Is this possible??

[jcarlilesiu]

So i have posted in here recently about how i took my tank that my big gold fish died in a few months ago... that was never drained.. I took out all the fake plants, washed all the existing gravel, driftwood, and big rock under hot water, and changed the filter pad AND THEN INSTALLED FRESH TAP WATER. (I had some kind of bad disease and wanted to start over). It sat like that for about a week.. I then deceided to change the gravel base, removed all the old (leaving the water in the tank) and then washed and installed the new gravel. I installed several live plants. Tonight I bought a test kit and here are my readings.

Ph = 7.6
Amonia = .50 ppm
No2 = .25 ppm
No3 = 20 ppm


Is this possible? It looks to me like the nitrates are on the way up.. but why do i still have readings for the other two?

 

[Bubble_B0y]

maybe there is nitrates in your tap water???

 

[jcarlilesiu]

im going to do a check on the tap water right now

 

[jcarlilesiu]

reran test on straight tap water

Nitrate = 0 ppm

im guessing i never killed the cycle from before

 

[Fishyfanatic]

What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

aquarium pharmaceuticals inc. it was like 26 bucks at petsmart

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Did you follow the instructions to the T on the kit? Nitrates can give false results if not done properly. We are talking about the Freshwater Master Test Kit, correct?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

that is right... filled it up with 5 ml of water from the tank.. added 10 drops of nitrate test #1.. shook bottle... shook #2 bottle for 30 seconds... added 10 drops of #2 to test beeker... shook the beeker for 1 minute, let it set for 5 minutes took reading

 

[jcarlilesiu]

By the way I added 6 white cloud tetras? and 2 dwarf platties this evening...

 

[talloulou]

Seems to me that the tank must have had enough bacteria in it from before that somehow survived your cleaning and jump started your cycle. Since you still have some ammonia and nitrites the tank is not finished cycling but its well on its way.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

that is what i was thinking.. i was trying to totally clean it out because i had some kind of mysterious plague too... guess i didn't get all the bacteria out

 

[greenmaji]

What was the old filtration method?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Im using the same as before, only cleaned and new filter pad inserted (no active carbon).. HOB whisper with out the bio wheel

 

[greenmaji]

if you didnt clean out the inside of the tank (walls, gravel and decor) then that would be were the bacteria was hiding out