A Few Questions For A Newbie

Morning all.

I went to buy a small goldfish tank for my daughter about 2 months ago, but I came out with a Fluval Flex 57l, all the gear, less money and no idea. After recovering from some bad advice from the shop I now have a partly planted tropical tank (Some giant grass thing, and some anubias on a rock) with 5 adult platys, 3 unplanned tiny one, 2 Ottos and 3 Amano shrimp.

Now I have started to test my water properly, upgrading from the paper strips the first shop sold me to the Salifert range. My ammonia and nitrite are both 0, but my nitrate is somewhere between 50-100ppm. After ripping my hair out over this thinking I was over feeding the fish, I tested my tap water, which is identical to the tank water. I did some reading and starting dosing the tap water with Pirme, adn added Seachem de-nitrate on the advice of another LFS, with the addition of some foam and extra bio media in the empty tank compartment. However, the nitrate is still through the roof, and I have since learnt about prime only being a 48hr solution to the problem.

So my first question is, is there anything else aside from RO I can do to get these levels down? I currently considering Purigen.

My other question at the minute is, what can I do with these baby Platys (aside the obvious flush them)?

 

HI there, as for your second question, don't ever flush fish! Aside from it being rather cruel, It can have all sorts of consequences on the environment. I know you probably weren't going to actually do that, but just for future reference as some people don't know you could sell them to your lfs or find people looking to buy

 

Baby plates can likely be sold or given away on Craigslist if nothing else someone would take them for feeder fish. More plants with faster growth rate will help with the nitrate a bit. Pothos houseplant in your hand on back filter is also an external option and cheap, easy

 

Until you can get a RO unit I would suggest diluting your water with some spring water/filtered water. If you use RO water completely then you will need some buffers as there aren’t any. If you don’t want to invest in this then that is understandable and perhaps try a local advertising site for finding them a home.

 

I'm not familiar with your test kit. The one I'm familiar with is API. The nitrate test is kind if tricky, involving two agents and having to shake a couple times. Are you sure you tested correctly? And I think(though not certain) that if you did it correctly and your nitrates are naturally high, then you're propbably not cycled because it wasn't tank bacteria that converted to nitrite then to nitrates. It only looks like you are. Am I right fellow forum members? Looking for a little help here

 

I would try the Seachem Purigen and see if that works for you.

 

HI there, as for your second question, don't ever flush fish! Aside from it being rather cruel, It can have all sorts of consequences on the environment. I know you probably weren't going to actually do that, but just for future reference as some people don't know you could sell them to your lfs or find people looking to buy

No I wasn't going to flush them, hence the question. I felt bad enough fishing out 2 dead bumblebee shrimp.

I'm not familiar with your test kit. The one I'm familiar with is API. The nitrate test is kind if tricky, involving two agents and having to shake a couple times. Are you sure you tested correctly? And I think(though not certain) that if you did it correctly and your nitrates are naturally high, then you're propbably not cycled because it wasn't tank bacteria that converted to nitrite then to nitrates. It only looks like you are. Am I right fellow forum members? Looking for a little help here

Prettysure its nothing to do with cycling, my other levels have been zero for a while now, and as I said, my tap water is the same ppm.

Until you can get a RO unit I would suggest diluting your water with some spring water/filtered water. If you use RO water completely then you will need some buffers as there aren’t any. If you don’t want to invest in this then that is understandable and perhaps try a local advertising site for finding them a home.

I don't really want to mess around with RO if I can help it. It sounds like a pain, and I'm note sure where I would keep it. Aside from that I'm away a lot and don't want ot make it too difficult for the wife. Committing every Saturday to go to the LFS to buy 16l would be awkward.

I would try the Seachem Purigen and see if that works for you.

I've ordered some to try, just concerned that it a band aid rather than a cure.