Help Deducing Tank Issue(s)

[Cory]

I would hold off yes. Ask yourself what you are accomplishing. You washed your car on Saturday then kept it in the garage and never  drove it. 1 week later is it any dirtier? 

[d6veteran]

I love your analogies @Cory!  Thanks for the reply!

[Solidus1833]

22 hours ago, d6veteran said:

@Cory  @Solidus1833  Quick question.  I am taking your advice to cut down to one 50% water change per week.  That means a water change tomorrow (last change was 50% on Saturday).  However, Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/Phosphate are all 0 (using new, non-expired API test tube kits, double/tripled checked).  Should I hold off even longer to get the Nitrate and Phosphates up a bit?

 

 

Like @Cory mentioned, its smart to do either a 30% instead of 50% or just go a bit longer before changes to not remove too much nutrient waste from the water. For me, I go from 10-20ppm to 40-80ppm within about 5-7 days, then when I do a 40-50% water-change I'm back down to 10-20ppm. This is probably due to my FX4 not having enough bio-filtration capacity. I've actually beefed up my capacity using this guide 

 

however, as the Guru mentions, its still really not enough for more than an 80gal tank that's lightly stocked and I'm in a 72g with moderate load. 3 pleco's (L191, L075, L270), 5 dojos, 6 clown loach, 4 albino corys, 4 bosmoni rainbow, 2 siamese algae eaters (perfect for keeping blackbeard away) and one female redtail shark (tank boss). I suppose I could throw some activated carbon or something like Purigen or Bio-chem Zorb below my biohome in the bottom tray to help  soak some nitrate levels to go a little longer between changes. I'm hoping to get back to almost a 2wk water-change cycle in this tank, but I'm thinking I may just not have enough bio-capacity in this thing, although I do love it. I thought about going to an Fx6 but honestly, I'm kind of waiting for a move to a larger house and a LARGER tank haha. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Solidus1833

[d6veteran]

I have Nitrates!!!  Officially recorded between 4-5ppm at 5PM.  Going to do a 20% change Monday, test, and then see how long it takes to get to 5+ppm.   Sounds like I want to start with some Nitrates after a water change and build up to 10-20ppm before the next change.

 

[awymorePDX]

That is still pretty low in terms of Nitrates.

Be patient, keep testing, and wait on the water change for now. I wouldn't try and have it planned for a certain day, just watch your levels and let the tank tell you what it needs. As it gets more established and you understand how long it takes the nitrate to build, you can start figuring out a schedule.

[d6veteran]

10 minutes ago, awymorePDX said:

That is still pretty low in terms of Nitrates.

Be patient, keep testing, and wait on the water change for now. I wouldn't try and have it planned for a certain day, just watch your levels and let the tank tell you what it needs. As it gets more established and you understand how long it takes the nitrate to build, you can start figuring out a schedule.

So what level should I watch for before I do a change?  20?  30?

 Thanks for the comment/advice!

[Solidus1833]

8 minutes ago, d6veteran said:

So what level should I watch for before I do a change?  20?  30?

 Thanks for the comment/advice!

This would vary differently to every tank. But!, if you want to raise it a little quicker just use a little easy green ferts from the co-op store to get back to that 10-20ppm if you are low.