how do i keep ammonia, nitrates, mitrites levels down? in my tank?

Answer 1

The quick answer is to regularly use a gravel filter to remove water, and crap from the gravel. Ideally this is a 10% water change.

Ammonia should be taken care of by your filter if:

1)You don't add fish to your tank faster than the biological filter can handle. At best a 30 gallon tank can take 1 fish a week, and a 60 gallon 2 fish a week. (You can do more, but your ammonia levels will increase, and possibly spike.) Or you can cycle the tank prior to adding fish, but even adding a lot of fish at once is bad.

2)You don't have too many fish in your tank. One inch of slim bodied fish per gallon is a good rule of thumb, but it really depends on the level of care, and quality of the filter.

3)You don't over feed. Food = ammonia. It doesn't matter if it rots or is eaten it's all ammonia. Fish should be fed once a day about what they can eat in 2 minutes.

Nitrites should be converted to nitrates just like ammonia is converted to nitrites. The same issue as above apply.

Nitrates don't naturally go away unless you have a massive amount of plants. (Roughly x10 the mass of fish.) Even then unless you are constanly removing dead leafs, and stems the nitrate will still build up. Remember in the end Food -> Nitrates. So unless you remove it from the tank it just builds up. The easy way to do this is to replace water. In a healthy tank you shouldn't need to remove more 10% of the water while vacuuming the gravel. If you need more than this to keep the nitrates in line you are vastly overstocked.

Answer 2

With approximate water changes of 20-30% weekly, depending on how stocked your tank is. Use a gravel vacuum to siphon out the water and clean about half the gravel every week.

After your tank has "cycled", you should not have any ammonia or nitrite, and your nitrate should read at less than 40ppm at the end of a week (though less than 20ppm is best).

Adding chemicals to control your water levels instead of doing weekly water changes is not healthy for your aquarium. The only time you should add chemicals is if your ammonia levels are over 1ppm with fish in the tank. Then, consider adding Ammo-Lock - this will detoxify the ammonia so it doesn't harm your fish, but the nitrifying bacteria will still be able to "eat" it. Even with Ammo-Lock, it will still show up on your tester. Depending on how high the ammonia and nitrite levels are, your best bet may be to do small daily 10% water changes until everything evens out.

Answer 3

When your tank is fully cycled bacteria will 'remove' all ammonia and nitrites produced in your tank (ammonia gets converted to nitrites and nitrites get converted to nitrates). No chemicals of any kind are required except during emergencies (ammonia removers and the like should not be used full time).

Water changes, however, are needed to remove nitrates (although a heavily planted tank will help in this regard since plants consume nitrates).

Until your bacteria is able to do the job do 25% water changes every other day. When both ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm (undetectable) then do 25% water changes weekly (adjust as required).

Answer 4

If you have any ammonia or nitrites you need to do small daily water changes till your tank has cycled and those levels are at 0. Then, you need to maintain by doing small water changes preferably once a week-depending on the tank size & inhabitants.

Don't add unnecessary chemicals ie: ammo lock and amquel, it's not dealing with the problem. I also recommend Prime when you add new water.

Answer 5

besides what you're doing, daily 30% water adjustments might easily help. that would desire to be constantly diluting the Ammonia. additionally be sure which you feed gently and get rid of any leftover food interior the aquarium in the present day. additionally keep an eye fixed on those vegetation, any lifeless count will strengthen the water high quality subjects so be sure you get rid of any lifeless plant count as quickly as you notice it. in case you may desire to upload some Zeolite on your filter out that still will help to get rid of Ammonia. Ammonia and Nitrate poisoning can injury the gills, making it greater no longer common for a fish to get dissolved oxygen from the water. considering that no longer adequate dissolved oxygen can be a reason for fish to cling out the exterior, you may desire to thinking approximately getting an air stone to be sure that there is a lot of dissolved oxygen interior the water and decrease the wear if your fish's gills have been effected.

Answer 6

Do a water change once weekly. Drop the tank level down to about half, then add the fesh water. What kind of filter system do you have? If it is under the gravel, you shouldn't have to clean gravel. You should have rinsed the gravel several times, until the water ran clear before putting in the tank.Hopefully, you did this. If not, try rinsing the gravel as stated.

Answer 7

Do a partial water change, approx. 1/3 of the tank volume every month. I have also had good luck by using both an under gravel and outside filter and using filter cartridges in the under gravel that help remove ammonia. Change these cartridges out monthly when you do your partial water change.

Answer 8

the Best way to do this is siphoning the gravel and removing 10-20% water changes weekly - even with a u/g filter

Answer 9

do a fifteen percent water change (never change more than that) once weekly. there is a chemical that you can buy called amquel that lowers it within minutes and has been known to clear the problem altogether its about seven quid in most good ornamental aquatic stores

Answer 10

there are different chemicals that can bring them down but the best thing to do is take a sample of your water to petsmart and get it tested. petsmart does the testing free and they will show you the products to fix it. they can also print you up care sheets about the information that you want.