Water Test Levels? Cycling Tank.?

Question

Yeah, I have another question about tank cycling. My tank is relatively new so it is still cycling.

The first numbers there are two days ago, the numbers on the right are todays numbers:

Ammoina- 0.5 ..|.. 0.25
Nitrite- 10 ..|.. 5
Nitrate- 20 ..|.. 20
Chlorine- 0 ..|.. 0
Hardness- 75 ..|.. 75
Alkalinity- 80 ..|.. 0
pH- 7.8 ..|.. 6.8

Ammonia and Nitrite are dropping, which I take it is a good sign.

Why didn't the nitrates raise in the nitrites went down? I do have the order right, right? Ammonia --> Nitrite --> Nitrate

What is alkalinity, and should this be 0? Seems like 80 to 0 is a drastic change, but I don't know what it means so...

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You do have it in the right order Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Why that didn't increase is a very interesting question. Do you by chance have any plants or algae in the tank? That would be the first thought on where nitrates are going.

Alkalinity is the total of all the carbonates and bicarbonates in your water and represents in effect the waters ability to neutralize acids. Something in your tank (mostly fish waste no doubt) is causing a build up of acids that has overcome the waters ability to neutralize that acid and shows up as a drop in both alkalinity and pH. You basically have high pH, low alkalinity water.

When you hear people speak of pH buffers and the ability of water to hold a specific pH, they are refering to the total alkalinity of the water. You have a low alkalinity and therefore a fairly low buffering capability. You can increase the stability of both of these numbers (alkalinity and pH by the addition of small amounts of baking soda. Exactly how much would require far more info than we currently have to work with, but you can get there by trial and error. Start with about 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons, wait a few hours and check the pH and alkalinity again. With a little trial and error you can stabilize the pH at a level you desire. The addition of some crushed coral to the filter would have the same effect and may hold the water more stable than baking soda in the long run but you would still need to buffer and adjust the water for each water change at least a bit depending on where you are holding the pH.

I advocate adding some baking soda to give the water a little buffering capacity based on two things. One, your buffering capacity was used up in just two days. The source of the acid in the tank has not stopped, therefore your pH will continue to drop. It could get quite low in another 5 days and when you do a water change with pH 7.8 water it could badly shock the fish. Two, an unforseeable event could occur that would badly alter pH such as a power outage. The filter stops removing ammonia and urea and also stops agitating the water allowing CO2 to build up. Both of these would add acid to the tank and with no buffer could result in a very low pH in a matter of hours. It is my opinion that every tank should have some buffering ability to prevent such problems.

You might double check that nitrate reading, nothing is really coming to mind of why it didn't change at least a little bit... other than what I mentioned before.

By the way, for tetra breeders your water is to die for lol.

MM

Answer 2

Your number for ammonia and nitrite are looking like your tank is cycling properly. Yes, you have the right order - this may just be an artifact of your test kit. Depending on the type you use (strip or liquid), how accurate the test is (liquids are best), how drastic of a change there is between colors, how well you shake the bottle (liquid test), how long you wait before reading results, etc.

Alkalinity is a property of water that resists a change in pH if an acid is added - in effect, a buffer. If it's zero, your pH can change - as it has from 7.8 to 6.8. If fish were in the tank, their waste products could lower the pH even more. So can driftwood in your aquarium. Live plants in your tank can raise your pH (at least while they're involves in photosynthesis). Since you started with 80 (a good value), you do have some alkalinity in your water source.

For now, I'd just keep an eye on the pH after you've added your first fish and done a few water changes. I'm not a fan of adding a lot of unnecessary chemicals to an aquarium - your pH may stabilize in time. Most fish will be quite comfortable in a pH of 6.8. If you're planning to keep something with a high pH requirement (some cichlids, for instance), I'd use a calcium/aragonite substrate to raise the pH and do small, frequent water changes.

(Drat that MM - ahead of me again! lol!)

Answer 3

You're actually looking really good. Your nitrates may be low right now because you still have some nitrites coming your way, but don't worry about your nitrates. They shouldn't necessarily raise. As long as nitrates are 40 ppm or below, you're great. It's the ammonia and nitrites that you want at 0. My curiosity comes in the alkalinity and ph. High alkalinity relates to high ph, while low alkalinity or high acidic, relates to low ph. You had high alkaline and raised ph, and then BOOM!, both your alkalinity and ph plummet. What do you have in your tank that may have sweetened it up so much? Logs, peat-base media, peat pot plants? It's okay if you're planning on having fish that like sweet water, which actually is most tropicals, so, that all depends. But, neutral is 7.0, so you basically almost have neutral ph. But, still, with that huge drop, I question that maybe a little boo-boo in the test.......? Maybe do that test again...

