How high is enough!?!? - Page 2

LiVe4fIsH · 10-04-2008, 02:27 PM

Update.

Today is water change day but before I change the water, I always do my tests to see where I stand.

pH= 8.0 (it usually is at 8.2, I think I did not add enough buffer during my last w/c)
ammonia= strong .25
nitrite= do not own test kit
nitrate= 10ppm (which is weird b/c its been a week and usually they are around 15-20ppm)

All of the fish are and have been doing great. One is in the process of holding eggs in her mouth but I am not a fan of producing any offspring right now, so hopefully she will spit them out and not complete the cycle.

How long does/will it take to get finally get this ammonia back down to 0ppm? Anything that I can do in the mean time to help?

-Izzy

mikek996 · 10-05-2008, 12:00 PM

what test kits do you guys use? I test my water weekly and never see any amount of nitrates (which I guess is a good thing) but I am starting to question the accuracy of it. the diffrence between the first 2 colors is 0 ppm to 5.0 ppm. I use api test kit but I used to use those jungle test strips (the one that does 5 tests at once) in my old tank which always gave me some type of reading. I have a pretty good amount of fish in my tank and change about 7 to 10 gallons twice a week (mainly to just vac all the poop off the bottom).

LiVe4fIsH · 10-05-2008, 01:01 PM

I use api test kits. IMO I wouldn't use test strips and stick mainly to 'drops per ml' in glass tubing. Without getting too far off my question my test kits have a 0ppm, .25ppm, .5ppm, 1ppm, 2ppm, 4ppm , 8ppm. So back to my question please!!! Again if you can please read my previous reply above and answer my problem. Thanks guys. Hey mikek if you would like to start a new thread about test kits and w/c I would be more than happy to talk to you there about what/how I use my test kits and how I judge my w/c off of them.

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 10-05-2008, 05:08 PM

I wasn't trying to be rigid whats so ever. The thing with forums is that we can not see a persons face and expression. So someone might take in a completely different judgment than what someone else is trying to get across. I understand that mike is trying to help and believe me, I greatly appreciate his put, towards this thread. The thing is, earlier on this thread I have already covered what test kits I use and we have already discussed how we think that they are not the most accurate thing to judge on. So I do not think that it is necessary to ask a question that I have already covered earlier in this thread. On the other hand, I do not want mike thinking that I was trying to put him down, but it seemed as though he was asking a question regarding w/c and test kits, so I thought it would be smart to start a new thread since this thread is mainly discussing ammonia and nitrates. Again, I am sorry if it seemed if I was coming off 'rigid'. Trust me, I love love love, anything that may help the problem. Next time I will not try to start a new thread but except everything.

Update.

Yesterday was w/c day for me but I decided to wait one day and report the test 2 hours after completion of w/c. Here are the results.

pH= 8.2
ammonia= not as strong of a .25 ppm as yesterday but still a level of .25
nitrate= 5-10ppm.

Side note: Took out three cup fulls of my river sand and replaced it with a.cichlid graval mix to help buffer my pH since it tends to fall to 8.0 on the seventh or eighth day after a w/c of which I add buffer to water since I take out water that has 'salt' in it. (I add it b/c I use RO water).

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 10-05-2008, 09:59 PM

Hey Tommy, thanks for replying to my thread. Yes to your first answer.

The pH of my RO water source is btw 7.1 to 7.2. I fill my RO water in the 5g water bottles and I add the nutrients into the 5g bottle and mix it well before I add it into the tank. The bottle of nutrients says to mix in water source and to not add directly into tank. I then add the 5g of RO/nutrients into my tank within 1 minute of mixing. I do this 3 times = 15g w/c total. I then test my pH one hour through two hours after everything is complete, to allow everything to settle and mix in.

What I meant by 'salt' is my tanganyika buffer that raises and maintains the pH. I only add in 1/4-1/2 of a teaspoon. This replaces the water that had the buffer in it, that I took out during a w/c. The buffer is a blend of carbonate salts, sorry for just saying salts, I should have been more specific.

If you think that it is best to purchase another ammonia test kit, I will go get one, but the one that I have is not expired and is only 2 months old. I bought the other kits at the same time and they seem pretty precise but who knows.

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 10-06-2008, 10:02 PM

I threw out my saltwater charts the first day I bought the kits. So I am only left with freshwater charts. I really hope that the RO unit is not selling water with ammonia in it! Lol. This would not be good. I will get a sample of the RO water tomorrow and test for ammonia. I will also bring a sample of my water to my LFS and see what they come up with for the readings. I am crossing my fingers that my test kit for ammonia is not working properly. Otherwise, if my RO water source is clear for ammonia then we have a problem with something in my tank. IF it happens to come back that my tank is the one producing the ammonia, what are some possibilites that we can start to assume. I know that we should do one step at a time, but it is good to know what I could potientally be dealing with. Also, I will either know if it is my tank water, kit, or water source by tomorrow morning so some of you guys including you Tommy might not be able to get back to me as soon as I might need to act. Thanks

-Izzy

mikek996 · 10-09-2008, 09:01 PM

you never really mentioned the number of fish in your tank, (not trying to get off topic). but I am curious because we have relatively the same setup and I have 16 adult fish and 6 or so fry, and I never even get a nitrate reading, or ammonia or nitrites for that matter. so basically I was questioning whether I might need a diffrent test kit. no offense but the forums are for discussions, its not like I asked who your gonna vote for president

LiVe4fIsH · 10-10-2008, 12:48 AM

Yo mike. I have 12 fish total. 6 med. size mbunas. 2 p.catfish one med size, one small guy. one peacock med-large, 3 haps med to large. the bio load is not bad at all. My nitrates are around 15-20ppm at the end of each week.

-Izzy

p.s. dont worry Tommy, I havent forgot to give you the updated readings on the RO water and the readings from the LFS. I have just been really busy with school and havnt had the time to get those to you. Sorry for the wait.

LiVe4fIsH · 10-11-2008, 09:44 PM

Update.

Today was w/c day for me. Before I took any water out, I test my water like I always do. Here are the results.

pH=8.2
ammonia=0.25
nitrate=15

I also tested my water source RO water to see where the ammonia stands on it.
pH=7.4
ammonia=0
nitrate=0

Results, two hours after w/c.
pH=8.2
ammonia=0.25
nitrate=5

Conclusion-
The color of the ammonia for the RO water against the color of my tank water ammonia was almost the same but the RO water was a bit more darker of a yellow(which is good). If someone else looked at the two, they wouldnt see a change. But to us, I could tell the difference. I think I still need to make a run to my LFS and have them check the ammonia on their scale.

Fish update-
All are doing great. Super alive, full of energy. No signs of any stress.

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 10-18-2008, 07:23 PM

Update. (hopefully last one).

It was w/c day for me and here are my results two hours after completion of w/c.

pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 6

Ammonia from purified water: 0.25
Ammonia from tank water:0.25

Conclusion: No ammonia in my tank! Might switch over to another brand rather than API only for the fact that API does not list there dates on the indiviual test bottles. I was/am getting obviously an innaccurate reading due to (most likely to) an expired bottle. Unless, the bottle was placed in high temperatures during shipment or such.

Fish are all doing super!

-Izzy