Hi all, new to the hobby been researching initially probably 9 months back waited a while then started researching more again recently and setup my first tank around 3 weeks ago. I have been reading through the site for a while before actually creating an account but wanted to ask some questions.
As I said the tank has been setup for around 3 weeks it is currently fishless, I started dosing ammonia 1 week in. I'm having a few "problems" that I wanted to get some advice on. I will post the questions below, feel free to post any advice here but I will likely post another thread also. Let me know if I am missing any key info.
Tank Info
145L
600l/h Pump
LED Light (23w)
Heater (Currently at 27c)
Planted Tank
Aquasoil and Sand
Pebbles, Bogwood, Spiderwood, Dragonstone
Testing Kit - API Freshwater Master Test Kit
Eheim 400 Air Pump with Airstone
1. I have been dosing ammonia (Dr Tims) between 2-3ppm and topping it up when it goes down to 1 for the last few weeks. About 10 days in nitrites went to 0.25 from 0 and has mostly been that since, apart from a couple of days that were 0.5. The issue I am having (if it is an issue) is that 2 of the last 4 days my nitrates have been at 160ppm which I have done water changes and got rid of but I wanted to know if it was normal that the Nitrites are mostly at 0.25ppm and not increasing above that but Nitrates are hitting 160ppm. In my mind I thought that Nitrites would be getting high first and then the nitrates would go off the scale eventually but my tank has skipped the Nitrites getting high and went straight to high Nitrates, so I wanted to know if this is good/normal or if theres a problem.
2. My PH went low yesterday. It has been at 6.6-6.8 up until yesterday where it went to 7.6 but nitrates were at 160ppm so I did a water change, tested today and my PH was at 6. I added some crushed coral to the filter hoping this would help which it has done previously a little but that PH seems quite low and thought someone might be able to give a bit of advice on why this could be happening.
Let me know if there is any info missing and I am looking forward to learning more about the hobby.
Thanks
As I said the tank has been setup for around 3 weeks it is currently fishless, I started dosing ammonia 1 week in. I'm having a few "problems" that I wanted to get some advice on. I will post the questions below, feel free to post any advice here but I will likely post another thread also. Let me know if I am missing any key info.
Tank Info
145L
600l/h Pump
LED Light (23w)
Heater (Currently at 27c)
Planted Tank
Aquasoil and Sand
Pebbles, Bogwood, Spiderwood, Dragonstone
Testing Kit - API Freshwater Master Test Kit
Eheim 400 Air Pump with Airstone
1. I have been dosing ammonia (Dr Tims) between 2-3ppm and topping it up when it goes down to 1 for the last few weeks. About 10 days in nitrites went to 0.25 from 0 and has mostly been that since, apart from a couple of days that were 0.5. The issue I am having (if it is an issue) is that 2 of the last 4 days my nitrates have been at 160ppm which I have done water changes and got rid of but I wanted to know if it was normal that the Nitrites are mostly at 0.25ppm and not increasing above that but Nitrates are hitting 160ppm. In my mind I thought that Nitrites would be getting high first and then the nitrates would go off the scale eventually but my tank has skipped the Nitrites getting high and went straight to high Nitrates, so I wanted to know if this is good/normal or if theres a problem.
2. My PH went low yesterday. It has been at 6.6-6.8 up until yesterday where it went to 7.6 but nitrates were at 160ppm so I did a water change, tested today and my PH was at 6. I added some crushed coral to the filter hoping this would help which it has done previously a little but that PH seems quite low and thought someone might be able to give a bit of advice on why this could be happening.
Let me know if there is any info missing and I am looking forward to learning more about the hobby.
Thanks