martin
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Posts: 248
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Post by martin on Nov 24, 2006 19:25:21 GMT
im have major problems with my water i cant seem to keep my ammonia at 0 at the moment its about .15,i have not added any more fish or done anything different and i still do a weekly water change of 30 percent water tests show today ammonia 0.15,ph 8.2 [which is very high] nitrates 30 and nitrite 0. i dont think im overstocked i have 9 panda cories,3 mollies and 6 rasboras tetras.
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Post by mralgae on Nov 24, 2006 19:33:05 GMT
hi martin. first what size tank do you have for the amount of fish you have?
what are the normal reads for the tank? have you changed any of the filters just lately? have you sand or gravel? plants or no plants? etc.
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martin
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Posts: 248
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Post by martin on Nov 24, 2006 19:39:08 GMT
hi martin. first what size tank do you have for the amount of fish you have? what are the normal reads for the tank? have you changed any of the filters just lately? have you sand or gravel? plants or no plants? etc. its a 22 gallon tank with gravel and 4 real plants that have been there since setup and no i havent changed anything at all. normal readings are ph 7.8 now very high ammonia usually 0 nitrates and nitrite are the same.now that i think of it i did add a big rock about 2 weeks ago but i bought it in my lfs |
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Post by mralgae on Nov 24, 2006 20:08:04 GMT
i know rock and bog wood can have a major effect on pH but not 100% sure on the rest to be honest. the only thing i can think of is if the rock was dirty when you put in the tank.
i would do small waterchanges of 10% a day till it comes back down. only other thing i can think of is are the test kits you have near the sell by dates?
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Post by jackpike on Nov 24, 2006 22:01:47 GMT
0.15ppm is very close to 0ppm, can be hard to tell between them on those colour charts, It might just be a temporary spike after feeding. If your ammonia is getting higher then something has affected your population of nitrifying bacteria that being the case, then there could a number of causes. cleaning filter media in tap water, A powercut, Overfeeding, Lack of oxygen, A large increase in temperature, or perhap that new rock could be tainted with a toxic chemical(Don't think this one is likey though). As a tank gets older it does suffer from ph decline due to rottening food and old plant debris which collects in the gravel.
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Post by anthony on Nov 25, 2006 9:52:41 GMT
Are you using Ammo lock. This can effect readings on test kits.
What test kits are you using. Is it an electronic one.
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martin
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Posts: 248
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Post by martin on Nov 26, 2006 10:20:33 GMT
im thinking maybe it the rock but i did buy it from my lfs so it should be safe.
im useing a master freshwater kit and its only a couple of months old, i just dont understand how the ph is has changed so much the ammonia is slowing coming down im doing a 30% water change everyday
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Post by mralgae on Nov 26, 2006 19:06:13 GMT
depends on the type of rock it is and if it did bring in any nasties with it and where it came from, also if you know the ph of your tap water check it again to see if it is still the same.
i am just finding out from another site that here in dublin the water can change dramaticly over the year from below 7 to high above 7. might be worth a quick test to see what the read is.
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