scott the fishman Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 HELLO FISH FAMILY! i just did a ammonia test but my eyes cant tell if i am in the 0 or the 0.25 range. what do you think? is there a diffrent kind of test like strips for ammonia testing? also after 4 weeks with out a water change, my nitrates are still at 0, why cant i get my nitrates up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 I would say it's less than .25, but not 0. How are your nitrites looking? If you have a lot of nitrites you won't see your nitrates yet. Is this for a Cycle? Fishless or fish in? If you have a lot of plants it's possible that they're eating all the nitrate as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 thank you my nitrites are at 0. not a new tank 5 months with plants 4 months with fish. lots of plants and pothose growing out of HTB filters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 Generally when I see my ammonia go 0, I see a few days of super high nitrite before I see my nitrates go up. Especially on a sterile (new) setup. Which is the life that my 10G used to live. I restarted that tank time and time again. My 75 was an anomaly because I used recycled media and planted substrate. Columns are: date, test type, ammo, then nitrite, then nitrate, then water change percentage. This was with fishless fuel. My nitrates have never again gotten above 10ppm, even with adding a ton of fish. As the plants fill in, it's even lower nitrates. Then... I keep adding cuttings in there. 10/17/2021 Master 4 0 5 10/19/2021 Master 2 0.25 10 20% Change 10/20/2021 Master 0.25 4 20 10/21/2021 Master 0 2 40 10/22/2021 Master 0 0 20 10/23/2021 Master 0 0 20 20% Change On 11/30/2021 at 2:58 PM, scott the fishman said: thank you my nitrites are at 0. not a new tank 5 months with plants 4 months with fish. lots of plants and pothose growing out of HTB filters. I see a touch of pink on that nitrate test there! You're looking good imo. It appears to me that your plants are doing their jobs. 🙂 And yes, there are different test strips for ammonia that you can get. Aquarium Co-Op has an Easy Ammonia Test Strip product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 On 11/30/2021 at 2:59 PM, Minanora said: Generally when I see my ammonia go 0, I see a few days of super high nitrite before I see my nitrates go up. Especially on a sterile (new) setup. Which is the life that my 10G used to live. I restarted that tank time and time again. My 75 was an anomaly because I used recycled media and planted substrate. Columns are: date, test type, ammo, then nitrite, then nitrate, then water change percentage. This was with fishless fuel. My nitrates have never again gotten above 10ppm, even with adding a ton of fish. As the plants fill in, it's even lower nitrates. Then... I keep adding cuttings in there. 10/17/2021 Master 4 0 5 10/19/2021 Master 2 0.25 10 20% Change 10/20/2021 Master 0.25 4 20 10/21/2021 Master 0 2 40 10/22/2021 Master 0 0 20 10/23/2021 Master 0 0 20 20% Change I see a touch of pink on that nitrate test there! You're looking good imo. It appears to me that your plants are doing their jobs. 🙂 ok thank you!! i am still getting a WC schedule worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 Totally get you. I feel like every time I get a tank dialed in, I add or remove something from it and have to start all over again haha. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 On 11/30/2021 at 3:08 PM, Minanora said: Totally get you. I feel like every time I get a tank dialed in, I add or remove something from it and have to start all over again haha. SO TRUE! i just added 8 rosy barbs. so testing water daily. think my bio load was to lite for all my plants hers a pic. would say this is a heavy planted tank? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 On 11/30/2021 at 4:46 PM, scott the fishman said: HELLO FISH FAMILY! i just did a ammonia test but my eyes cant tell if i am in the 0 or the 0.25 range. what do you think? is there a diffrent kind of test like strips for ammonia testing? also after 4 weeks with out a water change, my nitrates are still at 0, why cant i get my nitrates up? If you have chloramines in your water, it can apparently cause a slight false positive on the ammonia test that looks just like this, even after treatment with your dechlorinator. This isn’t something I would worry about if all other parameters are good and it looks like they are. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 THANK YOU! thats great info. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 @Odd DuckI didn't even consider that! 🌈*The more you know*🌟 @scott the fishman I would consider that a pretty well planted tank. It's a glorious jungle and it's B.E.A.UTIFUL! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 On 11/30/2021 at 4:12 PM, scott the fishman said: SO TRUE! i just added 8 rosy barbs. so testing water daily. think my bio load was to lite for all my plants hers a pic. would say this is a heavy planted tank? ORD🥰 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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