Quick question on Eco-complete

[Thever]

I cycled my unstocked tank last week, readings were normal, I think. 0 Amm, Nitrites were 1.0, Nitrates were in the 40 ballpark, and kept small dosing of amm for a few days and everything was the same. 90% water change and my Nitrates are still the same......I do have Eco-complete and do remember the bag looking a little milky, am I screwed?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Have you checked your tap for nitrates? I doubt they would be 40....but just curious.

I know Eco complete is supposed to be packed with bacteria, but I've never had nitrates jump up, especially in an unstocked tank.

If you have been adding ammonia, its possible that the bacteria are quickly turning it into nitrates. Now after a 90% water change, they should have gone down, if you didn't add more ammonia after that....so I dunno. (I'm just thinking outloud mostly....)

I'm curious about the tap findings.

 

[Thever]

tap test says 0- tube is yellow

I was reading about a problem that they had with eco complete a few years ago, I just bought this bag 3-4 weeks ago, no idea how old the bag was- its gone now of course!

 

[mgamer20o0]

are your nitrites at 0? toss some plants in there. even with 40 its not that bad. nitrates are often just used as a mark of tds.

 

[Thever]

That was my next question, are plants affected by high nitrate levels? I'm getting some riccia in the mail tomm, should I just plop it in there and let it float for a while? I'm new to the planted scene so not sure whats good for plants and whats not.

Nitrites are 1.0

 

[mgamer20o0]

do another large wc and test again. could your kit be bad/old? though if your adding ammonia and the tank isnt cycled nitrites and nitrates are going to be there.

 

[Thever]

Not sure if it was cycled or not, I overdid it with the ammonia, but 5 days later it was gone and nitrites were up, then went down, unfortunately I didnt test my nitrates from the start, so I dont know if they have been high all along. Will do another change

 

[mgamer20o0]

my guess your still cycling so you need to keep up with the ammonia and hold off putting fish in.

 

[Drewbie]

I find if you just wait a few days sometimes these things work out.

Doing huge water change like 90% will just start your cycle over again

IMO

I like to wait and see.

 

[Purrbox]

If I remember correctly the problem with EcoComplete a while back had to do with high Phosphate levels and not Nitrates.

 

[gzeiger]

Plants love nitrate.

 

[mgamer20o0]

I find if you just wait a few days sometimes these things work out.

Doing huge water change like 90% will just start your cycle over again

IMO

I like to wait and see.

how will it start the cycle over? bacteria for the most part lives on things not so much in the water.

 

[Drewbie]

how will it start the cycle over? bacteria for the most part lives on things not so much in the water.

replying to posts like this just start flame wars so lets agree to disagree.

In my mind I thought if we test the water (check levels) to me something lives in the water as well.

If he is in the middle of the cycle. removing 90% of the water even if it only removes 30% (example number) of the bacteria its still less bacteria for the cycle to complete.

That's why I said its best to wait two weeks for a cycle to complete then test see whats up and go from their.

again just my opinion.

 

[mgamer20o0]

lol i am here to learn no flames from me..... i am always learning something new. if he isnt cycled your right in wc wont help much but for the factor of taking away its food source. the reaserch from dr tim (Hovanec) shows the water is where it starts. the most common thought (doesnt always mean its right but in this case i think its true) the bacteria from the water grabs hold in the filter media gravel on anything and starts to multiple. with fresh source of food all the time the filter is where most tend to live. its how i cycle a tank.... i move a filter over which already has a lot of bacteria over to a new tank put a fish fish and plants no ammonia or nitrite spikes. getting back to the tank.... when you do a wc yes there is prob more bacteria in the water then the tap water your putting back in but i would take a guess to say its miniumal. what the thing i think to be worried about is if the tank is not fully cycled wc will remove the bacteria food source and it might kill some off. tieing it all together might be a good idea to test the tank more and keep better record of what your doing so you will know if its fully cycled or some clue as to whats going on.

drewbie if i got any of this wrong please pm we can take it up there or we can make a new topic so we dont kill the ops thread.

 

[Thever]

Thanks for the info sofar, I put the Riccia in yesterday, added a little ammonia and checked things this morning. Amm. was 2.0, nitrites - 1.0, nitrates - in the 20's, Things should be a little more constant now as tank distrurbances should be minimal for a while.