Some Advice On Readings

[Miss Wiggle]

firstly, why are you adjusting the pH and what are you using?

your tap water's pH of 7.2 is fine for the fish that you have. pH is tricky to adjust and keep stable, the chemicals to do it are pretty bad and you usually end up with a fluctuating pH. Fish will be much happier with a pH that's a point or two off their ideal and stable than one's that's fluctuating and occasionally hits on ideal.

don't use the rainwater, there's more to water chemistry than the 4 levels we test for, there could be all sorts of contaminents in there that we can't test for, tap water is much more reliable.

the ammonia in your tap water is not un-common and is manageable. when the tank is mature it won't be a problem at all, when you do a water change and add some water with a small amount of ammonia in the filter bacteria will process it within an hour or so, it won't be around long enough to harm the fish. The only advice I'd give is instead of doing large water changes do smaller ones but more often. So if your normal routine would be a 40% change once a week, do two 20% changes instead. It means the amount of ammonia added at any one time will stay fairly low and manageable.

in a cycling tank it's a little bit trickier because the filter bacteria are not yet capable of handling the waste produced by the fish let alone any extra ammonia. But it just means changing your targets. For most people doing a fish-in cycle we advise to do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0. for you the best you can hope to achieve from water changes is ammonia 0.25 and nitrite 0 so that's your target. So test your water each day, if your ammonia is above 0.25ppm then do water changes to bring it down to this level (and nitrite to 0), if you test and ammonia is 0.25 or lower then water changes will not improve it so you don't need to do any. You will then get to the point where the ammonia drops down to 0 and the nitrite starts to rise, you then start doing water changes again so that you are keeping the nitrite down, don't worry about the fact that you are adding ammonia to the tank because by this time the bacteria will be able to handle it, but again instead of doing big water changes each day do a small change then leave it a few hrs and do another if you need to reduce the nitrite further.

Hope that makes sense, let me know if not!

 

[cartandpeg]

Thanks Miss Wiggle I understand what you are saying at present I am changing water with the slightest amount of ammonia showing,namely twice a day on large amounts (25 ltrs a time).

I will not adjust the Ph I will let that alone.

I suppose the rain water would be not benificial as I live opposite a highway and when it rains the muck thrown up by vehicles does settle on the roof etc.

Appreciate your help.

Cart

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thanks Miss Wiggle I understand what you are saying at present I am changing water with the slightest amount of ammonia showing,namely twice a day on large amounts (25 ltrs a time).

I will not adjust the Ph I will let that alone.

I suppose the rain water would be not benificial as I live opposite a highway and when it rains the muck thrown up by vehicles does settle on the roof etc.

Appreciate your help.

Cart

No probs,

yeah exactly, could be all sorts in there that you don't know about, at least with tap water while it may have small amount of ammonia it will have been treated in some way.

 

[cartandpeg]

Ok just quick check up on my readings.

Amm 0.25
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 1.0
Ph 7.2

Is this all heading in the right direction now.

Thank you

Cart

 

[Miss Wiggle]

right, the ammonia is as low as you'll get it for now so that's fine, but the nitrite is at 1 when your tap water nitrite has 0 so you can get that lower than it is by doing some water changes. so you should do this now

 

[cartandpeg]

Thank you Miss Wiggle I am pretty sure I have got this cycling thing worked out now,checks this morn show nitrite at 1.0 and ammonia at 0.25,which is a great improvement to a week ago,so i will montor readings and change water as needed.I lost two fish during that recovery,one albino cordy,but that was never right since the day it went in,would not eat, hardly moved the two weeks it was in there and a female guppy,though I do believe I may have been responsible for her demise,I was adding Ph mixture(liquis form) to bring the Ph down and I spoon it in,in small amounts and try and draw the fish to another area of the tank,as i tipped the dregs in she was right there and copped the lot,not long after she showed major signs of problems and I had to remove her and end her suffering.

Thank you for your help I have learnt alot from this site its very informative and with people willing to give advice it helps the novice understand that theres more to it, than just putting fish in a tank.

Cart

 

[Yoshi]

right, the ammonia is as low as you'll get it for now so that's fine, but the nitrite is at 1 when your tap water nitrite has 0 so you can get that lower than it is by doing some water changes. so you should do this now

Hi Miss Wiggle. Reading this with interest as struggling with my readings. Mine are PH 8.0, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, but Nitrate 10. Varying replies on here as to whether my nitrate is too high but certainly my PH is (tap water is 7.6). Had my fish happily though for six months until recently when bought some neons and all but 1 molly has died this weekend gone due to whitespot (never had it before neons arrived)! My readings have always been as above? How do I get my PH down and is my nitrate too high? I have previously had trouble with algae blooms - just got worse after removing my filter carbon to give fish medication for whitespot. Want to get this right before re-stocking but am I fighting a losing battle with a bi-orb I read that their filters are not the best?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi Miss Wiggle. Reading this with interest as struggling with my readings. Mine are PH 8.0, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, but Nitrate 10. Varying replies on here as to whether my nitrate is too high but certainly my PH is (tap water is 7.6). Had my fish happily though for six months until recently when bought some neons and all but 1 molly has died this weekend gone due to whitespot (never had it before neons arrived)! My readings have always been as above? How do I get my PH down and is my nitrate too high? I have previously had trouble with algae blooms - just got worse after removing my filter carbon to give fish medication for whitespot. Want to get this right before re-stocking but am I fighting a losing battle with a bi-orb I read that their filters are not the best?

Hi Yoshi

weather the levels are too high is pretty much dependant on what fish you want to keep, african cichlids for example will be quite happy with your pH. Although it's fair to say some community fish would struggle with it as it is. If you can let us know what fish you have then we can identify if there is a problem with the pH level. Read the link about pH from my sig and that gives details on how to raise and lower it safely.

The nitrate is nothing to worry over at all, plenty of people have nitrate of 40ppm+ in their tap water with no problems. There isn't a huge amount of research into the effects of nitrate on fish but what research there is suggests that up to 100ppm or more is perfectly safe. So 10ppm is not going to pose any problem.

No bi-orb's are fine, but you have to stock accordingly, the filters aren't brilliant, the shape means there's no room for bottom swimmer or territorial fish to claim and the small surface area means there is less oxygen in the water. If you know this and bear it in mind when choosing your fish then the tank will be fine. Again, let us know what fish you currently have and what size bi-orb you have and we can help you work something sucessful within the limitations of the tank.