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Water Chemistry Levels
Greetings and hallucinations!
I started a 29-gallon aquarium a month ago with a few zebra danios and a couple of black tetras. I've been doing the water chemistry levels religiously as it is going through the nitrogen cycle but the readings I'm getting are alarming from what the chart says they should be. There was a handy chart included with the aquarium. Normal levels as per the sheet are in brackets for the fourth week of the cycle (20% water change complied with last week). Ammonia: 4.0 mg/L (normal 0) Nitrite: 5.0 mg/L (normal 0 - 0.5) Nitrate: 20 mg/L (normal 20) Shouldn't the ammonia and nitrites be decreasing if the nitrate level is at it's norm? The fish seem ok but the water is cloudy. Forgive me, I'm new at this... Can anyone offer advice? -- Chris http://www.choxnpinz.com |
Chris wrote:
Greetings and hallucinations! I started a 29-gallon aquarium a month ago with a few zebra danios and a couple of black tetras. I've been doing the water chemistry levels religiously as it is going through the nitrogen cycle but the readings I'm getting are alarming from what the chart says they should be. There was a handy chart included with the aquarium. Normal levels as per the sheet are in brackets for the fourth week of the cycle (20% water change complied with last week). Ammonia: 4.0 mg/L (normal 0) Nitrite: 5.0 mg/L (normal 0 - 0.5) Nitrate: 20 mg/L (normal 20) Shouldn't the ammonia and nitrites be decreasing if the nitrate level is at it's norm? The fish seem ok but the water is cloudy. Forgive me, I'm new at this... Can anyone offer advice? You seem to have a cycle going, so just stay the course. A complete cycle in four weeks is rare - it usually takes 6 and sometimes 8. Cloudy water is normal until ammonia and nitrite are zero. It's bacteria and/or algae living on the ammonia and nitrite. As for the nitrate, is there nitrate in your tap water? 20 ppm would be high, but some folks have that much. If it's not from tap water it's a good sign that bacteria are starting to work. Also, are you using ammonia and/or nitrite neutralizers? People here have reported stalled cycles from water conditioners like Prime and AmQuel+. Watch your fish because your ammonia and nitrite readings are awfully high. Fortunately, test kits are not terribly accurate - if your readings were precise your fish would probably not be OK at all. Ammonia neutralizers and some tap water conditioners like Ammo Lock or AmQuel give false high readings on Nessler (clear changing to yellow-orange) test kits. If the fish start gilling hard and getting lethargic, they're suffering from nitrite poisoning. Change some water and add 1 tbsp of salt to the water (something pure like pickling salt or aquarium salt is best). A bit of salt helps counteract the poisoning. HTH, and I bet you'll have a cycled tank in another two weeks. -- Elaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__ rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com |
"Elaine T" wrote in message
om... Chris wrote: Greetings and hallucinations! I started a 29-gallon aquarium a month ago with a few zebra danios and a couple of black tetras. I've been doing the water chemistry levels religiously as it is going through the nitrogen cycle but the readings I'm getting are alarming from what the chart says they should be. There was a handy chart included with the aquarium. Normal levels as per the sheet are in brackets for the fourth week of the cycle (20% water change complied with last week). Ammonia: 4.0 mg/L (normal 0) Nitrite: 5.0 mg/L (normal 0 - 0.5) Nitrate: 20 mg/L (normal 20) Shouldn't the ammonia and nitrites be decreasing if the nitrate level is at it's norm? The fish seem ok but the water is cloudy. Forgive me, I'm new at this... Can anyone offer advice? You seem to have a cycle going, so just stay the course. A complete cycle in four weeks is rare - it usually takes 6 and sometimes 8. Cloudy water is normal until ammonia and nitrite are zero. It's bacteria and/or algae living on the ammonia and nitrite. As for the nitrate, is there nitrate in your tap water? 20 ppm would be high, but some folks have that much. If it's not from tap water it's a good sign that bacteria are starting to work. Also, are you using ammonia and/or nitrite neutralizers? People here have reported stalled cycles from water conditioners like Prime and AmQuel+. Watch your fish because your ammonia and nitrite readings are awfully high. Fortunately, test kits are not terribly accurate - if your readings were precise your fish would probably not be OK at all. Ammonia neutralizers and some tap water conditioners like Ammo Lock or AmQuel give false high readings on Nessler (clear changing to yellow-orange) test kits. If the fish start gilling hard and getting lethargic, they're suffering from nitrite poisoning. Change some water and add 1 tbsp of salt to the water (something pure like pickling salt or aquarium salt is best). A bit of salt helps counteract the poisoning. HTH, and I bet you'll have a cycled tank in another two weeks. -- Elaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__ I would be *much* more aggressive with the water changes until the tank is cycled. The combination of numbers also suggests something else is not right. Are you over-feeding or changing the filter media? Imagine their stomach is the sign of their eye. In general, overfeeding will cause more trouble than underfeeding, especially during cycling. During cycling, leave your filter media alone as much as possible. hth -- www.NetMax.tk |
In article , fro2750