Answer 4

Cycling is preparing a tank for fish to live in, people new to the hobby will often dive head first into overstocking their new tank and then wonder why fish start dying off after a week or so.
Basicly a fish gives off Ammonia (NH3,NH4)from fecal matter which is broken down by nitrifying bacteria into Nitrite (NO2) which in turn is broken down to Nitrate(NO3).
Ammonia and Nitrite can be harmfull and more often enough lethal to fish at any level and in a fully cycled tank both should read 0. Nitrate is not as lethal and "some" fish can live in high levels but its best to keep it under 20ppm(parts per million) once the tank is fully cycled.
Once the tank is fully cycled the nitrates can be kept to a safe level with regular weekly water changes.

There are many ways to seed a tank.

1. Obtaining gravel and/or water from a established tank. I would advise against using gravel from a pet shop tank due to risk of disease, parisites etc.
2. Using a filter with media which has been running in an established tank.
3. Plant the tank with potted plants (this really helps)
4. Using products sold in aquarium stores like wardlys cycle.
5. Using break in fish like roseys. Theses fish should be healthy on purchase and only 2 or 3 will be needed for the break in service.

Typical Cycle using fish.

Ok the following is only a guide and only by testing with a kit that does Ammonia,Nitrite and Nitrate you will know the true state of the tanks progress.
Start by doing "no" water changes for about 2 weeks by which time the Ammonia level should be comming down with nitrite levels spiking. Then do about a 20% water change. Then after about another 2 weeks of no water changes the nitrite should be declining with nitrates starting to rise. If all goes well you should be able to start regular 20 to 30% water changes. (During the cycle feed the fish sparingly to avoid a bio overload effect) A fully cycled tank will read Ammonia 0,Nitrite 0,nitrate under 40ppm and under 20ppm or lower is best. If your using fish that you want to keep and they start showing signs of severe stress you can do 5 to 10% weekly water changes (More in real bad cases) This will naturally lengthen the time it takes to cycle the tank considerably.Also adding aquarium salt (or non iodized cooking salt) at a rate of 1 table spoon per 5 US gallons (about 20litres) of water will help will help reduce the effects of nitrite toxicity.
The actual time it takes can vary a lot as temperature,ph,whether or not you use gravel,filter media from an established tank and other factors can play an effect on how fast or slow a cycle will finish.

Also note that a tank doesant have to be new to restart a cycle. This can be caused by too much off a water change too often, overloading a tank with too many fish, using certain medications will kill off the nitrifying bacteria needed to keep the tank healthy.

Fishless Cycling

There is another method of cycling called a Fishless Cycle which involves using pure ammonia products commmonly sold in hardwares and supermarkets in the cleaning sections. I personally am yet to try it but have heard pretty good things about it. The main advantages is that you dont put your fish through the stress of a normal cycle and if done correctly it can take as little as 2 weeks to finish. hope this helps.

Answer 5

The alkalinity is also known as carbonate hardness,and is a good indicator of your waters ability to maintain a stable pH.Are you using any chemicals to alter the pH? It's possible that there is an anomaly in the test.However a drop of pH from 7.8 to 6.8 is a serious condition,it represents a one- hundredfold drop in pH,and is very stress inducing to your fish. Are you sure that you are not overfeeding by a drastic amount. It might also be helpful to test a sample of your tap water(after dechlorination and a resting period of several hours),to establish a baseline of your water parameters. Continue small daily water changes until the nitrite hits zero.--------PeeTee

Answer 6

you would be completely guessing. you have no longer any way of understanding in case you have the the appropriate option volume of ammonia to start with, while to real the ammonia up back, and no thank you to tell while the cycle has started and the tank is secure for fish. in case you dont have a attempt kit, basically upload a pair of small hardy fish, do some greater desirable water changes and it fairly is going to artwork out fantastic. you are able to wing it with fish in case you're taking a while and shop up the water changes, yet fishless, you may desire to be waiting to attempt the water parameters. in case you have already got a working tank, then you fairly can clone the cycle from that by skill of shifting gravel, filter out media or perhaps an entire filter out. This enables in spite of approach you're utilising. Ian

Answer 7

20 for nitrates is actually pretty high. I would do a water change of 20%. Once a tank is cycled, it is most common around 10ppm.
The pH drop is due to waste buildup. Human urine has a pH of about 5.5. Let's assume fish urine is about the same.
Water from your tap is 7.8. Add urine to that water... the pH goes down. Add more urine, it goes down more.
Things look normal to me. Now it's time to use a gravel vac and "flush their toilet" for the fish, because nobody likes swimming in water with a lot of pee in it!