Water Testing

[shepp41]

Hi I have a 40 gal tank it's been up and running for over 2a months. For the last month of testing my readings stayed the same yhe ammonia has been at .25 and the nitrates have been at 20 . The readings are not changing is this normal?

 

[Electric Warrior]

YOu say it's been up and running, but what does that mean? How are you cycling it? Are you adding ammonia, or do you have fish in it, etc.?

 

[shepp41]

Hi I have a 40 gal tank it's been up and running for over 2a months. For the last month of testing my readings stayed the same yhe ammonia has been at .25 and the nitrates have been at 20 . The readings are not changing is this normal?

Sorry im cycling with fish I started with 3my platy's one died about two weeks I got 3a more platy's and they all lived two weeks later I got three guppy's one of them died. That was over a month ago. I test the water every week it stayed the same

 

[Electric Warrior]

Okay, if you are cycling with fish, you should be doing major water changes everyday, like 80-90%, to keep ammonia down. Have you been doing that at all? Any ammonia is toxic to fish, so .25 is way too high! A nitrAte reading of 20 is okay, but what are you nitrIte readings?

 

[shepp41]

Okay, if you are cycling with fish, you should be doing major water changes everyday, like 80-90%, to keep ammonia down. Have you been doing that at all? Any ammonia is toxic to fish, so .25 is way too high! A nitrAte reading of 20 is okay, but what are you nitrIte readings?

Nitrite is 0

 

[Electric Warrior]

Yeah you need to start doing massive water changes every day to keep ammonia at 0, because you are in a fish-in cycle, so your filter has not matured enough to handle the amount of ammonia your fish are producing. This is why your fish are dying. Read this link fish-in cycling, and that will help you learn everything you need to know. Unfortunately, a lot of people get stuck doing a fish in cycle because the lfs says its okay to add fish right away, but it is difficuly because it takes a lot more work, and usually a lot longer than a fishless cycle.