TheEssigs

Ok, some of my tanks are crashing... they are fine one day, and the next, totally wrecked. Yucky & Cloudy. I was so bewilldered as to what was happening.

At first I thought that it was overfeeding, so we cut back. Then we thought it was too much light, so be backed down, then we thought that it may be too much phosphate, so we added a filter pad... nothing.

I tested and re-tested... all readings were normal or zero... or so we thought. Today, just for a ... let me just see something idea... I used a dip stick to confirm my testing, and BINGO... my nitrates were all wrong... I was getting 0 nitrate readings with my API, but the sticks were all much, much higher. But I never thought that someting could be wrong with my test kit.

So, yes, the tanks that are crashing all have significant nitrate, around the 60 mark, the worst one at 80. The good news is that as soon as the tank clouded, I was water changing... however, because the problem is too far gone for a quick fix, the water remains cloudy for about a week or so before it regualtes.

I think I got into this trouble because after my weekely test, I would either 10 or 20 percent waterchange... so when the tests came out fine, I was only doing 10 percent changes... and I thinK this is where I made my mistake.

Am I way off track here or what? All this crashing is bringing down, Ahhhh... I feel like crap.

(at least the fish dont seem too worse for wear... at least from the outside, no illness or problems I can see).

I dont know if I should be mad at myself, or just sad about the whole thing...

susitna-flower

I wouldn't say they are crashing, if your fish are still OK...

Thing is with the API kit and nitrate. You have to shake that second bottel REALLY well. I shake it and strike it on a counter top for a full minute. This breaks up the crystals in the solution, and will give you a more accurate reading.

I always try to keep my tanks between 5-10 nitrates. This gives you lots more wiggle room, if something goes wrong like a fish dies and you can't find it for a day, or snails die both of which would overload the biofiltration and cause a minicycle.

The way I do this is to do a 25-50% change every few days, I change more water than most people suggest, but I am on a well, and don't have to use conditioners. It is easy for me the way my tanks are set up, and the fish I keep are healthy.

Don't kick yourself to hard, blame CWC, isn't he suppose to come change our water for us?

TheEssigs

I wish I had my own private waterchanger!!

I am going to look into floating plants for my tanks, for insurance, just in case...

TheEssigs

where are my plant geeks?

...for nitrate control, which plant would be better?

Dino

Only after he is done with the 120 tanks here and done with his real estate classes for the day.


Hehehehe, it ain't easy being me.

Drea

Here's something I've wondered about. The liquid test kits have an expiration date on the bottles. When I got my Tetra master kit, I sent an email to tech support asking them to decipher the codes. Could test readings be false (good) readings if the solutions have gone past their expiration dates? Does anyone who buys their kit know to check the date codes right away to make sure the kit hasn't been on the store shelf too long?

TheEssigs

[quote=Dino;312150]Only after he is done with the 120 tanks here and done with his real estate classes for the day.

ok, but, tell him to bring a few floating plants with him!

Dino

Check your pm's.