rickcpurcell
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Three = the (freaking Swype!)
Yes i have an API liquid kit that will test ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrate. Learned cycling the hard way (screw it up, then consult google and forums to figure out how to fix it, lol). My nitrate levels are still high (80ppm) and I'm currently working to slowly bring them back down via water changes siphoning the substrate. About 15% once a week. I'm worried about over doing it though if i go twice a week as the nitrates were at 160ppm at the end of the cycle and don't want to change the nitrate levels too quick and risk killing three fish. Am I looking at this correctly? Or should I be more aggressive with the water changes?
Don't worry about slowly, get them down ASAP! Its perfectly safe to do multiple water changes back to back; by back to back I mean do a water change, wait an hour, test your nitrate and do another huge water change; by huge I mean about 80-90%. Keep doing them until it's down to 20.
Oh...everything I read previously said hard shifts in nitrates in either direction could cause nitrate poisoning. I just did a change this morning. I will do another after testing where the levels are now. Tested before water change but haven't tested since. I could be mistaken, but everything I've read up to this point says that as long as you're not breeding anything below 100ppm on nitrates is acceptable (not necessarily good) below 40ppm being ideal and below 25ppm for breeding. Also given ammonia and nitrites are zeroed out. Is this bad info I'm getting?
I would say so. What Ive learned and what I maintain in my tanks is nitrates at or below 20 (some say 40 but I stick to 20). Anything above that is toxic to fish. Those nitrates need to brought down ASAP. Anything below 100 IS NOT acceptable. That would more than likely kill fish. They will be much better off as soon as the level gets down.
15% weakly isn't even ok for a cycled tank. 25% is the minimum IMO. For you I'd do 50% every other day
In my opinion
What you do.
1. Using a pitcher or bucket remove half of the volume of the tank
2. Using the same pitcher, full up 1 full of water roughly equal temp to your tank. Full that with the appropriate dose of conditioner
3. Repeat step 2 till water is full
55 gal tank. Which plants are you referring to as the stem plants? You can just use a pic number for simplicity. Also, do you think my lighting is ok? I was thinking about switching the colormax out with another 6700k
The red plant in pic three and the green plant in pic two on the far right. There is also some of those green stems in pic 3 to the left of the red plant. A stem plant is any plant that isn't growing from a bulb or that isn't growing from a single crown like a sword plant. Stem plants are just single stems that are usually sold as bundles with some type of anchor holding them all together in a bundle when you buy them.
Forgot to add that purchasing an Aqueon water changer will make WC's so much easier. No more bucket hauling. I've used one for years and couldn't manage without it.