loona-chan
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2014
- Messages
- 8
So I finally finished my cycle, and at the end as the article said I did about a 90% water change to get as much out as possible. I have a ten gallon tank. It seemed to be okay, in the orange range on the API test, around 20 or so ppm. That seemed quite high as I had just done a 90% water change, but I figured I was good to go, and stocked it with 2 mollies (dalmatian and gold dust).
I added fish and about 10 days later I checked nitrates again, and they were firmly in the red. I wasn't sure exactly how high on the API test, as 40-80 both look exactly the same to me, even in a well-lit room. Anyway I've done around 40-50% water changes for three straight days after- and it's still in the red. Do they normally go up so quickly? I was under the impression that Nitrates would only get out of hand once a month and would only required a quarter water change. Do water changes do nothing about nitrates? Is there something I'm missing here to try and get nitrates down? If there is, then what is the best product for it? It looks to be a lighter shade of red now after three days (I guess), which means it might be coming down, but it's still hard to tell. The associated threads don't seem to treat nitrates as being as important to keep down as ammo and nitrite, should I be worried if it's in the red for a few days or should I rush out and do something? Thanks.
Neither of the fish seem to be showing signs of sickness or other problems, at this stage. Also, before anyone brings it up, I'm following the directions for the nitrate tests closely.
Update: I tested my tap water source and that is testing in the orange range, around 10-20ppm. Is this normal, or something I should be worried about?
Update 2: I tested from a jug of a distilled bottled water I had and it tested 0 as one would expect, meaning it's not a problem with the test. Still trying to check whether 20ppm of Nitrate is normal in municipal water supplies...
I added fish and about 10 days later I checked nitrates again, and they were firmly in the red. I wasn't sure exactly how high on the API test, as 40-80 both look exactly the same to me, even in a well-lit room. Anyway I've done around 40-50% water changes for three straight days after- and it's still in the red. Do they normally go up so quickly? I was under the impression that Nitrates would only get out of hand once a month and would only required a quarter water change. Do water changes do nothing about nitrates? Is there something I'm missing here to try and get nitrates down? If there is, then what is the best product for it? It looks to be a lighter shade of red now after three days (I guess), which means it might be coming down, but it's still hard to tell. The associated threads don't seem to treat nitrates as being as important to keep down as ammo and nitrite, should I be worried if it's in the red for a few days or should I rush out and do something? Thanks.
Neither of the fish seem to be showing signs of sickness or other problems, at this stage. Also, before anyone brings it up, I'm following the directions for the nitrate tests closely.
Update: I tested my tap water source and that is testing in the orange range, around 10-20ppm. Is this normal, or something I should be worried about?
Update 2: I tested from a jug of a distilled bottled water I had and it tested 0 as one would expect, meaning it's not a problem with the test. Still trying to check whether 20ppm of Nitrate is normal in municipal water supplies...