Nitrate, sand vs gravel, and plants (warning long rant :p)

[Scottishscales]

UPDATE: Well I was recommended that I test the tap water I am doing water changes with and these are the results according to my test kit

so i dont think my problem is my tap water but the ph looks a little high so i tested the ph in my tank and this is what resulted...

I see/saw a ph level of 7.8/8.0 ish so i think i need to lower my ph and maybe my tank will level out a little bit. I did test my tank for nitrites and ammonia earlier and they spiked up a bit since i did a partial water change and stirred everything up but I added some primer, stress zyme, and a nitra-zorb filter to get the levels back to normal and hopefully clear up the water once and for all

 

[icydeath]

Hmm alright. Sounds good. Good luck!

Oh hey if you are attempting to lower your pH naturally you could chuck in some peat moss.

 

[Scottishscales]

Well i did a water change and now my nitrites and ammonia have spiked up :/ i added another dose of prime to detoxify it but i do t know why it would spike when my tap water has none of that in it and it was zero yesterday.

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

 

[Caliban07]

Well i did a water change and now my nitrites and ammonia have spiked up :/ i added another dose of prime to detoxify it but i do t know why it would spike when my tap water has none of that in it and it was zero yesterday.

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

Your cycle has started again. You will start to see fluctuations in parameters now for about 1 months since you changed your filter.

Remember. Prime detoxifies ammonia nitrite and nitrate but they will still show up on the test as they have not been removed.

How long has it been since you changed the filter?


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[Scottishscales]

I changed the filter a week ago and i had rinsed the filter media for about 4 days and i havent touched it since knowing it needed to build up bacteria.

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

 

[Caliban07]

I changed the filter a week ago and i had rinsed the filter media for about 4 days and i havent touched it since knowing it needed to build up bacteria.

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

Ok so that makes sense. During a typical cycle ammonia will show up after about 11 days. You need to be on top of things now until the bacteria establish themselves again.

That means water changes and daily dosing of prime. The higher your ph the more toxic ammonia becomes. If you're up at ph 8. I wouldn't mess around. Even ammonia as little as 0.25ppm could be harmful.


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[mrvincent]

Ok so that makes sense. During a typical cycle ammonia will show up after about 11 days. You need to be on top of things now until the bacteria establish themselves again.

That means water changes and daily dosing of prime. The higher your ph the more toxic ammonia becomes. If you're up at ph 8. I wouldn't mess around. Even ammonia as little as 0.25ppm could be harmful.


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[Scottishscales]

I tested my water today and the levels havent risen so i guess the dosing of prime is working or something. Im just worried about losing my fish. Ive grown pretty attached to my gourami and pleco

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

 

[Caliban07]

I tested my water today and the levels havent risen so i guess the dosing of prime is working or something. Im just worried about losing my fish. Ive grown pretty attached to my gourami and pleco

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

That's good however, prime will not suppress or remove ammonia. It changes it's state. Ammonia becomes ammonium with the addition of prime. Ammonium is non or significantly less toxic than ammonia and can still be utilised by the bacteria. The liquid test kit cannot distinguish between ammonium and ammonia and measures the combination if the two or TAN (total ammonia nitrogen) so it will always be green on the API test kit as long as either is present.

Hope all goes well


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[Scottishscales]

I know prime doesnt remove it and the test kit doesnt know the difference but its a good sign that the levels aren't increasing right?

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

 

[Caliban07]

I know prime doesnt remove it and the test kit doesnt know the difference but its a good sign that the levels aren't increasing right?

"There's always a bigger fish." - Qui-Gon Jinn

Yes it is a good sign. Just keep testing.

Good luck


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