amusingly years ago i had a 55 gallon tank with a 10 gallon trickle filter sump i made... and my ammonia stayed 0, my nitrite stayed zero, and my nitrates always were below 20ppm. i did have to thin the plants sometimes and top off water.
Thank you very much. This is so helpful and I wrote everything down until it’s engraved in my head. I do have a question. We have well water on blue slate , no rusty taste, very clean and clear. Our original house has a water softener but when we built an addition we didn’t add one which is is the hard water in my tanks ,I test tank water twice weekly which are always high alkaline . The pH has lowered 8.0 even after adding Seachem Neutral Regulator which is supposed to adjust to 7.0. How can I lower the alkaline. I’ve even used bottled spring water. Would the softened water be better ? How can I lower the alkalinity and pH ? Thank you so much.
Hello, First off - thank you for sharing your feedback, it is nice to know when people find my video's useful :) re. your challenge with pH, depending on what fish you are keeping, and the level of pH you have, i'd be tempted to leave it well alone. I have a video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y_KnuCHxwdQ.html where I talk about GH & KH (KH is commonly associated with pH and usually is what you need to understand an master in order to alter pH - WARNING though, it isn't the only buffer we have for pH) have a watch and if you have questions or need help - please share the specifics you are trying to attain and why and I will try my best to advise on what I would do. :)
My fish tank water levels for no2 and no3 are very high, I’ve done many water changes and the levels stay the same, I’ve put in a live plant but still isn’t doing anything, all my fish seem fine but, no signs of stress, what do I do? I have a 76L fish tank with 7 fish, everything was good when I got the fish until I started feeding bloodworms and the water went all weird and start getting brown algae on the glass, tested the water level and no2 and no3 are very high, I am really concerned
If you have high levels of Nitrite your filter is either not cycled or has crashed, you will need to keep doing c. 50% daily water changes to help your bacteria colonies build up whilst stopping your fish from getting poisoned. Before you do this however, test your source water for it's Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels as some times (is the case for me) your water is actually the source of the problem.
Hello, this sounds like new tank syndrome suggesting that your filter is uncycled as your bacteria should convert ammonia into nitrite and then another type of ammonia would then convert your nitrite to nitrate. If you have fish in the aquarium, I would suggest to perform daily 25%-50% water changes to help dilute the ammonia, if you can purchase one of the following bacteria boosters: Fluval Cycle or Fritz Turbo Start (My preference is Fritz), add this to the aquarium as these are packed with beneficial bacteria to kick your cycle into gear fast. You are wanting to keep up your water changes until you notice Ammonia turn to 0, Nitrite to peak and then return to 0... and then finally your nitrates start to rise. If you have an aquarium with no fish in, I have a video, about fishless cycling that should help you: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VeY_kKZBLAU.html I also have on my website a passage that talks about cycling new aquariums: www.bigfishlittlefishaquatics.co.uk/set-up-and-cycling If you have any other questions, please ask :)