Test results, not good?

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jgallagher1980

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 25, 2008
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herndon VA
i recently did a 50% water change to both my tanks last sunday, while vacuuming the gravel, decidied to test the water in both tanks tonight, and i am thinkin its not good, maybe someone can help me with what i can do here and how good or bad each one is..

Tank #1 55g with 2 10-12 inch oscars only, with 2 aquaclear 500 filters--temp is 78.2 --- ph is @6.4 ----- ammonia is at 0 ---- nitrite is at 0 ---- nitrate is between 40-80, i cant tell the difference in the chart for those two settings.

Tank #2 45g with 4 tiger barbs, 2 kissing guaramis, 1 dwarf guarami, 4 african frogs, 1 pleco 3-4", 1 knife fish i think. temp was 72.5 ----- ph is 6.8ish ---- ammonia was at 2-4 ppm, again cannot tell the difference on the chart, ----- nitrite was at 2 ppm,---- and nitrate was again 40-80ish. filter for that tank is a decent size bio wheel type hob filter, changed both filters sunday in that one.


hopefully someone can look at these and see what i need to change and how good or bad these numbers are thanks
 
jgallagher1980;2130517; said:
i recently did a 50% water change to both my tanks last sunday, while vacuuming the gravel, decidied to test the water in both tanks tonight, and i am thinkin its not good, maybe someone can help me with what i can do here and how good or bad each one is..

Tank #1 55g with 2 10-12 inch oscars only, with 2 aquaclear 500 filters--temp is 78.2 --- ph is @6.4 ----- ammonia is at 0 ---- nitrite is at 0 ---- nitrate is between 40-80, i cant tell the difference in the chart for those two settings.

Tank #2 45g with 4 tiger barbs, 2 kissing guaramis, 1 dwarf guarami, 4 african frogs, 1 pleco 3-4", 1 knife fish i think. temp was 72.5 ----- ph is 6.8ish ---- ammonia was at 2-4 ppm, again cannot tell the difference on the chart, ----- nitrite was at 2 ppm,---- and nitrate was again 40-80ish. filter for that tank is a decent size bio wheel type hob filter, changed both filters sunday in that one.


hopefully someone can look at these and see what i need to change and how good or bad these numbers are thanks
Click to expand...


The first tank is ok, but could benefit from a few more water changes.

The second tank needs some help. Rather than changing the filters, just rinse them in tank water during a water change. Almost all of your bacteria are held in the filter, and when you change it you basically start your tank cycle over.
 
do you use strips or a test kit cause strips dont give a verry accurate reading, how often do you change your filter pads, how many fish do you have, how long have the tanks been running, and how long do you normally go between water changes
 
55g tank is about 4 months now, the 45 has been setup 16 months or so,m moved to the new house about 4 months ago and had to fill with fresh tap water, i am using a api master test kit. the filter pads i am using are the carbon filled pads on the "bad tank" i change them when i see the flow of water starting to slow down. water changes are not that frequent, maybe once a month lately. and with the filters, i though the bio wheel was responsible for the bacteria, i dont touch them at all, just the carbon filled pads. is the temperature set right for both tanks as well?
 
is there anything i can add in the bad tank to help this out, is the ph acceptable for both tanks, i know water changes are recommended, but i think i might want to hold off until i can get a filter for the tap water, hopefully soon
 
In the tank that has bad test results, you can take the sponges from the good tank and rinse them in the bad one (I'm using good and bad for lack of a better term)

It will look nasty, but all of the junk from the good filters will help get the others back up to speed.
 
What size is the biowheel? I'm assuming it is big enough for a 45g tank. Bio wheel filters are great, but alot of times it seems difficult to get the bacteria to colonize the biowheel. When you first set up the filter it is best to run without cartridges, this way the bacteria can't colonize the cartridge.

I would switch the bio wheel for one of the AC110s on the 55g. Run the biowheel without cartridges for about 10 days. You will need to monitor ammonia while doing this, I would also increase your water changes to 50% once a week on that 55g.

After the 10 days switch the filters back and monitor water params, once the ammonia and nitrite are steady zero, you can then replace the filter cartridges.
 
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