friday report

[beaslbob]

again I am reporting my values in my two tanks. the 20g macro has various macro algaes and the 55g has a tang, 5 damsels, 15 hermits 4-5 turbos, 2 crabs, bahama and green brittle starfish, banded Coral shrimp, rasta (or finger) leather, star polyps.
todays values (yesterday's values)
all ppm except ph
20g macro
ammonia 0.0 (0.0)
nitrItes .25-.5 (.5)
nitrates 10 (15)
ph 8.4 (8.4)
55g
ammonia 0.0 (0.0)
nitrites 0.0 (0.0)
nitrates 160. (160.)
ph 8.4 (8.4)
macro algaes/turtle grass showing growth, weak grape caulpera showing new growth and regaining color after moving to be in ouput from powerhead.
all livestock in 55g active with no signs of distress. Fish and cleaners actively cleaning tank.

 

[sinner's girl]

When was the last water change?

 

[crazy8]

Sinners..... you obviously do not follow Bob closely.
Water changes are not in his vocabulary (although, to be honest I have yet to do one either). But part of his "experiment" is to see if macro algae can reduce nitrates so that water changes are not a necessity.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
When was the last water change?
I think last feburary i did use 10g to help start the 20g macro. Last water change for either tank. I have swapped water about 3 times between the two before the high values in the macro. Before that it had been 0.0 since march.

 

[sinner's girl]

I'm sorry, I guess I worded that wrong. I knew he was taking water from the 20gl...which is what I meant. When was the last time you took water from the 20gl and put it in the 55gl?

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
I'm sorry, I guess I worded that wrong. I knew he was taking water from the 20gl...which is what I meant. When was the last time you took water from the 20gl and put it in the 55gl?
thanks and glad you asked. With the non zero values, I have not operated the manual fuge since monday. Need to get it straightened out before I do that. no need to add nitrItes and even more importantly the environment causing them to the display.

 

[buzz]

"Non-zero" values? Is that what you call them?
Dude....you have nitrates in excess of 160, possibly much higher, because if I read last time correctly, you pegged the test kit.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Buzz
"Non-zero" values? Is that what you call them?
Dude....you have nitrates in excess of 160, possibly much higher, because if I read last time correctly, you pegged the test kit.
in the 20g macro i had 0.0 for ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes for 5-6 months until two weeks ago. I just want to get back to that before operating the manual fuge.
And Yes I do have 160 or greater in the 55g.

 

[sinner's girl]

"no need to add nitrItes" good point, i was thinking there were zero.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
"no need to add nitrItes" good point, i was thinking there were zero.
they are in the 55g just not in the 20g. I also find the 20g interesting. Obviously the 55g ammonia dropping to 0.0 then the nitrites to 0.0 while nitrAtes are still high is not too suprising. But the 20g ammonia dropped to 0.0 days ago, and nitrates are tending down at a good pace. What I would have expected is ammonia to 0.0 then nitrItes to 0.0 then nitrAtes. Although NitrItes are dropping, it would still seem that nitrAtes should be tending up. Hmmmmmm wonder why?

 

[broomer5]

Hmmmmmm wonder why?
bacteria

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by broomer5
bacteria
Yes bateria does convert nitrItes to nitrAtes. Not so in an anerobic environment for nitrAtes. So nitrAtes should be rising, but they are not. Hmmmmmmmm wonder why?
Further the water is still coudy with some macros still decomposing. So I thought ammonia should still be at least measurable. Could blame that on batceria also. I just find it interesting that ammonia is at 0.0, nitrAtes are dropping and nitrItes are not 0.0.

 

[broomer5]

The only time you would expect to see the traditional rise of ammonia then drop, followed by the traditional rise in nitrite then drop and the traditional rise in nitrate ......... is in a brand new tank that has NO bacteria in from the start.
The curves you are accustomed to seeing explain just that - nothing more.
Once the bacteria are present and ammonia & nitrite have dropped to zero for the current bioload - then you can no longer "expect" a traditional rise and fall of your readings.
In other words - the bacteria do what they do - nothing more.
If you don't feed a tank - then bacteria will die off.
If your nitrite is stalled out and not dropping - it's because the bacteria responsible for converting the trite to trate are not in sufficient numbers - yet.

 

[beaslbob]

understand. still does not explain why nitrAtes are dropping with nitrItes still above 0.0 (but dropping). Could be they are fairly small values compared to brand new tanks. My nitrItes would always peg the test for a day when adding new fish. Then drop to 0.0 over the next day or two.
I guess something else must be going on if the nitrItes are taking days to drop these small amounts and nitrAtes are not rising but are actually falling.
Oh well I'll have to wait a couple of days or so.

 

[sinner's girl]

were there nitrates in the tank before you saw ammonia and nitrites?

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
were there nitrates in the tank before you saw ammonia and nitrites?
no. ammmonia, nitrites and nitrates had been rock solid at 0.0 for months until I added the feather macro two weeks ago. Circulation had been turned off for 3 months before that also. turned on the powerhead when i saw the white cloud forming.

 

[sinner's girl]

nevermind then...I had an idea but if the nitrates weren't there before, the my theory doesn't work.
Could it be your test kit?

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
nevermind then...I had an idea but if the nitrates weren't there before, the my theory doesn't work.
Could it be your test kit?
could be but then it is being consistant and the 55g values are believable. Could also be the senzitivity of the test kit. They don't measure everything +- 1 ppm.
try another theory.

 

[reefnut]

Could just be poor maintenance, poor methods, poor water, poor rock, etc... just my theory.

 

[jarvis]

So let me get this straight. You didnt do any water changes and will still be running your tank the same manor as you were before.