Muffymouse

I like never have nitrates or really nitrites in my tank? I've had my tank up and running for like 2 months now and about 3 weeks with fish and according to the color card on my liquid tester not enough to bump it up to the next color block. Is this a problem? Should there be some? Ammonia I've had trouble with in the past (i.e. last time I had my tank up) and had to work very hard to get it down and I've never noticed Nitrites either except once recently. Could there be a problem with my test supplies?? I know when I was using the strip method my results were way off from the pet store, but since I switched its been better. Ideas??

griffin

is it possible that you're not completely cycled? that's what i kinda think if you just recently started getting nitrates.

also, do you have live plants in your tank?

COBettaCouple

what do you use to treat the tap water for that tank? how old is your testing kit and are you shaking the 2nd nitrates tester bottle for as long as it says?

Luniyn

Do you have any live plants? If you do then if your bio-load isn't all that high, it's possible your plants are just consuming all of them so you never see them in a test.

griffin

that's also another possibility. i didn't remember to mention it because you had said that you had problems with ammonia. if you have plants and don't see any ammonia/nitrates/nitrites, i'd tend to think that your plants are just taking up those as nutrients

Muffymouse

I have some bright colored plastic plants in my tank right now. My testing kit is less than one year old and my directions do not say to shake the bottle at all. I use tests from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. I have three separate boxes one for ammonia, one for nitrates and one for nitrites. Next time I go to get test kits I will go for the API master kit. To treat my tap water I was using "Tetra Aqua" brands [i]AquaSafe[i] But now I have and will be using NovAqua +. I had the same readings or at the very least very similar ones the last time I had a tank and it had been up and running for about 8 months.

Ideas? anyone? anyone? Behuler? Behuler?

poppet

Hi just went through cycling myself. Buy some live plants(will help consume the nasties), keep doing at least 25% water changes every second day, and keep a log of your water parameters. Also what type of filter do you have as the good bacteria lives in your filter, rocks etc. Did you add anything to your tank before the fish were added to start the cycling process. Keep us posted and we will try to help.

COBettaCouple

Don't get me started on that movie. LOL.. the api test for nitrates should have 2 bottles. i shake the 2nd one for 30 seconds, put the 10 drops in from bottle 1, then the 10 drops from bottle 2, cap the tube and shake it well for a minute, then take the reading at exactly 5 minutes later.

Muffymouse

Ok, I'll try that with the bottles and see if that helps.

As far as my filter goes I am using a Whisper Power Filter 5-15. I had it up and running for several weeks before I added fish (of course I was not as smart then and didn't know I needed to keep feeding the happy bacteria) even so I have not had any ammonia stuff higher than .25 or Nitrites higher than 0.0. When the lps checked my water it was at .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 20 nitrate. I will start keeping a log though of my water parameters and see if I can find any patterns. Thanks for the tips.

poppet

Good luck i would not add any more fish untill you get readings of ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate below 10. Then when you get these reading and you will, only add up to 2 fish per fortnight, otherwise you may start a mini cycle and get that nastie ammonia back.

Luniyn

Just a note, AquaSafe and NovAqua+ are pretty much the same thing. NovAqua+ has a few vitamins in it that might help the fish (I'm really not sure if putting vitamins in the water actually do anything since the fish aren't actually ingesting them). If you wanted to detoxify ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate then you need Amquel+ or Prime (or something along those lines).

COBettaCouple

The vitamins are water & tissue soluable so they're absorbed by the fish without having to eat them.

Luniyn

Water soluble only means that they are not stored in the tissues of the fish (i.e. fat soluble) and therefore can be excreted if they have too much of that form of vitamin. It doesn't necessarily mean that it can be absorbed though the skin. In fact, even the Vita-chem liquid vitamin supplement says to add 2 drops per gallon to the tank once a week, yet they go on to say that you should add several drops directly to the food you feed the fish 5 times a week. If it was as beneficial as stated by simply adding it to the water, why have the need to feed it directly to the fish 5 times more then you add them to the tank. It certainly doesn't hurt the fish and if you have live plants, they will benefit from some of the vitamins too, so it's not like it goes to waste. I've just read several sites stating that there isn't much benefit to adding them to the water (an example here - half way down the page under the heading Vitamins). But yeah I still do it too .

COBettaCouple

the tissue soluable aspect is what i like about them and they do seem to help with fin regrowth. i find opinions on them both ways around the net, so i am giving them a trial run now on all our fish to see what kind of effect it has on the sick & healthy & recovering ones.. find out how well they work on our different fish and conditions they're in while leaving other factors the same.