Nitrites And Nitrates

[turnnidge]

Wow I'm surprised this topic is still going hehe, glad its helping others!!

Just thought I should give an update on my new tank!

Currently after one night a few weeks ago my ammonia and nitrites just dropped to ZERO, and is still going strong YAY. lol

Although my nitrate is ZERO too is that a problem to look at and every now and then my pH goes high my tap water is about 8 and it goes higher than that, but then it drops after a while any ideas??

 

[waterdrop]

Wow I'm surprised this topic is still going hehe, glad its helping others!!

Just thought I should give an update on my new tank!

Currently after one night a few weeks ago my ammonia and nitrites just dropped to ZERO, and is still going strong YAY. lol

Although my nitrate is ZERO too is that a problem to look at and every now and then my pH goes high my tap water is about 8 and it goes higher than that, but then it drops after a while any ideas??

Hey turnnidge, I forgot whether you have very many live plants in there, do you? How are your fish holding up?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[turnnidge]

Hi waterdrop,

Ive got about about 8 live plants, as you can see in my footer pic I have also got two large pieces of bogwood which look great but annoying as I hate the tannins in the water they just wont go!!

But the fish they are doing great Ive just added some more atm I have:

2x peppered corys
2x Clown Loach
5x Red Platties
5x Threadfin Tetras
5x Emporer Tetras
2x Male Sailfin Mollies
2x Female Sailfin Mollies
1x Male Balloon Mollie
2x Female Balloon Mollie
8x Amano Shrimp

I did loose 3/4 fish at first when I was just cycling my tank, but now all is going great! Apart from the bloody brown water!

 

[waterdrop]

They say the brown water fades eventually, don't they? Doesn't the leaching slowly subside and water changes keep removing the coloration? I guess it just takes possibly a very long time.

 

[turnnidge]

Yeah it should fade, its just really annoying grrrrr lol wish there was summot you can put in the water that collects the brown stuff or just coats the wood to prevent it from leaching!

 

[Schmill]

From what I have read I 'believe' that the activated charcoal is supposed to be very good at removing the colouration, but I haven't had the problem myself, so can't say for sure.

 

[turnnidge]

Yeah I've heard that but the carbon can only be kept in the filter for a week, and if the tannins are still comming out for another few months. I think I better just let it do its stuff instead of just chucking money away, cus they stuff will be there altough it will remove it for that week but the tannins will still leach

 

[Schmill]

Aha, ok, I didn't actually know that the carbons lasted for such a short time, shows I have "Newbie" status for a reason

 

[turnnidge]

and me lol only found that out few days ago lol

how long u had ur tank for?

 

[Schmill]

Welll..... I have my tank for about 14 years at a guess, but for at least 10 of those it has been sat in my parents loft. I / we used to run the tropical tank when I was younger, am I am now just in the process of trying to get the tank up and running again - lol
So had the tank for about 14yrs, but guessing what you are REALLY asking is how long have I had it setup this time around, to which the answer is 4 days, including today!

 

[waterdrop]

My guess is that water changes are cheaper/simpler for removing tannin coloring than carbon.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Hawkins]

LOL Well still a geek in my opinion!! Just a fast learner, and really can remember some of this stuff from my GCSE's wow never thought I'd use that sentance!

I went to purchase a test kit today, but the place I saw said no need just bring in a sample and we can test it for you. I don't know if thats a good or bad thing for him to say, how much roughly would a API kit cost?

So all in all, nitrates wont be much of a problem if the water is changed regularly. Now I'm a little confused on whether the guy said nitrate or nitrite level is a bit high, as about 2hours before i done 50% water change due to the bogwood tainting my water lol

Mine said he'd test it each time, but it's 20 miles from where i live. I also wanted to be able to test it on my own. I got an API Kit and it was "25.00 but it was £20.00 in the other shop I went into.

He also tried to sell me JUST a nitrite testing kit for £9.00.

The API has nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and 2 different pH tests.

 

[turnnidge]

Well its been over 2 months since I started my tank and my parameters are great!!!

However I have my tank has changed a lot since the my first pic in my footer!

I will try to update it soon!

I have brought a pre-soaked piece of bogwood which was in my LFS tank and thats even turning my bloody water brown! grrrr