help me understand my parameters as they are not changing or i am color blind

[pairenoid]

so earlier this week i noticed a little higher ammonia due to over feeding
lets say its .25 and nitrites are at 0. I have never seen my nitrites higher than 0, i must choose odd times to do my testing. Everyday I test this week i have .25 ammonia and 20-60 ppm of nitrate, very hard to read nitrate. I have done 3 water changes and it still reads the same? im either thinking that the ammonia is 0 and i am color blind, or its right and something is wrong? If i have ammonia, and nitrates, doesnt that mean nitrites has to also go higher than 0? why hasnt my frequent water changes brought the nitrates to 0 yet. Im doing another water change today, always at least 3 gallons

 

[Pufferlove]

How long has the tank been up? Could be the ammo spike or a second spike.

 

[pairenoid]

i guess it could be a spike im running at around ~2-3 months. My main concern is my nitrates increased from a consistent 20 to 80, and my ammonia at 25ppm from 0 while my nitrites stay a consistent 0 through all of this. If this was a spike wouldnt my nitrite rise after my ammonia? I literally have not seen my nitrates >0 since i cycled. Ive done 4 water changes in a week, all the while increasing my salinity to .23

 

[Pufferlove]

Hmmmm what type of test kit are you using has it expired I have heard of pet stores selling expired test kits by accident before.

 

[Rlavassor86]

i guess it could be a spike im running at around ~2-3 months. My main concern is my nitrates increased from a consistent 20 to 80, and my ammonia at 25ppm from 0 while my nitrites stay a consistent 0 through all of this. If this was a spike wouldnt my nitrite rise after my ammonia? I literally have not seen my nitrates >0 since i cycled. Ive done 4 water changes in a week, all the while increasing my salinity to .23

Question, are you using R.O. Water for the water changes? If your not I have seen pretty high ammo levels come from municipal water before. Just a thought.

 

[pairenoid]

i feel stupid for asking but what is r.o water. I hear this term tossed around a lot but i have no idea what it means. I saw one guy purchase water at my lfs which i thought was weird. Is it possible to buy like 5-10 gallons of this and just store it in my garage until i need it? will the lfs give me a bucket and all for it

 

[Rlavassor86]

i feel stupid for asking but what is r.o water. I hear this term tossed around a lot but i have no idea what it means. I saw one guy purchase water at my lfs which i thought was weird. Is it possible to buy like 5-10 gallons of this and just store it in my garage until i need it? will the lfs give me a bucket and all for it

Reverse osmosis water. Has all impurities removed. You can buy at LFS for usually around 50 cents to a buck a gallon. I forget what the parameter of R.O. Water is exactly but I think it's ph neutral at like 6 and has I think 0 for hardness( please feel free to corrected here if I'm wrong.) you can also buy a unit and hook up to your sink plumbing for under 200 bucks. Really only worth it if you've got a big tank. As for storing it you should be ok as long as you keep it covered.

 

[pairenoid]

so i tested my tap water and i seriously cant tell if its 0 or .25 ammonia. When i first got my clownfish, i had my water tested by the lfs and they said it was fine. So i am assuming my ammonia is 0 and my test is faulty. Ive had a freshwater tank for a year and i never tested the water but my fish never died. I have had my clean up crew without even acclimating properly and all of them are still alive except 1 snail that never moved. My clownfish i want to say is perfectly healthy but i admit he does not eat like other people mention(he will pick at food very slowly but eat it). My crabs are ravenous and eat like crazy, the only thing i can say is that sometimes 2 of my snails always just lie upside down in the sand for a few days at a time but they are still alive(slowly raised salinity from .20 to .23 over the course of a month)

so im like at 2-3 months. If i had .25 ammonia wouldnt everything be dying off or be sick? i tested my tap water twice and my tank right now and they all show a more green than yellow color, but i dont believe its still at .25 ammonia because ive done 4 water changes in a week. Even if its my tap water that doesnt make sense since ive been using it for 2 years for all my fish. Im second guessing myself because i dont even remember what 0 ammonia looks like on the chart, so im guessing im at 0 but it just looks very close to .25 because of the very weird color, its honestly such a weird color it doesnt even show up on the chart lol.

edit: i just read that stirring up sand can cause an ammonia spike, which i def did. Although it was AFTER i saw a .25 reading, but still i think i can recall a time where the sand got stirred up a bit, although barely. Even so, its been days and the water settled so i doubt it was that

 

[Abno10]

The abbreviation RO stands for Reverse Osmosis and DI is short of De-Ionisation, which are both techniques of purifying, removing the impurities from, tap water so that it is suitable for use in a marine aquarium. RO/DI is using both techniques, first RO then DI, to obtain the water. RO by itself has difficultly removing some of the ions from the water, so typically that treatment is followed by DI to ensure the last lot are removed.

The difference between RO and DI water is the technique used to remove the impurities/ions. RO uses a semi-permeable membrane which is fine enough so that essentially only water molecules will pass through it. As a result you produce about 3 times as much waste water as purified water. DI uses ion exchange resins, which exchange the ions in the water, such as iron, magnesium, copper for hydrogen and nitrate, sulphate, phosphate for hydroxide. DI is fine to use, and if done correctly is better quality than a straight RO system (without a DI on the end).
You should be able to buy ro water from your lfs,if you can't some people use distilled water.

 

[Beengirl]

You can store water in your garage for future use. I do it. The LFS will not give you a bucket, though. You can buy 5g buckets and a lid in the paint dept at Home Depot or lowes, mine were about $5 total for each bucket/lid. (Sold separately) Only use these buckets for clean water, not for draining your tank or having any chemicals in, though. Depending on where you live, at this time of year you might need a small heater to heat up the buckets of water that have been in the garage to tank temp to before adding it, though.
Tap is fine to use for FW, but I wouldn't use it for SW. Tap has phosphates and other things in It that will at some point cause problems in your tank, like hair algae, for instance. After enough builds up in your system, it'll cause trouble for you.

 

[pairenoid]

ok so i think i found the issue, if it wasnt an ammonia spike
i think every time i add water to my tank it raises to .25 because my tap water has ammonia in it. So every time i did a water change it didnt have enough time to convert it

i skipped a water change and my ammonia is either 0 or close to 0, i can def see a color change. My nitrite has been 0 this entire time, and my nitrates went from 80 to 40 to maybe a little under 40, but def notice a color change

i am going to invest in a ro unit, thanks guys! now i feel bad because i actually did a water change right after acclimating a fish and he died, but now i know why =/