Recent content by camsoft

Ok so you think I'm just having a Nitrite spike as part of the cycle and the Nitrate is a bit of a red herring? I did read on the water testing kit that the Nitrate reading can be a bit off if a high presence of Nitrite exists.

That's really helpful, so it looks like my ammonia has already been converted to Nitrite hence why I've had a massive spike of Nitrite and NitrAte.

Could someone explain for me why I can have high Nitrites and NitrAtes but zero Ammonia? Every test I've ever done either using strips of the chemical testing kit shows zero ammonia. What is going on in my tank?

Ok, shall I continue to do 50% changes?

Well I've got a 70 litre tank and I've got a lot of plants so I had to move slowly so that I don't suck up any plants or fish. Maybe it just takes practice.

The shop I bought them from recommended them as they said they were quite hardy and were bred specifically for being in tanks. Well I've had the fish in the tank for 2 weeks now are all 12 are still alive. 1ppm is a hell of a lot better than 5ppm though. I'll check again tonight.

I bought a syphon kit for cleaning the tank and doing water changes. It is basically a pipe with a long plastic tube on one end. You stick it in the tank and move it up and down vigorously to get it stared. There is a clip that holds the other end of the pipe in the bucket and it can also be...

I have some good news, I've now done two 50% water changes and cleaned part of the gravel and now have Nitrite down to 1mg/l and NitrAte down to 50mg/l and I've not fed the fish for a few days to try and control the situation. I'm going to feed the fish a little food this morning as they seem to...

I planted the tank and added water, heater, filter and the water was treated before adding. I waited about 7 days before adding the first 6 fish. I did read about cycles but found the information conflicting depending on where I read it online especially about how long to wait etc. I've been...

Ok I've just done a 50% water change, I think I'm going to not feed the fish for a day or so as I don't want to compound the issue. I have some Nitrate Minus should I put some of that in?

My second test was using a liquid testing kit and the results are the same. :-( How urgent is it that I do a water change and how much would you recommend 50%?

Just tested again and the results are the same NO2 5 and NO3 100.

I last tested on the 8th so two days ago, I'll test again now...

That's really helpful, does doing the water changes stress the fish out? My fish seem a bit nervy, I think I've been interfering with the tank too much. They all school together when I'm working on the tank and generally hide in the corners. I'm worried that I'm stressing them out. One of my...

I've just posted a question here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/high-nitrite-and-nitrate-but-zero-ammonia-323389.html#post3088423