@frontiernet.my_finger.net says... My money is on dirty gravel (poo and uneaten food), you should vacuum the gravel at water changes. The bacteria can not multiply fast enough to keep up with the growing poo factor. That's a good bet. I've got a couple of bottom feeders in there and it appears their food (and poo) is sinking into the gravel. I *did* notice a lot of crud coming out during the water change, but I didn't get to sift through it all because I hit my 20% before I could get it all covered. I ordered a battery-powered gravel vacuum yesterday online (since the local Petsmart doesn't carry them). Thanks to one and all for the useful advice. -- Chris http://www.choxnpinz.com |
Chris wrote:
In article , fro2750 @frontiernet.my_finger.net says... My money is on dirty gravel (poo and uneaten food), you should vacuum the gravel at water changes. The bacteria can not multiply fast enough to keep up with the growing poo factor. That's a good bet. I've got a couple of bottom feeders in there and it appears their food (and poo) is sinking into the gravel. I *did* notice a lot of crud coming out during the water change, but I didn't get to sift through it all because I hit my 20% before I could get it all covered. I ordered a battery-powered gravel vacuum yesterday online (since the local Petsmart doesn't carry them). Thanks to one and all for the useful advice. Waitaminute. You said "a few zebra danios and a couple of black tetras." Those aren't bottom feeders so I see you added more fish. You will need to be doing more and larger water changes. What is in your tank now? -- Elaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__ rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com |
The battery powered gravel vaccs work good except for one thing - the bags
the vacced crud goes into doesn't hold the gunk inside so usually you end up with very cloudy water and little if any actual crud in the bag. Gravel vacs that use a siphon are superior because they don't dirty the tank spreading the crud all over the place like the battery powered ones, also the gravity vaccs change water at the same time and are safe for fry. The power of the battery powered ones are good - it's just that they tend to dirty a tank more than just about any other method. Good luck, later! "Chris" wrote in message ews.com... In article , fro2750 @frontiernet.my_finger.net says... My money is on dirty gravel (poo and uneaten food), you should vacuum the gravel at water changes. The bacteria can not multiply fast enough to keep up with the growing poo factor. That's a good bet. I've got a couple of bottom feeders in there and it appears their food (and poo) is sinking into the gravel. I *did* notice a lot of crud coming out during the water change, but I didn't get to sift through it all because I hit my 20% before I could get it all covered. I ordered a battery-powered gravel vacuum yesterday online (since the local Petsmart doesn't carry them). Thanks to one and all for the useful advice. -- Chris http://www.choxnpinz.com |
In article , eetmail-
says... Waitaminute. You said "a few zebra danios and a couple of black tetras." Those aren't bottom feeders so I see you added more fish. You will need to be doing more and larger water changes. What is in your tank now? Sorry, my bad. I forgot to list two small Corys... Total fish in inches: 12. Total gallons: 29... -- Chris http://www.choxnpinz.com |
In article ,
says... The battery powered gravel vaccs work good except for one thing - the bags the vacced crud goes into doesn't hold the gunk inside so usually you end up with very cloudy water and little if any actual crud in the bag. Gravel vacs that use a siphon are superior because they don't dirty the tank spreading the crud all over the place like the battery powered ones, also the gravity vaccs change water at the same time and are safe for fry. The power of the battery powered ones are good - it's just that they tend to dirty a tank more than just about any other method. Good luck, later! I have a gravel vac that I use for water changes, but the water comes out so fast I end up filling the 5-gallon bucket before de-crudding half the tank. Is it safe to remove MORE than 20% of the water during a change? -- Chris http://www.choxnpinz.com |
Chris wrote:
In article , says... The battery powered gravel vaccs work good except for one thing - the bags the vacced crud goes into doesn't hold the gunk inside so usually you end up with very cloudy water and little if any actual crud in the bag. Gravel vacs that use a siphon are superior because they don't dirty the tank spreading the crud all over the place like the battery powered ones, also the gravity vaccs change water at the same time and are safe for fry. The power of the battery powered ones are good - it's just that they tend to dirty a tank more than just about any other method. Good luck, later! I have a gravel vac that I use for water changes, but the water comes out so fast I end up filling the 5-gallon bucket before de-crudding half the tank. Is it safe to remove MORE than 20% of the water during a change? If your tapwater pH matches that of the tankwater, the hardness is similar, and you have matched the temperatures, it's fine to do big 50% water changes. The problem with a tank that contains ammonia is that tapwater typically has a higher pH than tankwater so if you change too much the pH of the tank changes and there is more ammonia in the toxic form. Using an ammonia neutralizer AmQuel or Ammo Lock will solve this problem. You're cycling with too many fish anyway (I cycle with 1"/5-6 gal), so 20% weekly water changes are not enough. Change whatever water is necessary to keep nitrites at or below 2 ppm, using an ammonia neutralizer at each water change if the pH doesn't match. Once your tank is established and your fish less stressed, you can do water changes with water of somewhat different pH or hardness. -- Elaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__ rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com |
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