Advice wanted with new setup

I been doing 50% water changes and I still getting the same results


The tank is in cycle about 5 days now can coral sand have any effect ?

How long have you been doing 50% water changes for?

5 day cycling? what did you use to start the cycle? Ammonia and Nitrites seem to be zero but nitrates are off the scale, was this test done after the 50% water change?

I am assuming you dont have any plants in the tank?

I wouldn't say they're off the scale, try testing your tap water for nitrates

i haven't used anything i had the filter running in another tank bottle no2 was 0 bottle 1 ammonia 0.25 bottle no.3 was 0 when i got the new tank the nitrate went up to 10 i only did 2 watewr changes because of working nights will the leavels come down after more water changes or will i have to use some Cycle Biological Water Conditioner ? the reason i had to change from the last tank was from pin holes and water leaking it needs to re-sealed.

Have you tried using ro water for your changes?
Also what method of 'cycling' are ya using?

hammie wrote:

Have you tried using ro water for your changes?
Also what method of 'cycling' are ya using?

just water changes the filter has beeing in use for a few weeks.

another question i replaced a sponge filter in my community today and forgot to put the old one back in before i went to work shoud i ask someone at home to put back in the old one or will it be ok till the morning

Well I mean they are off the API scale!

If you are using your old media are you also using some of your old water? I have done this myself and this avoided me havent to cycle the tank again (that will also explain why your nitrites and ammonia are fine).

I wouldn't use any water conditioner but that's just me. A 50% water change should bring your nitrate levels to half, then wait another day and make another 25%, leave if for a day and then the day after that do another 25% until your levels are back to normal levels. If you have fish in the tank then is different as you might want to increase the water changes from 25% to 35% or even 50%, but too many water changes might affect your tank "cycle".

That's just my opinion.

and like SSS said test your tap water and make sure the nitrates levels are not high

Regarding you forgetting to put the media back into the filter, the media will survive for a few hours, even more as long as its soaked in water, if it dries the bacteria will die.

Maybe someone can give you a better solution though! Fast growing plants will really help lowering your nitrates down. It is just strange that only your nitrates are high, is like if you were using really old water or like if you havent done a water change in a long time

The only way to get rid off nitrates that I know off is either by doing water changes or adding fast growing plants (aside from using water conditioners)... if you have an external filter you might want to add nitrate removal media but IMO the main thing is to find out what is causing this

What size is the tank, what type of filter are you using? what tank did you have before?

Bohrio wrote:

Well I mean they are off the API scale!

If you are using your old media are you also using some of your old water? I have done this myself and this avoided me havent to cycle the tank again (that will also explain why your nitrites and ammonia are fine).

I wouldn't use any water conditioner but that's just me. A 50% water change should bring your nitrate levels to half, then wait another day and make another 25%, leave if for a day and then the day after that do another 25% until your levels are back to normal levels. If you have fish in the tank then is different as you might want to increase the water changes from 25% to 35% or even 50%, but too many water changes might affect your tank "cycle".

That's just my opinion.

and like SSS said test your tap water and make sure the nitrates levels are not high

Regarding you forgetting to put the media back into the filter, the media will survive for a few hours, even more as long as its soaked in water, if it dries the bacteria will die.

Maybe someone can give you a better solution though! Fast growing plants will really help lowering your nitrates down. It is just strange that only your nitrates are high, is like if you were using really old water or like if you havent done a water change in a long time

The only way to get rid off nitrates that I know off is either by doing water changes or adding fast growing plants (aside from using water conditioners)... if you have an external filter you might want to add nitrate removal media but IMO the main thing is to find out what is causing this

What size is the tank, what type of filter are you using? what tank did you have before?

latest tank 90L clear-seal tank
my old tank 90L clear-seal tank
filter eheim 2008
i have no fish in this tank and its being setup for Pseudotropheus saulosi cichlids fry
yes i used old media and some old water to speed things up.
the last water change was thursday morning 50%
i use the same water in all tanks and its only this tank that has high levals

Hey there

Personally, I would just to 50% water change today and then 25% every day until the levels drop down to 20-30 ppm. Might take a few days (3-4) I wouldnt use water conditioners just yet, try to lower the levels manually first.

