High Nitrates?

[zburtle]

I've been having problems with high ammonia levels in my 40 gallon freshwater tropical community aquarium. I added a bottle of Dr Tim's One and Only yesterday and now my nitrates are pretty high. Roughly 90ppm. The ammonia is still pretty high, but is this a sign of the cycle starting to work?

 

[Mebbid]

Nitrates are a sign of a finishing cycle so that's a good thing.

Are there fish in this tank?

If so you will really need to start on a water change schedule. Any time you see your ammonia at .5ppm or above and any time your nitrates are 40ppm or higher you need to do a 50% water change to get them back into the safe range for fish.

Aside from that, a 50% weekly water change is a good practice to get into as well to keep things safe and replenished for your fish.

 

[Cynic]

High nitrAtes after adding bottled bacteria doesn't tell you anything sorry.

 

[zburtle]

There are fish in there. I have lost some mollies since I set up the tank a few weeks ago but the other fish seem to be ok. My ammonia is very high (over 4ppm). Since I just added the bacteria, will the bacteria have had enough time to attach and be able to survive the change?

 

[Mebbid]

If it's been over a couple hours then the bacteria will be fine. The fish won't last very long in that high of an ammonia level. They need a water change as soon as possible.

 

[zburtle]

I've also heard that when doing a water change and in the process of trying to create a bio filter, that you should not vacuum the gravel because you'll remove the bacteria. Is this true?

 

[zburtle]

Performed a 50% water change about an hour ago. Just tested the water and its roughly the same amount of ammonia. Not sure what to do now

 

[GodFan]

Performed a 50% water change about an hour ago. Just tested the water and its roughly the same amount of ammonia. Not sure what to do now

Test your tap water. That may be the issue.

 

[Cynic]

Performed a 50% water change about an hour ago. Just tested the water and its roughly the same amount of ammonia. Not sure what to do now

Unfortunately adding chemicals like bottled bacteria often making testing your water impossible.

All you can do is 50% water changes daily or as often as you can imagine until you can start to get more accurate readings.

 

[zburtle]

I thought the tap water may be the issue also, as I have well water and are surrounded by corn fields. However, I tested the water and it looks to be anywhere between 0 and .25.

 

[zburtle]

Unfortunately adding chemicals like bottled bacteria often making testing your water impossible.

All you can do is 50% water changes daily or as often as you can imagine until you can start to get more accurate readings.

Would you recommend against bottled bacteria?

 

[Cynic]

Would you recommend against bottled bacteria?

Yes. To the best of my knowledge there has been no scientific counter-argument to the inability for nitrAte bacteria to survive in bottled form.

Your best bet for future tanks is to cycle your tank either fishlessly or with fish depending on the amount of work you'd like to do and the amount of time you're willing to be without fish .