Api readings

[jus10dubois]

Nitrates were in the red yesterday so did a 10 percent wc and they have dropped back to oreange

 

[Potluck]

Nitrates are not an issue what's strange is you have all them nitrates and your nitrite is still high, are you making sure you're not putting to many drops in for nitrite test it's 5 drops? I would do a manual water change with a bucket and treat each bucket before you put it back into the tank, python water change units if you read on them they are actually not good as you treat after the water is added, I personally will never use a python, I take out 15 gallons a week for my pwc and use 2 ml of prime, for each bucket I put roughly .05 in the first 2 then the final bucket I use the rest which would be 1 ml, I've read so many stories where a python is the cause of the tank spiking but that's up to you, are you treating the whole volume of the tank after a water change because with a python you do.

I would do 30% manually with a bucket and treat the water before you add it to the tank and see what that does.

 

[jus10dubois]

Nitrates are not an issue what's strange is you have all them nitrates and your nitrite is still high, are you making sure you're not putting to many drops in for nitrite test it's 5 drops? I would do a manual water change with a bucket and treat each bucket before you put it back into the tank, python water change units if you read on them they are actually not good as you treat after the water is added, I personally will never use a python, I take out 15 gallons a week for my pwc and use 2 ml of prime, for each bucket I put roughly .05 in the first 2 then the final bucket I use the rest which would be 1 ml, I've read so many stories where a python is the cause of the tank spiking but that's up to you, are you treating the whole volume of the tank after a water change because with a python you do.

I would do 30% manually with a bucket and treat the water before you add it to the tank and see what that does.

I am putting 5 drops in. And yes I do treat the whole tank with prime the python is just convenient I guess I should try buckets again but when I was using buckets it was the same....

 

[Potluck]

I am putting 5 drops in. And yes I do treat the whole tank with prime the python is just convenient I guess I should try buckets again but when I was using buckets it was the same....

Did you treat the buckets before adding the water back into the tank? Do you have thick gravel, when you do a water change do you vac the gravel, what types of filter(s) do you have as filters hold a lot of nitrate, if it's a canister you might just need to clean the pads in tank water siphoned from the aquarium and the plastic parts of the canister rinsed out, if it's a hob with a sponge type like a Aquaclear, the sponge needs to be cleaned in tank watet you siphoned out, also your bio load might be to much for your filtration, how bigs the tank? what filter /type of filter do you have? how many fish? could you list your stock as well please.


NEVER clean filter sponge/cartridge/ media in anything other than tank water you siphon out when doing your pwc

 

[jus10dubois]

Did you treat the buckets before adding the water back into the tank? Do you have thick gravel, when you do a water change do you vac the gravel, what types of filter(s) do you have as filters hold a lot of nitrate, if it's a canister you might just need to clean the pads in tank water siphoned from the aquarium and the plastic parts of the canister rinsed out, if it's a hob with a sponge type like a Aquaclear, the sponge needs to be cleaned in tank watet you siphoned out, also your bio load might be to much for your filtration, how bigs the tank? what filter /type of filter do you have? how many fish? could you list your stock as well please.


NEVER clean filter sponge/cartridge/ media in anything other than tank water you siphon out when doing your pwc

I use a python and treat whole tank with prime when putting water in. I have a 130 gallon . I have a marineland sump 4 and I have 3 small oscars and a 5 inch pictus catfish the filtration I have 4 trays in the sump first layer is the blue and white fabric stuff then I have charcoal in bags for next layer then I have the bio media on bottom tray then it falls on bio wheels in my sump then I have a pump with head for return to tank I'll post pic

 

[jus10dubois]

 

[jus10dubois]

 

[jus10dubois]

and this is the bottom tray

 

[jus10dubois]

 

[jus10dubois]

And I have been vacuuming the substrate when I do my pwc which is 10 percent I was doing 25 but lfs said to do 10 until my tank is cycled I have not cleaned pads or anything in the sump still look new on some parts

 

[Potluck]

Oh yeah it's still cycling, forgot sry, what is baffling to me is nitrate is the last part of the cycling process Therefor ammonia and nitrite should read zero, but it could be restarting which is common in fish in cycling, nitrates aren't going to hurt the fish for a short period I have had my nitrates over 80 ppm for like 2 years couldn't get it down until I changed substrate, don't touch the sumps or material or media, have you been dosing live bacteria? Also you can get pre seeded media online to add to the sump which speeds up the cycling process, if not I would honestly get bacteria in a bottle api stress zyme + , the thing with fish in cycling is it takes longer than fishless because you're always removing water which slows down the process, do you do 10% daily or every other day? You should be doing them every day or every other depending on your readings, <. 25ppm once you hit 0 ammonia,0 nitrite your nitrate should balance out keyword "should" what's your tank temp, if it's lower than 79 it's going to take even longer because warm water builds bacteria faster that's why most of us fish keepers with community fish that don't require high Temps keep the tank 77-79 because bad bacteria also has trouble growing in lower tank temperatures, I know nothing about the fish you keep as what they need temp wise, but 82 is the recommended temp to get the cycle going faster. With the live bacteria that might not even work due to so much water changes, so nix that idea, also when you put the prime in the tank after you use the python you're supposed to have the filter off don't know if you do that or not. Here's a Duckett on fish in cycling it just doesn't say how much water to change I guess it depends on your levels.
http://www.kevinbush.com/cycling/the-fish-in-cycle/

 

[Potluck]

Document not Duckett lol

 

[jus10dubois]

I also have a pad bubbler and a strip bubbler

 

[jus10dubois]

Yes I shut off the sumps and I have used 3 bottles of seachem stability and I do water changes every 3 days I was told by lfs that my fish are used to the perimeters that it would be ok just as long as I put prime everyday and my temp is at 81 degrees

 

[Potluck]

Not stability prime

 

[Potluck]

Okay saw you say prime, it could take several weeks, read that document I linked maybe that can help you better

 

[jus10dubois]

Thank you for your responses