Too Much Too Quick

[OldMan47]

I have some rather high nitrates in my tap water at certain times of the year. If your tap is around the 40 mark, it may be that you will not notice any change. When you get your nitrites and ammonia under control, we can start trying to work on the nitrates. In the meantime, your ammonia and nitrite changes will be quite enough to deal with any excess nitrates so I wouldn't even test them except to practice with the kit.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup first thing to remember is that in the grand scheme of things nitrate doesn't matter. as an analogy it's like taking in a patient to a hospital when they've been stabbed and fussing over a paper cut.

there's some evidence to show that most tropical aquarium fish in the hobby will not suffer any ill effects from nitrate until levels reach 1000ppm+

the other thing to consider is that our nitrate test kits are notoriously un reliable so readings should be taken as indicative rather than accurate.

 

[alchemist]

ok - thats a relief

I had a look on the Hagen website in the FAQ about my test kit and found a couple of things that may be of interest to other newbies like me

It bugged me for the nitrite test why do I get 10ml of reagent 1 and 16ml of reagent 2- surely you want the same of both so you run out at the same time. Apparently the second reagent is 'thicker' so the same number of drops uses more of reagent 2 - so you do run out at the same time.

For the nitrate tests - apparently reagent 3 has got physical particles in that settles to the bottom. As these kits sit on the shelf for a while in the shop - even if you do a 'vigorous shake for 30 secs' it still doesn't mix properly. They recommend for a new kit that you carefully remove the plastic dropper insert and mix up the bottom with a toothpick or something similar. Ill let you know if this makes any difference to the consistency of my test

 

[alchemist]

Well i'm happy to report that after much water changing each day - things seem to be settling down nicely.
Ammonia is consistently at 0 / Nitrite between 0 and just registering -
Nitrate is all over the place but never very high - I have given up with that test lol

Thanks for everyones help

 

[OldMan47]

I'm glad things are starting to come around for you and your fish. It is always good to know that things finally are working out.