my 55 gallon tank levels?

Question

okay. im back. iwaited 2 weeks did my water changes and took my water to the pet store to be tested. they said my ph and nitret levels were high but they thought it was my well water. can this be and if so how can i remedy this. is there any way to keep levels down straight from the tap.

my ph seems to be 6.2 and my no3 is 40 and my no2 is .5 my alk. is 80

Answer 1

What are your pH and nitrite/nitrate levels now? Please post this as an "add details" using the pencil icon under the question. Also include the alkalinity and ammonia if you know these.

Most fish will still do reasonably well as long as the pH is 6-8 (I've kept tropicals with water out of the tap that was 8.2-8.3). Nitrite should be below 0.5, but nitrate can be as much as 40 before becoming too dangerous to fish, and some can take considerably higher amounts.

You can lower the pH by using peat inside a mesh bag in your filter, or using driftwood (bog wood) in the tank, but the level will fluctuate whenever you do a water change, and this isn't good for your fish. You can also lower it using reverse osmosis water mixed with your well water to dilute whatever is creating the pH and nitrite/nitrate.


ADDITION: If you pH is 6.2, it's on the low (acidic), rather than high side. Instead of using wood or peat to lower the pH, you should add some crushed coral or shells to raise the pH. With an alkalinity of 80, the tank pH should be fairly stable.

With a nitrite of 0.5 and nitrate of 40, you're right at the point where the water chemistry is going to start stressing the fish. I take it these are your tank results, rather than the tapwater? If the tapwater levels aren't this high for nitrite or nitrate, you may need to do more frequent water changes, or change a larger water volume. I suggest 25% on a weekly basis and to use a gravel vacuum to remove any debris from the gravel. You should only clean the very top of the gravel, and deeply clean about 1/3 well at any given water change, but rotate which sections you clean each time.

Since you have elevated nitrites, you may have raised ammonia in the tank as well. This sounds like your tank is perhaps only a few weeks old? It seems to still be in the cycling phase if you've got nitrite present - or you've overstocked the tank or are overfeeding the fish. You should feed only what your fish can eat in 2-3 minutes twice each day at most. You might want to cut back on this even more.

If these results are your well water, you might want to look into using reverse osmosis water and finding a suitable ratio to mix with your own water. You can start with 1 gallon RO water for every 4 of well water and see what results you get from that. Then you can increase to 2 gallons RO to 3 of well, and so one till you find a good balance between chemistry and cost.

You might also want to check what items you keep in the tank. Driftwood or local rock (particularly sandstone) can leach chemicals into your water that will lower the pH.

Answer 2

you've a micro organism bloom that's making an attempt to settle, take care of your tank with nitrate and ammonia remedy, and the subsequent day do a 50 % water substitute, I in simple terms finished an same conflict in my fifty 5 gallon freshwater. i became instructed i became cleansing it too a lot, subsequently no longer letting the micro organism do what mandatory to be performed.

Answer 3

Some kinds of fish aren't that fussy about pH levels. A lot of freshwater fish like goldfish can happily tolerate wide ranges.

Nitrite levels are more problematic because they are a stage of the ammonia consumption process. Ammonia is your biggest concern.

Answer 4

try PRIME by seachem or frtiz zyme this worked for me may not for u but i though i would trow some suggestions CYCLE may work too