neurotik
Aquarium Advice Freak
So I've had a 55 gallon community tank cycled and running fine for going on two months now, I usually do tests on my water parameters once a week now, typically on the weekend sometime before I do my PWC for the week, and today I got some strange results.
pH: around 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: something between 0 and 0.25, the color of blue on my master test kit is definitely darker than the 0 shade, but doesn't have that shade of purple to it like the 0.25 does yet.
Nitrates: 15-20
What could be causing me to have just an every so slight trace of nitrite in my water all of the sudden? This is the first time I have seen even the smallest trace from any water test since my tank finished going through its initial cycle well over a month ago. The only changes I've made to my tank since last week's water change and last week's water tests were the addition of a DIY CO2 setup and I've started dosing my tank with the Flourish line of fertilizers (N, P, K, and comprehensive) for my live plants I've started growing, and I also added a second canister filter (Filstar XP2) to my tank last weekend to get some better filtration and circulation in my tank. Before the addition of the XP2 I was just running my Eheim Ecco 2236 on it.
The only theory that I could come up with was that maybe since my XP2 doesn't have any established media in it yet, that some of the water that's passing through it more often than my Eheim is not getting all of the nitrites broken down as effectively, and that's why there's a very small trace of them in the water, but no ammonia or any other apparent issues? That probably sounds like a pretty silly theory though, lol, but that's all I could come up with thus far.
Some help would be appreciated, thanks!
pH: around 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: something between 0 and 0.25, the color of blue on my master test kit is definitely darker than the 0 shade, but doesn't have that shade of purple to it like the 0.25 does yet.
Nitrates: 15-20
What could be causing me to have just an every so slight trace of nitrite in my water all of the sudden? This is the first time I have seen even the smallest trace from any water test since my tank finished going through its initial cycle well over a month ago. The only changes I've made to my tank since last week's water change and last week's water tests were the addition of a DIY CO2 setup and I've started dosing my tank with the Flourish line of fertilizers (N, P, K, and comprehensive) for my live plants I've started growing, and I also added a second canister filter (Filstar XP2) to my tank last weekend to get some better filtration and circulation in my tank. Before the addition of the XP2 I was just running my Eheim Ecco 2236 on it.
The only theory that I could come up with was that maybe since my XP2 doesn't have any established media in it yet, that some of the water that's passing through it more often than my Eheim is not getting all of the nitrites broken down as effectively, and that's why there's a very small trace of them in the water, but no ammonia or any other apparent issues? That probably sounds like a pretty silly theory though, lol, but that's all I could come up with thus far.
Some help would be appreciated, thanks!
