Water Change Delema

[ajg1460]

Did my first water change 25% Sunday after levels stabilized for 4 days as follows NH3 =0, NO2 =0 NO3 = 20ppm. Expected to see a drop in the N03, but no noticable change. Not sure what I did wrong? Where do I go from here? Will doing another larger water change this soon be detrimental? What can I do to help reduce NO3 naturally besides water changes? Sorry for so many questions in one post.

 

[Phyl]

What kind of water are you using (RO? Tap?)? What kind of salt? The nitrates are either still on their way up or you water had some or the decline was not enough to be noticable because of the water change. Once you eliminate 1 and 2 from being a problem do a larger water change (50%). 20 isn't a very large number for nitrates and isn't all that bad.

 

[ajg1460]

Water is RO,salt is Kent. Guess I'm kind of scratching my head wondering why you think my NO3 might still rise, and what would cause it, since NH3 & NO2 are both sitting at 0, and have been there for about a week. There is nothing in the tank, but LR & LS. This is an interesting but confusing hobby.

 

[Phyl]

wondering why you think my NO3 might still rise

The fact that it didn't go down on the water change made me want to double check some of the other ways that you could be adding the NO3 to the system (tap water, some salts). Guess I could have asked you what kind of test kit you were using too... Hopefully after your next major water change you'll see them drop and you can feel good about it.

You asked what you could do to keep them down naturally. The spike is expected in a cycling tank and once gone will only be a problem if the bio-load exceeds the tanks ability to process. Then you'd look to a refugium to export some of the excess nutrients.

 

[ajg1460]

Thanks for taking the time to explain. Speeds the learning process. Think I just goofed, tried to reply and got a page saying something about a report being sent Sometimes the fingers work faster than the brain. Sorry

 

[Phyl]

LOL. My husband did the same thing to someone else just last week. He PMd someone and they said not to worry, it happens all the time, lol!