Strange Water Readings

[sam&dan]

Hello anyone who can help!

I have been regularly testing the water and tonight I have had good Amonnia and Nitrate readings but my Nitrite readings are quite high. I did a 25% water change on Saturday so I'm not sure why the readings are so high. I only fed the fish a few hours ago so could this have something to do with it? I've been careful not to overfeed and watch them closely to make sure there is no wastage.

Thanks!

 

[kporteo]

Welcome to the forum!! Is your tank fully cycled? Or are you performing a fish in cycle?

K

 

[sam&dan]

Welcome to the forum!! Is your tank fully cycled? Or are you performing a fish in cycle?

K

It's in the process of a fish in cycle but we've done it really slowly with a few fish at a time. We added the last couple of neons at the weekend just after the water change.

Sam and Dan

 

[Skins]

Can you please give us some more info:
How long has your filter been cycled?
What are your water parameters(ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,pH)?
How big is your tank?
Tank occupants?

Keep us all posted, Keith.

 

[sam&dan]

Can you please give us some more info:
How long has your filter been cycled?
What are your water parameters(ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,pH)?
How big is your tank?
Tank occupants?

Keep us all posted, Keith.

Hi there

Sorry about not giving enough info. We cylced the tank for 2 weeks just using the stuff they give you (Cycle) and we've been fish in cycling for 3 weeks now adding a few fish every weekend. We have a Fluval Edge with 3 male guppys, 1 Cory, 1 Ancistrus and 5 neons.

The parameters are:
Ammonia - 0.1mg/l
Nitrite - 0.25mg/l
Nitrate - 10mg/l
pH - the man at the shop tested this and said it was fine.

The fish seem OK and are as active as they have been. I'm not sure why the Nitrite is so high when the others seem relatively low.

Thanks for any help

Sam and Dan

 

[fishlove75]

Hi your Nitrates are high because that is the end process of the nitrogen cycle. You start with ammonia (waste from fish food etc) the good bacteria (in a cycled filter) break down the ammonia into nitrites. The nitrites are then broken down by another type of good bacteria into nitrAtes. Nitrates can only be removed by water changes.

When you filter is fully cycled you should see 0ppm readings for both ammonia and nitrates. You will see 0ppm (or very low) nitrates after a water change, the nitrates will continue to increase until the water is changed again.

Live plants in a tank, I believe, can help to reduce your nitrates between water changes, however, I don't know much about using live plants so someone else will have to give advice about that.

Hope that helped clear it up for you somewhat.

 

[Skins]

hello Sam and Dan,
With you being 3 weeks in to your fish in cycle what you are seeing is imo the beginning of the nitrite spike stage which can only be kept under control with daily water checks and water changes when ammonia/nitrite levels reach 0.25ppm or higher. May i suggest when you perform water changes to bring your ammonia/nitrite levels down you change 50-75% of water. At the moment you really don't need to worry about your nitrate level, this is only a worry when they get high. I would be inclined not to add any more fish untill your cycle is complete, putting more fish in will increase the bioload(e.g poo, un-eaten food)thus putting a strain on the developing bacterias that are colonising on your filters media. I would say you have about 2-3 weeks to go before completing your cycle, which will be when you see constant 0ppm ammonia/nitrite for a period of 1 week.
In my signature at the bottom of this post is a link to an article on "fish-in cycle" which will be very handy for you to fall back on whilst cycling.

Keep us all posted, Keith.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome Sam&Dan.
Based on what I am reading, you are in week 3 of a fish-in cycle. That is about right for having developed a decent ammonia processing ability but not yet having much nitrite processing ability in your filter. This is also consistent with your chemical readings. At this stage, your challenge is to maintain your nitrite levels always less than 0.25 ppm by doing large enough water changes often enough. If you can do that, you will not lose fish to chemical problems and the tank will become truly cycled in about another month. During that month, do not add any fish, even if one you have now dies. The idea is to get the filter to the point where it can handle the present biological load. Once it reaches that point, you can start increasing the load by adding to the fish population. Please don't jump the gun on that because it will simply mean larger and more frequent water changes to do so.
The Cycle you have used is a product I have also tried to use. My own experience was that it had absolutely no effect on cycling my tank's filter. I have no scientific proof of that but the tank's cycling time was very close to what it would have been expected to be without using the product.