DaveB;2895265; said:
If you don't trust your test kit, can you take a water sample to the LFS for testing? If the test says the ammonia is 0 or barely 0.25 then it probably is not the problem.
GL,
ellie
My fish hyperventilate at night
- Thread starter DaveB
- Start date
If you don't trust your test kit, can you take a water sample to the LFS for testing? If the test says the ammonia is 0 or barely 0.25 then it probably is not the problem.
GL,
ellie
Not sure where algae entered the conversation but I'm not worried about that. It was never bad enough to cause blooms or real issues.
The bacteria being partially killed off and lagging behind is what seems most likely. But I agree, I should see high nitrites. I don't though. I have at most .25 ammonia and thus far no nitrites.
Are the nitrobacter more vulnerable to death by chlorine?
I trust the test kits for ammonia and Nitrate but my only nitrite test is one of those cheapo strips (though it shows as 0 without ambiguity). I'll have to get the good dropper for that as well I guess. That's really interesting about salt helping with that though, as I have reduced the salt content by a fair amount. Guess I'll up it again.
I have a bit of concern that if I change the water daily to lower the ammonia (which I agree, shouldn't be that big a deal), then I am slowing the process of repopulating the bacteria. That's why I wondered about one of those insta-cycle products I've heard about but never used. Even though I'm not sure I'm low on bacteria, I'd give one of them a shot if it meant I could be certain the filtration was back up to 100%.
The bacteria being partially killed off and lagging behind is what seems most likely. But I agree, I should see high nitrites. I don't though. I have at most .25 ammonia and thus far no nitrites.
Are the nitrobacter more vulnerable to death by chlorine?
I trust the test kits for ammonia and Nitrate but my only nitrite test is one of those cheapo strips (though it shows as 0 without ambiguity). I'll have to get the good dropper for that as well I guess. That's really interesting about salt helping with that though, as I have reduced the salt content by a fair amount. Guess I'll up it again.
I have a bit of concern that if I change the water daily to lower the ammonia (which I agree, shouldn't be that big a deal), then I am slowing the process of repopulating the bacteria. That's why I wondered about one of those insta-cycle products I've heard about but never used. Even though I'm not sure I'm low on bacteria, I'd give one of them a shot if it meant I could be certain the filtration was back up to 100%.
