Weird Test Results???

[Nybillygoat]

2 Days after Complete setup:

Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0.0 ppm
Nitrites 0.0 ppm
Nitrates 15 ppm ( tap water )

Test #2

Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrites 0.0 ppm
Nitrates 15 ppm

Test #3

Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrites 1.0 ppm
Nitrates 15 ppm

Test #4

Ph 8.2
Ammonia 1.0 ppm
Nitrites 1.0 ppm
Nitrates 15 ppm

Test #5

Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrites 5.0
Nitrates 15 ppm

Test #6

Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrites 1.0 ppm
Nitrates 15 ppm

Test #7

Ph 8.2
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrites 0.0 ppm
Nitrates 160 ppm

Ok so i done Test number 7 like 3 times and still the same results.. is my tank re-cycling again??? why is my Ammonia not dropped yet but my Nitrates are through the roof, and can't see any growth of algea in my tank... so i do a PW of like 20% or hold out on it....??

thanks !!

 

[roka64]

ACK!!!

Do you still have the shrimp in there? If so, how many? I could be wrong but the nitrates might be high due to the 4 shrimp and the bacteria is trying to catch up with the ammonia which keeps being produced from the shrimp. (Feel free to correct me)!

That reading is way too high! I know you tested it three times, but can you take your water to the LFS and have them test it for you?

 

[tecwzrd]

With your tap no3 at 15-20 ppm it would take forever to get your no3 level under control. I’d pull all the shrimp out, buy a RO/DI unit and start over with better source water. At this rate you will just have massive algae problems in the near future and IMO is going to be near impossible to recover easily just doing pwc.

FWIW 2 cocktail shrimp would have been plenty for a 75 gal tank to seed it. 4 just overloads your NH3 which actually hurts cycling a tank more then helps it and leads to huge no3 levels which you are finding out.

 

[Nybillygoat]

i'm not worried about the Nitrate levels, i can get them down with PWC ( am going to use rodi water), and also with my refugium i can get the nitrates down also.. i have only 2 shrimp in their now.... my concern is why is the ammonia level still at .50 ppm? because the Nitrates are so high?

thanks!!

 

[tecwzrd]

You could have too much of an ammonia source which overloads the capacity for bacteria to properly produce. Are you sure you are testing right? How much time had elapsed between test 6 & 7? Your nh3 should have been considerably higher i.e. 3+ ppm with no3 readings like that. Which test do you use? If AP did you use both bottles to test nh3? Have you verified ALL levels with your lfs?

If your no3 is really 160 ppm (it could be even higher then that) it would take 4 50% pwc (150 gal total) of no3 free ro/di water to reduce it to a level of 10 ppm (which is decent for fowlr). One 100% pwc (i.e. starting over) with well aged/mixed saltwater would be much easier and less time consuming/costly.

Doing 100% pwc (or at least as close as possible) is still recommended to get your no3 under control unless you really just enjoy doing tons of pwc.

You don’t have to start completely over since your lr has cultivated most of the needed bacteria to convert the nh3 to no3 but if you don’t get your no3 under control soon then algae will take over and your no3 will be too high for a clean up crew.