Water Condition

[DeIuge]

Hello, all. I just did some water testing earlier today and these are my results:

Tank 1 (10 gallon w/ 2 tetras, 1 zebra danio and 2 ghost shrimp)

pH - 8.0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 5.0

Tank 2 (10 gallon w/ 2 bettas and 1 dwarf frog)

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

I've had both tanks for about 2 weeks and both tanks have their own air pump. I just did a 50% water change on tank 1 because it was starting to get a little cloudy, but that didn't seem to help. I'm assuming it's because of the nitrate level, and from what I've read it seems like water changes are the only way to control it. I know it's not the water I'm using, because it's the same water I use in tank 2 and it's fine. But I may be wrong. So any tips or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Deluge and Welcome to TFF!

The cloudiness you are experiencing in the first tank is almost sure to be a bacterial bloom (you are actually seeing the enormous numbers of heterotropic bacteria as they multiply to consume organics in the water, these are not the autotrophic bacteria we are trying to grow to prepare the filter for fish.) Bacterial blooms are harmless and will go away, they are not your main concern at all.

You are in the very beginning of a Fish-In Cycling situation in both tanks. Both tanks need immediate water changes with good technique. There is a Fish-In Cycling article in our Beginner Resource Center to help you with this.

Your goal in fish-in cycling is to be a bit of a detective and figure out what pattern of percentage and frequency of water changes will keep both ammonia(NH3) and nitrite(NO2) at or below 0.25ppm concentration until you can be home again to change water again. Depending on the bioload (the fish, basically) balance with the water volume, the workload of changing water may be big (too many fish for volume) or small (ok level of fish.)

The reason you are doing this is that fish exposed to ammonia levels above about 0.25 to 0.30ppm can receive permanent gill damage and if exposed to nitrite levels that are similar will receive permanent nerve damage. But the ammonia is necessary to begin growing the two specific species of bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira spp.) that need to be colonized in sufficient numbers for the filter to be doing the work of cleaning the water for you. It takes usually about two months to prepare a working biofilter but the actual time for a particular case varies widely.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[DeIuge]

Thanks a lot. I just read that article, so I'm well aware of the situation and the goal. I'll continue with the water changes and monitor the levels, and we'll see how it goes from there.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

keep us updated

 

[DeIuge]

I tested the tanks again, before I did a 25% water change on each. Here are the results.

Tank 1

pH - 8.2 ppm
Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

Any suggestions?

 

[erk628]

Keep up on the water changes until both ammonia and nitrites are 0 and feed sparingly until you have things back to normal. Id probably feed every other day.

 

[FREDYFLINTSTONE]

I tested the tanks again, before I did a 25% water change on each. Here are the results.

Tank 1

pH - 8.2 ppm
Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

Any suggestions? hi yes only feed your fish every other day as much as they wiill eat in 2 minutes and do a 25% water change every 2-3 days while your tank is cycling to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels low

 

[DeIuge]

Update.

As usual, I checked before a water change.

Tank 1

pH - 8.0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.4 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

 

[waterdrop]

Today's result is of course more what you want than the previous. WD

Do not be worried about doing large or frequent water changes. The name of the game is avoiding damage to the fish. The bacteria will take care of themselves. As water passes through the fish gills, they let off ammonia, which provides enough to continue the bacteria growing even when our test kits show zero ppm ammonia (the kits aren't that sensitive.)

 

[DeIuge]

Again, before a water change.

Tank 1

pH - 7.4 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

As you can see the readings are all over the place, but I'm sure it'll stabilize once it's established.

 

[DeIuge]

Results as of 3/4/11.

Tank 1

pH - 7.4 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Nitrates are creeping up a bit. Still doing water changes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[waterdrop]

This still looks good if you're able to catch it at about 0.25 and then have the water change drop it back down close to zero. Don't worry about the nitrate, it doesn't matter much and will bounce around even more with nitrite being also in there.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[DeIuge]

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm keeping up with the water changes so I know I'm keeping it in check for the most part.

Results as of 3/5/11.

Tank 1

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.50 ppm
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm

Is it me or are the 10 ppm and 20 ppm colors on the nitrate chart a little hard to tell apart? I swear, they look identical. Oh, and I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm using the API master kit.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, lots of time it's hard to decide between the colors. Don't worry about it. The real goal is to train yourself over time to the overall procedures. In the end it will be obvious things like something being zero or something being very high or midling. Or it will be about change. Say you're long after cycling and have a well-running tank and your nitrate levels have stayed steady for months. Then all of a sudden the nitrate test comes back looking darker.. perhaps it's time to do a filter clean.. that sort of thing.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[DeIuge]

3/7/11 Update.

Tank 1

pH - 7.8 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Tank 2

pH - 7.4 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Almost identical.