water change ??'s

[dannykerbles]

i am having a problem with my water...with a new tank going through a normal cycle w/ the ammonia @ 0 and nitires spiking...i do a daily water change to help the nitrite lvls.......

Problem: When i use my own water(treated and tested w/ ammonia:0 / nitrites:0) the nitrite lvls go through the roof...but when i use bottle water it doesnt!!

besides the 6 normal tests (ph/alkalinity/hardness/nitrite/nitrate/ammonia) any
suggestions on what else i should test??

 

[tstenback]

Do you mean that when you use the bottled water that you have no niTRITE reading? Also when you say it goes through the roof do you mean that the reading in your tank before the water change goes way up after the change?
The answers will help the folks here to give you sound advice.

 

[dannykerbles]

i have a nitrite reading before i used my own water...it gets worse after i do a water change using that water...the bottle water has no nitrite reading(tested right from the bottle itself not in the tank) as does my own water..so something must be up with my water.....

 

[tstenback]

Not sure what could be in your water that would cause this.. How long after you put the water in the tank before you test again?

 

[sinistral]

Hi dannykerbles~~

I'm not sure I follow you. If I understand you correctly, the ammonia in your tank is presently zero, but you have elevated levels of nitrItes. (What's your nitrite reading in the tank?) Then, you add either tapwater or bottled water during a water change.

At this point I'm not clear on what happens. Your nitrites get *higher* after you add tapwater? I'd be interested to hear more data about what this means. Does it happen every time? How high do the nitrites go? Sorry for my confusion! It's hard for me to wrap my brain around, though, because if you are adding fresh water that contains no nitrogen it doesn't make sense to me that your nitrogen readings would be higher than they were beforehand!

 

[dannykerbles]

well reading into other posts here i think i was just overreacting to the natural cycle process...as i have read it seems to take FOREVER for the niTRITES lvls to fall...as they say 'a watched pot never boils'.....