I did a PWC and now my nitrates are higher

[leah9798]

I appreciate everyone's advice on this, so I made it worse some how or will it go back down again? Should I had some more prime or wait and see how it is in the morning? Help! Thanks!! Leah

 

[Alien Anna]

Check your tap water for nitrates.

However, since your tank isn't cycled yet you are going to have to keep doing the partial water changes daily anyway - ammonia is a far bigger problem than nitrates. Have you got any nitrites yet? You should be seeing them now.

 

[leah9798]

Hi anna! Sorry about all the questions, I appreciate your relpies. I'll check my tap water this morning. The 2 stores I go to were out of the nitrite test, so I havent been able to test them yet. The lfs did test them though and didnt say what they were(I should have asked) and said I had some nitrites and nitrates but they were both too low to be in the danger zone. So, Is it good that I do have some nitrites? Well, thank you maybe it is the tap. Leah

 

[Lateral Line]

Ammonia gets converted to nitrtite, nitrite gets converted to nitrate. If you have nitrtite, it means that some of your ammonia is being converted to nitrite which is less toxic than ammonia. So the presence of some nitrite indicates things are going the right way.

Whilst you have ammonia and nitrites, don't worry about nitrates. The other two are very much bigger problems.

Keep doing the changes.

 

[leah9798]

Thank you guys. I tested my water this morning, no ammonia! (which I'm hoping is good and nitrates are 5 again. I also tested my tap water which is a 5 also, could that be why my tank water is a 5 nitrate also even though I add the prime. I read on the bottle it detoxifies nitrate so does that mean it will still show up on the test even though its been detoxified? Thanks!! Leah

 

[Alien Anna]

Hi anna! Sorry about all the questions, I appreciate your relpies. I'll check my tap water this morning. The 2 stores I go to were out of the nitrite test, so I havent been able to test them yet. The lfs did test them though and didnt say what they were(I should have asked) and said I had some nitrites and nitrates but they were both too low to be in the danger zone. So, Is it good that I do have some nitrites? Well, thank you maybe it is the tap. Leah

Nitrates and nitrites are very different things.

Nitrates are the last stage of the Nitrogen cycle and provided levels don't get too high, they're not much of a problem. Even high nitrates won't kill your fish immediately.

Nitrites are the middle stage of the Nitrogen cycle and are toxic to fish, blocking their breathing mechanism. There is no "safe" level of nitrites and some fish cannot tolerate the minutest quantities. If you can read the level of nitrite, its a problem. You need to do an immediate 10-15% water change and continue daily until the nitrite disappears (at which point your tank is said to have "cycled").

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