New Tropical Fish Enthusiast

[Blondielovesfish]

Yes, the same does apply.

Though most wait about an hour to make sure that the water is properly mixed.

 

[brwoody]

Thanks for the advise! So my readings from yesterday were as follows, do they seem ok?
 
pH - 7.6
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - 2.4
 
I will be carrying out another set of tests tonight to check that nothing has fluctuated too much. Any tips people can give me would be very much appreciated.
 
Cheers!

 

[SamB]

Hi brwoody. You want Ammonia to be as close to 0 or lower. You are in a dangerous area for your fish. Ammonia above .25 prompts a water change in my opinion. You definitely want to be doing a large water change ASAP.

 

[brwoody]

Hey SamB,
 
I cross referenced my pH reading with the Ammonia reading and the reading was actually in the green (perhaps I have recorded the wrong figure from the ammonia test by mistake). I assume I should have taken the figure from inside the chart rather than the initial ammonia reading results.
 
Out of curiousity, how can I lower my pH without adding any chemicals to the water?

 

[SamB]

Your pH is a good pH for your fish. Most of us don't really intentionally mess with pH (beyond putting driftwood and certain types of leaves in a tank) and those that do often use natural processes like peat filtration. I wouldn't try to mess with the pH in your tank intentionally since it is fairly neutral and ok for the fish that are there now. 
 
What test kit are you using? I use the API test kit which you put drops in a tube and it turns a color.. I'm not really sure what you are talking about with cross referencing pH and ammonia and a chart.

 

[brwoody]

I have the API pH test kit which is drops and I am using the Nutrafin Nitrate and Nutrafin Ammonia test kits.
 
Thanks for the advice on the pH.

 

[SamB]

if the Nutrafin Ammonia is reading about 2 ppm in your tank, that is a high ammonia reading. Best way to combat is a water change!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Do a 70% water change as soon as you can, then wait an hour and test. If the ammonia is above 0.5 do a 50% water change again. Remember to use a dechlorinater and match the temperature.

 

[brwoody]

That ammonia reading was an error on my part, it should have been 0.05 according to my chart. Readings for yesterday were as follows:
 
pH - 7.6
Nitrate - 0.3
Ammonia - 0.04
 
Do these sounds ok?

 

[Essjay]

Do you mean nitrAte or nitrIte is 0.3?
 
If your test kit is anything like mine, the lowest colour after zero is 5.0; a reading of 0.3 sounds like nitrite. If it is nitrite, you need to keep that as near zero as you can, like for ammonia, so you need to do a water change. But if it really is a nitrate reading, you need to get a tester for nitrite asap as nitrite is also toxic.

 

[brwoody]

Good spot! The kit is for Nitrite....are there any tips for keeping this low? How often are you guys carrying out 25% water changes on your aquariums?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You want to keep nitrite at 0.
The best way to do this is through water changes.
If, for example the nitrite is at 1.0ppm, a 50% water change will only bring it down to 0.5ppm. If it was at 1.0ppm then you would need to do a 80-90% water change.

 

[brwoody]

Thanks for the advice. I've done a 50% change but the fish now seem to have taken a turn for the worse...would it be more advisible to do smaller changes a few times in a day or would that not make a difference?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Smaller frequent water changes would have pretty much the same effect as a few large ones.
While you have high nirite though, do several large water changes until it is near 0 and then keep it as low as you can with frequent small water changes.

 

[brwoody]

Hey all,

I've carried out a 75% water change this morning and I've just checked the nitrite levels again and they are really high again - I'd there anything else I should be doing to help get them down or should I just leave the water a day prose before testing again?