Give the tap water a test for nitrates.

Have the test phials against a white background and not a wood laminate

The Nitrate kit may be duff OR the test phial may need a good cleaning in deionised water in case of any residue.

The Nitrate may be high due to release of colloidal nitrates from the filter media (or the coral snad if it is not new). Generally, nitrate salts are all rather soluble but there are differences in solubility from metal to metal ion as well, and that could affect the degree of sequestering in a colloidal state within the "gunge" layer of the biological film on the filter. In the new tank, that may become distributed throughtout the bulk of the water column.
Personally, if transferring an active filter, I would have cleaned it out in the old water first.

Coral Sand.....will help speed up the "cycle" and help ensure that your system produces nitrites rather than nitrous acid and nitrates rather than nitric acid.
The bacteria involved also prefer the higher buffered pH afforded by coral sand/gravel.

ian

Water straight from the tap
nitrate leval is between 5.0 to 10 ppm

Get some JBL NitraEx to remove residual nitrates, or better still get some PolyFilter.
There is also apotential that the old filter is releasing stuff (eg phenols) etc that you are not testing for.

This is a problem that some fish keepers experience in established tanks after a clean-up operation of stirring gravel and churning up the filter pads in the tank water.

Alternatively, it may well be that the processes of converting ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates are working quite good, but that they are working on dead stuff within the filter.

ian

Maybe it's just my computer screen but does the Nitrate reading not say 10ppm ?

SSS wrote:

Maybe it's just my computer screen but does the Nitrate reading not say 10ppm ?

The OP didn't put up a picture of the tap water test showing 10ppm, the pic on the OP is of the tank water....although the woodgrain laminated background won't help our eyes.

To be honest, the colorimetric kits are only a rough guide as the API manufacturer does not actually supply you with anything to compare the test colour against,
The colour card is a totally crap idea of doing a water test anyway unless you want a rough guide.

Imagine trying to do a nitrate test with most of my tanks using those colour cards.....most of my tanks are peat brown anyway !! Therefore one would need a blanking test phial for the comparison.

ian

The OP didn't put up a picture of the tap water test showing 10ppm, the pic on the OP is of the tank water....although the woodgrain laminated background won't help our eyes

Yes but just saying that to me his tank Nitrate readings look about 10 and definitely less than 20

SSS wrote:

The OP didn't put up a picture of the tap water test showing 10ppm, the pic on the OP is of the tank water....although the woodgrain laminated background won't help our eyes

Yes but just saying that to me his tank Nitrate readings look about 10 and definitely less than 20

To me, the colour is either 5 or 100 and nothing in between, ie it is either amber or brown. That is quite a big difference when one has to use ones eyes to say what is what.

Sometimes I think that these test kits cause more trouble and concern than they are worth as it is not just about reading meaningless data but should be about interpreting that data.

Let's face it, the test kits used here have been around for about 130 years with very little adaptations: that is pretty ancient technology. Great qualitative tests they are, but crap quantitative tests.

ian

igmillichip wrote:

Let's face it, the test kits used here have been around for about 130 years with very little adaptations: that is pretty ancient technology. Great qualitative tests they are, but crap quantitative tests.

ian

Fascinating distinction

Test kit 1 api


Test kit 2 interpet liquid master test


Sorry I been getting some zzzz after night shift
I have no colour card for kit 2

These are before water change and I do another one in a hour after water change

Looks like all levels are back to normal after the last water change.

thanks for all the help i am doing 10% to 20% water change each day and all the resuts are the same as my main tank. now hopefully my fry will start to grow.

Good man
Good to see them into their tank and doing well!!!
Nice to see them getting the attention they deserve

hammie wrote:

Good man
Good to see them into their tank and doing well!!!
Nice to see them getting the attention they deserve

very hard work lets hope it pays off and i get the price of a holiday out if it.