Sidetracked What Should My Levels Be?

[Shantih]

Hi all,

I did really well concentrating on my levels etc but now i am confused, what should all my levels be? Currently my readings are:

Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 5
PH - 6.4
PH High Range - 7.4

48 litre tank with 5 mollies, a pleco & 5 neons. (Yes i know i am looking for a bigger tank, this is what i have been sidetracked with, i just cant find one in budget)

Thanks Nicola

 

[Bobtastic]

Should be : -

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - <40
pH - fish dependant but 6 - 7.5

Ammonia and Nitrite should always be 0.

 

[Shantih]

Thats great thanks, i got in a fluster before.

So my other levels are ok its just my ammonia and nitrite that are wrong yes?

Am i correct in thinking that i should do a water change now then to try and get my ammonia / nitrite level down?

 

[Bobtastic]

Yep, you should be doing regular water changes and gravel/sand cleaning as part of your maintenance.

How long has the tank been running?

 

[Shantih]

I have had the tank running for approx 4-5 weeks now, its been a very unresearched start and i'm annoyed with myself for this, i am researching like hell now because my mollies are apparently no good for this tank so I want to get a bigger tank and fishless cycle it so i can rehome my mollies n plec into something they will be more comfy in.

Ok so heres another question, you say to vac the gravel regular, but when i vac the gravel it takes water out with it? is this not the same as doing a water change? How often should i gravel vac? I did it on sunday and there still seemed to be a lot of cack in the water after?

 

[arobinson1984]

Yes you can do a gravel vac at the same time as changing the water. Use the gravel vac as the way of removing the water you are changing.

I'd recommend doing 2 gravel vacs a week until the gravel is basically clear. You may then be able to drop to once a week but your plec will be creating masses of waste in a 48L which I suspect is one of the reasons you are experiencing ammonia spikes, unless your tank hasnt fully finished the cycle yet.

Andy

 

[Shantih]

Cool just checking i hadn't got confused somewhere

Yes my plec sits on a big pile of poop generally, when i put the light on he scurrys off into the ornament kicking up poo as he goes i really need a bigger tank, i just cant afford to go to shop n get one so am keeping eye out in papers / markets / ebay etc

how often should i change my water whilst ammonia / nitrites are present? once a day? or every hour as i did a few weeks ago because it was at 8

 

[arobinson1984]

You will find many bargains on ebay, a little tip below for you.

Many sellers misspell the word 'Juwel' which is a great brand of tank (you prob already know lol)

Search ebay for jewul and jewel and you'll find loads of tanks listed with them spellings and they tend to get less views/bids

Andy

 

[OldMan47]

You should change enough water every day to keep your nitrites below 0.25 ppm. the ammonia is not much problem at that pH but the pH itself is a problem for mollies. Mollies generally need hard high pH water and yours is anything but high pH. Some of the things that will help with a low pH is water changes, Texas holey rock, crushed shells or crushed coral in the filter. The water changes will help if your tap water pH is higher but not help much if it is around 6.0. The Texas holey rosk tends to slowly dissolve raising pH and water hardness. The crushed shell or coral in the filter also raise pH and hardness and don't show up in the tank like the holey rock does. For a molly, you could even add sea salt which tends to raise pH a lot but can be hard on other fish in the tank. The pleco and neons won't appreciate the sea salt at all.