Just Done My First Water Tests On My Two Tanks

[Seb Spiers]

Right I've just tested my two tanks;

Tank #1 gave
pH 7.5
NH3 0
NO2 0.1
NO3 5-10

Tank #2 gave
pH 7.5
NH3 0
NO2 1.6
NO3 110

In tank #2 ive got my fry, 2 bristle nosed plecos, and 3 unknown rainbow fish. Is this a problem I need to fix immediatly or will it fix itself over time? The tank is only about a week old but I put half of the water from my other tank into it thinking it should be fine.

Is there anything I need to do?

 

[ox5477]

well the water is not what cycles a tank.... the beneficial bacteria that consume the fish wastes are in filter media.... so the tank is prob cycling... I would do 10-20% daily wc's until you get 0ppm readings for both ammonia and nitrite.

I would do the same for the other tank as well as it is showing 0.1 and thats not good either... it might be going through a mini-cycle as well if you added new fish within the last week or so.

Ox

 

[Davo86]

The tanks going through a mini cycle by the looks, you'll need to do a water change and keep the nitrite as low as possible or you may lose some fish

 

[Seb Spiers]

The tanks going through a mini cycle by the looks, you'll need to do a water change and keep the nitrite as low as possible or you may lose some fish

I'll do a couple of water changes tonight then!

 

[Seb Spiers]

I've done a 50% water change on my 2nd tank and my NO2 is still 1.6 and my NO3 is still about 110.

 

[jnms]

Can you put some media from your other filter 1 into filter 2? The bacteria from tank 1 would help cycle tank 2. Just don't take too much or else you end up with a problem on tank 1 as well...

 

[Seb Spiers]

Can you put some media from your other filter 1 into filter 2? The bacteria from tank 1 would help cycle tank 2. Just don't take too much or else you end up with a problem on tank 1 as well...

Theyre only small filters, they only have one little media thing in each.

I could swap the media between them both.

 

[jnms]

Can you put some media from your other filter 1 into filter 2? The bacteria from tank 1 would help cycle tank 2. Just don't take too much or else you end up with a problem on tank 1 as well...

Theyre only small filters, they only have one little media thing in each.

I could swap the media between them both.

No, that would be no good - as then your other tank would be in the same trouble...

 

[Cantbesaved]

Maybe do another water change, wait a couple hours and test again. if it is still high, do another change. as long as your filter media stays, you can't mess up the cycle from changing water so often, at least from what I have read you can't!

 

[Seb Spiers]

Maybe do another water change, wait a couple hours and test again. if it is still high, do another change. as long as your filter media stays, you can't mess up the cycle from changing water so often, at least from what I have read you can't!

Great news, my Nitrate and Nitrite levels are now well down and pretty much perfect

 

[OldMan47]

If you can get a reading on your nitrite, it is not fine, it is too high. Keep a close eye on things because you are doing a fish-in cycle on at least tank 2. There is a link in my signature to a thread that will help you understand fish-in cycling.

 

[Seb Spiers]

If you can get a reading on your nitrite, it is not fine, it is too high.

Its 0, it cant get much lower...