Help with water please

marie1101

marie1101

Member
I am faithful with my water changes, every month. I have yet to get the sweet lips and NASO out. But I tested the water, it is time to do my water change. My levels are all out of whack and last month they were normal. My husband said it is because I am feeding to much, the NASO and sweet lips have almost doubled in size so I have been adding more food. Please advise on how to get the levels back under control. What caused them to get so far out of whack? I can't believe it can be just food.
Nitrites were 160 and they should be 0!
PH was 7.8 and it should be 8.2-8.4
Ammonia was 1.0 and it should be 0
Nitrate was the only thing normal at 0.
It takes us two days to get the water from our RO since we work pretty long hours, the water change will occur tonight! Even with those levels, everyone seems to be happy and content.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I bet you are using api test kits. If you are, switch to seachem and see if you get the same results.
If your fish are growing that fast, you may very well be feeding too much.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Well high nitrates are not necessairly bad if the tank is actually balanced out with enough algae. What happens is you can get an initial nitrate spike as the algae is consuming ammonia for nitrogen not nitrates. Then, when the aerobic bacteria build up, the algae is forced to consume nitrates because that is the only nitrogen source available.
I always start a tank with lotsa macro algae like chaeto then do the rest. Tangs will really enjoy the chaeto as they eat it. My yellow tang would slurp it like spaghetti. LOL What I did was partition my 55g so the back 3" was a chaeto area and the front for the fish, corals, and rocks. I also added 2 2 tube utility fixtures behind the tank pointing forward to light up the back chaeto are.
3 weeks later my nitrates dropped from 120-160 (api test kit) to 0. Phosphates to unmeasureable levels a few weeks later. Tank ran in that condition for 8 years with no water changes.
my .02
 
gradymo

gradymo

Member
Hello,
bbeaslbob, she said her nitrites are off the chart and her nitrates were at 0. And as Snake said, try a different test kit if you're using the API. If it's not the kit, you mentioned you added some live rock from your step-daughter's tank. Was that rock out of water for any length of time? Sound like you may have had a mini cycle from die-off from the rock. A water change should take care of your problem.
Also as Snake said, over feeding may be the problem as well.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I doubt Nitrite could get that high. Have her explain it to you again. I don't know of any hobbiest level test kits that will measure more than 10ppm of Nitrite.
Ammonia is the immediate threat. At that level it is damaging the fish. The lower PH is luckily making the ammonia slightly less toxic. Amquel will help temporarily but stop feeding at all and do water changes until ammonia is zero.
Again - stop feeding. No food at all.
Once ammonia is zero we can discuss PH if it's still low. It's not at a dangerous level. I predict it will rise when the feeding stops.
Test Calcium and Alkalinity once you're done with water changes if PH is not back up over 8.0.
 
marie1101

marie1101

Member
Yes, BELEIVE it was that high. I did the water change last night and everything went back to normal this morning except the PH. It is still at 7.8. Will do research on that, but new fish arrive today. YAH!!! Scootee aka Jawfish is MIA while doing water change. For the record, I am very leary about fish arriving from internet, agian my first time. I am really excited, yet very worried at the same time. My test kit is API. Ya'll seem to think that is the wrong kit. I will change but will do both for a few water changes to compare. The label was Nitrate (NO3) and it was 160. but yet this morning (after water change last night) it was 0 (normal). Ammonia was 1.0 but now at 0. Think that is because of water change. I do agree with you Gradymo. I think that I do feed them too much. I thought it was what they could eat in 3 minutes but after research and this site, I found it was 1 minute! My husband says the same thing! I will keep you posted on how the new guys fare! Agian, thank you all for the wealth of information.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top