Water levels

[TXaquaFanatic]

Are these levels ok?

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[coralbandit]

You shouldn't have any ammonia if the tank is cycled.
Is the tank cycled?
How long has it been set up and what is in it?

 

[sfreefer415]

The ammonia is a bit high and I'm assuming you meant 20ppm for the nitrates. If the tank was cycled previously, you could have overfeeding issues but if you haven't cycled it yet, that should be your top priority. The presence of nitrates could mean you have some beneficial bacteria but we need more details of the tank to be certain. I'm just throwing some theories that mean nothing until we know more about this tank.

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[TXaquaFanatic]

Just have a goldfish in it. Water has been in there for about a month now. Is the ammonia at a like oh my your fish is going to die lvl?

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[Fresh2o]

Just have a goldfish in it. Water has been in there for about a month now. Is the ammonia at a like oh my your fish is going to die lvl?

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IMO 0.5 ammonia is not fatal. But it should not be present in an established tank. I once had 1.0 ammonia straight from the tap. No ill effects after water changes because the filter processed it. Speaking of which, how often are water changes performed and how much water is changed each time?


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[TXaquaFanatic]

I have really only had the tank for about a month. So I doubt its established. I have been doing 25% Water changes twice a week.

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[Fresh2o]

Your water change schedule sounds fine.
What kind of filter are you using? The key in cycling is the establishment of beneficial bacteria (BB) in the filter's biomedia. Depending on the filter, cartridges are often used and routinely disposed of and replaced with new ones on a regular basis. The disadvantage of doing is is the removal of the BB in the old cartridge. If possible, simply rinse the cartridge in water that was removed during a water change and reuse it.


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[Mebbid]

Your water change schedule sounds fine.
What kind of filter are you using? The key in cycling is the establishment of beneficial bacteria (BB) in the filter's biomedia. Depending on the filter, cartridges are often used and routinely disposed of and replaced with new ones on a regular basis. The disadvantage of doing is is the removal of the BB in the old cartridge. If possible, simply rinse the cartridge in water that was removed during a water change and reuse it.


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The water change schedule is fine for normal situations, but with a present ammonia reading I would say it's insufficient.

I would suggest increasing the water change schedule to 50% water changes twice a week.

 

[TXaquaFanatic]

just a top fin filter that came with the tank. I will increase the water changes and see what happens ferom there. Thanks for the advice y'all.

 

[TXaquaFanatic]

So I am thinking .25 ppm on the ammonia. Agree or no? Yes a bit high but lower than it was reading at the beginning of this thread.

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[candymancan]

Looks more like .50 to me, and you have 0 nitrates it looks like, which to me means your tank isn't cycled.

 

[TXaquaFanatic]

Yah tank is new. So the cycling is going to be a little bit

 

[TXaquaFanatic]

Looks more like .50 to me, and you have 0 nitrates it looks like, which to me means your tank isn't cycled.

Suggestions on what the nitrates lvls should be? I thought 0 was ok, but after a lot of reading done in the past hour I am seeing that I thought wrong ha.

 

[candymancan]

Suggestions on what the nitrates lvls should be? I thought 0 was ok, but after a lot of reading done in the past hour I am seeing that I thought wrong ha.

If you have 0 nitrates then your tank isn't cycled. Physically unless you have no fish and no food or anything in the tank there is no way to have 0 nitrates... unless of course you have like 4 fish in a 90g tank with a million plants, but even then you should still see some nitrates over time.

Anyway, the end of the cycle process is nitrates, so if you have ammonia, and no nitrates that means your tank is still in the beginning phases of being cycled. Your ammonia will most likely go higher and higher until it suddenly drops and then you see the nitrites going up.. and then after a week those will go down and you will start seeing nitrates.. Then your tank is cycled once the ammonia and nitrites are gone.. But its still fragile meaning don't add a million fish until you build up a big supply of bacteria which can take months for a full stock of fish.


As for nitrates, plants help get rid of nitrates slowely.. but they prefer ammonia... That's why even with planted tanks we still see nitrates in our tanks. So you have to keep up with weekly or bi-weekly water changes, Most fish can tolerate nitrates in the 40-60ppm range, but when it gets higher you can start to see unhealthy fish and fishes dying over time once it gets above 80ppm.. For other sensitive fish however like Discus and Rams, they require lower nitrates preferably 20 and under.. Some people might want lower then 20 for discus, but I found up to 20 to be fine with them but I don't go higher.


People will argue 20 or lower for all fish, but as I said for regular fish like gouramis, live bearers, angle fish and barbs and so forth mine do fine in 40ppm

 

[PassengerTN]

You want to show nitrates. Most, including myself try to keep them under 20ppm, and others keep them under 40ppm. No nitrates means your bacteria colony is not processing ammonia.

Jesse

 

[PassengerTN]

I want to add that I am not recommending you to allow your nitrates, or anyone's nitrates reach 40ppm. Some places have awful water and have a major struggle keeping them at the lower desired levels. 40ppm should be taken as a warning sign that you need to do something (water change) or you're going to deal with bigger problems. While high nitrates can be toxic, its not the nitrates themselves that cause the problem. Nitrates greatly impede the production of white blood cell which over time makes the immune system useless.

Jesse

 

[candymancan]

Yea and eventually you will get into the cycle of things and not even bother with test kits anymore.. I don't use kits anymore unless im having some freaky die off or something which never happens to me anyway.. So I just change the water in my tanks on a regular basis and not worry about what the PH or nitrates are at and so forth

 

[PassengerTN]

Yea and eventually you will get into the cycle of things and not even bother with test kits anymore.. I don't use kits anymore unless im having some freaky die off or something which never happens to me anyway.. So I just change the water in my tanks on a regular basis and not worry about what the PH or nitrates are at and so forth

Agreed. Once you have your tanks stocked to your likings, use the test kit to monitor levels and do your water changes accordingly. Write them down on a piece of paper each time, and mark when you do wc's. Within a few weeks of doing it you should be able to see how often you need to do them. This is assuming you do the same % water change and feed consistently (no over feeding) and not introducing more fish to the bioload. Test kits are VERY convenient to have on hand though.

Jesse