Water Quality Help

[Sol]

Hi, I could do with some advice about my tank, as I seem to be running into some problems.


I bought a 10 gallon tank setup three weeks ago. I added four plants to the tank and did nothing else other than add a few fish flakes to the water.

Just over a week ago I started added Boots Household Ammonia to the water each day in 5ml doses. When I first added it, I got a bacterial bloom, after this cleared up, it still left a lot of white looking furry stuff all over the plants and the sides of the tank. This is now gone brown... but it took on more of a brown tinge after I added Interpert Filter Aid.

Here is my current water test results:

Date PH KH GH NO2 NO3 NO1 Added

28-Jul N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Stress Zyme added
29-Jul 7.5 17 10 0 10 1.2 Ammonia 5ml
30-Jul 7 17 10 0.5 20 4
31-Jul 7 17 10 0.5 20 4 Ammonia 5ml
01-Aug 7 17 7.5 1 40 4 Ammonia 5ml
02-Aug 9.5 40 5 1 40 4 Ammonia 5ml & Filter Aid
03-Aug 8 40 2 3 40 4 Ammonia 5ml & Stress Zyme
04-Aug 9.5 40 2 3 40 2 Ammonia 5ml
05-Aug 9.5 40 2 3 40 2 Ammonia 5ml


The Cycle seems to be getting underway, as my ammonia level seems to be dropping, and the Nitrites have started to go up. However, my otherwise fine PH, KH and GH have suddenly gone really bad. The only observation I can put this down to is my live plants, which have gone from looking bad to really bad.

Here are some pictures of the plants to give you an idea:

A week ago these were really great looking, green plants now. They are brown, covered in furry stuff and appear to be dying. The water colour is horrible and I think my filter is probably going to need cleaning as I notice that all the dead plant matter is starting to block the filter.


So what I want to know is, is it the dying plants that are causing this problem with the water levels? Should I remove them now?

Thanks.

 

[tstenback]

Since you are fishless cycling and the dying plants are decaying i would remove them as this could be causing a problem. WHen and if you clean the filter just remove the plant stuff for now or you couls disturb the bacteria colony. Do this in some old tank water in a bucket. THe PH , GH and KH readings often go a bit crazy during the cycle but should stabilize once the cycle is over, the decaying plant material may also be affecting these. Have you checked the parameters of your tap water? Perhaps there may be a problem there as well. Keep us posted

 

[Sol]

I haven't actually tested the tap water yet, I will do that shortly.

Im glad you agreed on removing the plants, I shall do that also.

 

[Sol]

Water straight from the tap:

PH = 7
KH = 17
GH = 10-15 somewhere in between
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 20


I live just outside London which is well known for being a hard water area, limescale etc builds up really quickly on kettles.

I have just removed the plants. The tank water looks very unclean and full of bits now. But do I have to wait until the cycle is finished before doing a water change?

 

[tstenback]

I would just use a net and swish back and forth to pick up all the pieces. Time conasuming but probably easier than doing the water change and it really isnt too important as there are no fish involved yet. Up to you really but remember if you do the water change to add the appropriate amount of ammonia to the new water to keep the level up. Good Luck