 are retained in tap water when it is under the greater pressure in the pipes that allows us to have "running" water. This can be of interest to aquarists who are trying to get rid of a particular algae called black brush.

In practice, having a little ammonia in the tap water is no big deal. Part way through a fishless cycle, the A-Bac colony usually becomes large enough to handle it (0.25ppm is not much compared to 5ppm!) and from then on it will be quickly handled after a water change. A good habit for people who have this is to simply be aware that if they divide their water changes into smaller changes but at a more frequent interval, they will make it easier on the fish and bacteria. Its a little bothersome during a cycle as you have to be aware of it but it works out.

~~waterdrop~~

Thank you for your information and advice in little water changes, I cut down from 50% to 25% and go from there do you think 25% twice a day will be good enough?

Thank's again
John