FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Did a 20% water change yesterday, tested today and my readings were:
ammonia .25
nitrate 20
nitrite 0
ph 7.2

My quesion is are these good levels? If not what can I do to make them better?

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

Ideally, the ammonia should be 0 ppm. Any amount of ammonia is toxic to the fish.

Nitrite is good (should ideally always be 0 ppm) and nitrate is good (under 40 ppm is pretty good)

The pH will be fine for just about any fish.

What size tank is this and what do you have in it? Since you have an ammonia reading, it sounds like the tank hasn't fully cycled yet.

Joe Potato

Kind of odd to have that high of nitrate and still have ammonia. Along with the stocking how long has the tank been setup? Did you gravel vac the entire bottom of the tank with the water change and did you change the filter media?

Preferably it's better to keep nitrates below 20ppm. 40ppm is more like the maximum nitrates you should have because most fish suffer damage and stress at that level or higher. I'd do another water change of around 25% to bring it down a bit more and then test all your numbers in a few days and do a water change again if the nitrates pass 20 or the ammonia nears 1ppm.

It's a 30g tank its been going for 2 weeks now. I didn't vacuum the tank with this last water change, should've but didn't, hence my question earlier on when to vacuum the gravel. The only fish in the tank is a betta. According to the instruction guide that came with the test kit it says that my levels are safe, don't know if it is right but that is what I am going off of. Will do another water change/vacuum in a couple of days, then test again.

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

There could be ammonia coming through you water supply. Do a test on that first, then take two good samples to your LFS and get a full water peramiter test done. Do a test your self first to see if you have the same readings if get them to check out your test kit. What brand are you using. Yester day I saw ammonia removal pads I have no idea of how they work or if tgey are any good. If you are not using any meds you could add carbon to your filter.
How do you clean it?
Is it washed in the old tank water?
Airation do you have any?
Live plants do you have any in the tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

keith,
I use the mardel strip tests, The filter has carbon in it, I washed it off in the old tank water like I read on here to do. The airation is strictly through the filter, all plants in tank are artificial. I'm going to take a sample to petsmart after I do this next water change, what do you suggest I take this sample in? I know the test strips aren't the best, but right now its what I can afford and what my wife will let me spend (if your married then you know that if she says no, she means no). Oh I almost forgot I tested the water before I added my betta just to see how the strips worked and it revealed no ammonia. Thanks for all the responses, I now know ten times more than I did before I came to this site!

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

Hi,
I'm concerned that in a 30 gallon tank, set up for only
two weeks, with just one fish, a Betta in it, that the
tank has not yet cycled. With that much water and only
one small fish, it could take as long as a month for it to
cycle. I would not have done a water change under your
existing conditions.

As far as carbon is concerned, depending upon the fish load
and the characteristics of your feeding, after two weeks
the carbon in the filter is useless as it has adsorbed all
it could and has shifted from chemical filtration to just
another part of the mechanical filtration system.

Do take a water sample to an outside source as test strips
are notoriously poor in giving accurate test results.

GO BRONCOS!!!

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I fully agree with Frank's statements you have a long way to go before your tank is fully established. Those strips are not even worth using even if they were free. Your LFS should do your test FREE anyway. Yes I am married 31+ years Aquariums do cost money to run properly.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks for all the responses, I figured I still had a ways to go yet. So how often should I do water changes? Thanks for all the help!

Justin
Go Colts!

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

Coltsfan

I haven't seen your posts on the forum about vaccuming and so im probably going to re-iterate some information. Undfortunatly I agree with Mr Frank. It seems to me that the tank is just starting the process of Cycling. With 1 fish its gonna be one long cycle. However, it is better not to add any more fish as it will hurt them and do more damage. However you can keep your betta safe. I know the strips are cheap but if you go to http://www.bigalsonline.com I bet you can find the liquid testing tools for the same price as the strips. Also you need to let the water go as long as you can before changing the water to allow the tank to cycle. I would suggest not letting the water go above 1.5ppm on the ammonia. Then change it. Now what is going to happen is that the ammonia will spike and then you will see the NitrITes start to rise. That will also spike and then you will see the nitRATes come up. Eventually you want the ammonia and NitrITES to be 0, NADA, ZIP. Then your tank will be cycled. Once way to help this along is to check your levels once every two or three days. Then change it when its at that level. When you do vaccum the tank. Vaccum 1/4 of it to allow the other bacteria to keep the process going and only clean your filter once a month. Unless you have really dirty fish like Plecos you dont need to do it any more than that. HTH

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html