mushroombrew
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2013
- Messages
- 13
Hello all. I have maintained a few >=20 gallon aquariums in the past, but just got a new 38 gallon for the living room about three weeks ago. All was well with the measurements at first and I neglected to test the water for about a week. At first the nitrates/nitrites measurements didn't even register in the dip stick but last night measured 10ppm+. I know... That's extremely extremely bad. A little embarrassing to admit, but there it is... I immediately did a 70% water change, added a couple of tablespoons aquarium salt to the filter and added "Prime" at 2x the indicated rate in addition to the normal "pH up" and water conditioner. The nitrite rate dropped to 3ppm afterwards and I decided to let it sit overnight. It was unchanged as of this morning at 3ppm so I repeated the above except this time I did a 90% water change. The nitrite/nitrate levels again don't even register on the dip sticks so I suppose I'm in the clear for a bit. Basically what I want to ask is if there is something else I should be doing or am I doing something wrong? The aquarium is a little under capacity and not overstocked given the "one inch of fish per gallon" rule. We have barbs, neons, angelfish, and a few guppies. We feed them twice a day. Flakes in the morning and blood worms in the evening. Never more than they can eat in 2 minutes. It's also somewhat heavily planted with about 2-3 inches of "sand" gravel on the bottom. We have an aqueon quietflow filter that uses one large cartridge and a powerhead on the other side of the tank to provide a little current in there. There's also three largeish pieces of drift wood. I just want my fish to be happy and healthy.