Out with Prime, back to Aqueon Plus?

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Ph

My ph has been consistent at 7.4. Min all my research, which has probably done more harm than help, it seemed that ph was less important than ammonia. Originally I just had the ph test kit and was getting such low readings. After I started from scratch and cycled my aquarium after about 5 weeks, I got the go ahead to buy more fish,

With this new tank that,has been cycled and established, the ph readings,have,been pretty consistent at at 7-7.4, more toward 7.4. The temperature of the tank is 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

I will definitely check out the gizmo you referred to!
 
Probably not a PH issue if at 7.4. Continue to do the WC's whenever your ammonia levels are above 0.5 ppm regaurdless of which test is used. The difference in readings between them is a non-issue compared to the fact that the BB is not established in your tank yet, exposing your fish to NH3.
 
5-28
Ammonia 8. (After first change using prime)

Water change.

5-29
Ammonia 4

Water change.

5-30
Ammonia 4

Water change.

6-2
Ammonia 4-5

Water change. Then retest. Ammonia 2

Another water change.

6-3
Ammonia 2

Water change. Retest ammonia 2

6-4
Ammonia 2

Water change using Aqueon plus. Retest ammonia .5

I would like to point out that this seems perfectly normal for water readings. Ammonia is is constantly rising so by waiting a day to test after a water change it has already gone up. On a side note I would suggest doing a couple water changes today if possible. You really want to get your ammonia down to .25.
 
Oy. I did a reading this morning. The ammonia stayed at .25; the N2 is at a solid .25 (usually they are in a range of 0-.25); the N3 went up to 2.5 from a long time at 0; and the PH remains at 7.4.

Maybe my eye sight just sucks when I am trying to compare the colors with the chart.

As suggested, I added the appropriate amount of Prime into the tank. I was planning on testing again in a few hours, but my understanding is the ammonia reading will still be positive, but the nontoxic positive.

It will be interesting to see if it stays at .5 (only using Amquel) or whether it will go back up to 2 (after adding prime). Depending on those results I was going to do a water change today or tomorrow.

Mebbed - I'm not sure I understood your response to Plantaholic's question about the readings/advice for my particular tank.

I really appreciate all the feedback everyone has provided. Thanks everyone for taking the time to guide me through this!
 
If you wait until the next day to test your ammonia level after a water change then its going to he different.

Doing a 50% water change drops the ammonia. Ammonia is continuously rising in your tank so when you wait until the next day its higher. Your *strange* reading isn't really strange at all and is in fact expected.
 
Of course, the ammonia readings aren't out of the range of what's expected to be seen for this tank.


Just checking:). Somewhere I got the idea that the ammonia spiking was a new issue in Novice's' tank, tied to the issue of switching to Prime...

Good to hear it's staying low Novice',
A spike in Nitrite then nitrates are sure to come soon, more water changes! Whew hew!
 
Plantaholic - my concern was that the spike in ammonia was related to switching to prime from Amquel

In any case, I will be doing another water change in a few hours, but first I'm going to see if the readings are majorly different since I added the prime earlier today (keeping in mind that the readings will go up the longer I wait to test after doing an actual water change and not just adding prime).

If I do two water changes today, should I do about 20% each time?
 
Plantaholic - my concern was that the spike in ammonia was related to switching to prime from Amquel

In any case, I will be doing another water change in a few hours, but first I'm going to see if the readings are majorly different since I added the prime earlier today (keeping in mind that the readings will go up the longer I wait to test after doing an actual water change and not just adding prime).

If I do two water changes today, should I do about 20% each time?

Nope, keep it up with 50% water changes.
 
Update,water reading

Did about 40% water change

New readings about 2 hours later
Ammonia little less than .5
N2 .25
N3 2.5
PH 7.4
 
Wait wait wait. How long has this tank been running?

Sent from my SM-T310 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
This particular aquarium has been going since late February early March. Before, I had an aquarium for 2 years, but had to start from scratch because I could not get the diseases or ph under control and was down to 1 fish. I bought a new glass part after being advised to start over. I was worried about keeping that one fish in the old tank while waiting for the new one to cycle. After someone pointed out to me the fish would be better off in the new, un cycled tank than in the hopeless old one, I transferred him right away. I added quick start and got weekly readings at Petco because I didn't have my own testing kit yet. That fish thrived when I moved him to the new tank and is still with me. The girl at Petco was very strict in terms of adding new fish (she actually knows a lot more than I would expect a petco employee would). After about 4-5 weeks, I started to add 2-3 fish at a time, first monitoring them in my newly cycled 5 gallon quarantine tank). I have had 2 plecos die on me and that was heart breaking. Otherwise, the other fish have been good. Even with my current ammonia problems, the fish seem to be okay.
 
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