Please help fast!!!

[russianaquarium]

EMMEDIATE HELP PLEASE i just changed my water and tested it and its looking way different than it did last week ?? What happened... Nitrate is at 80 ppm, nitrite 0, ph 6, kh 20 ppm, gh 20 ppm... Never had this before.. Maybe thats why fish are acting so different

 

[gemach7]

EMMEDIATE HELP PLEASE i just changed my water and tested it and its looking way different than it did last week ?? What happened... Nitrate is at 80 ppm, nitrite 0, ph 6, kh 20 ppm, gh 20 ppm... Never had this before.. Maybe thats why fish are acting so different

Keep doing water changes daily. Say you do a 50% water change you will still have 40ppm nitrate. PH has a tendency to drop as a tank ages due to fish respiration, photosynthesis and other chemical processes. This can also be corrected by pwc. If your tap water chemistry is drastically different from the tank do these as smaller percentages over the day.
Example
Day 1 25% @ 8am
25% @ 5pm

Day 2 35%

Day 3 35%

Should bring you down to around 20ppm over 3 days.

You should be doing 25% a week water changes. More if your overstocked or doing fertilizers. Also make sure the amount your feeding is quickly eaten. Left over food will quickly turn into nitrate.

 

[jarrod0987]

Do you have a well? Sometimes rural water can have contamination from nitrates or even ammonia(more in the spring though) Test your tap IMO

 

[russianaquarium]

I do have a well

 

[gemach7]

I do have a well

If it is from your tap a ro/di unit would solve the problem. Also could provide very clean drinking water if your water ever tested positive for anything worse.

 

[jarrod0987]

If it is from your tap a ro/di unit would solve the problem. Also could provide very clean drinking water if your water ever tested positive for anything worse.

RODI will kill his fish unless he knows how to buffer it again.

If you have a well test it for nitrate and ammonia IMO.

 

[gemach7]

RODI will kill his fish unless he knows how to buffer it again.



If you have a well test it for nitrate and ammonia IMO.

Yes sorry didnt elaborate, if do go this route there are multiple sites and products on remineralizing the water.

 

[russianaquarium]

Ok i will try using other water for now

 

[IllusionX]

For drinking, an RO/DI should probably be more than 6 stages, that include a remineralization filter..

Water source, sediment, carbon, membrane, DI, post carbon, mineral alkaline. It's a good investment for well water. I use it even for city water.

 

[gemach7]

I buy my r/o di water from my lfs for my SW nano tank. Costs me $1.29/gallon premixed, $1 a gallon pure.

I do not do this for my freshwater setups. As a total of 1050 gallons(105 gallons just for a weekly 10%) of water between them would be cost prohibitive.

Just an example as there are options out there.

Theres plenty of videos on youtube for ro/di setups. How to set up, what to buy, what to add, etc.

Do the tests first. Do the nitrate test on the tap. Then for further tests Lots of companies will actually offer water tests for free. You contact them, get a test vial, mail it to them, wait and get the results. They offer these thinking you will buy their filtration systems, but most do not require a purchase. Near me Home Depot does this. Petsmart and petco also offer tests like these if a customer.