water quality

smyke

smyke

newbie
Oct 9, 2007
509
0
16
Connecticut
Real Name
Mike
Hello,

I just tested my water last night (finally) and here is what I am getting:

ph - 7.4
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40

I am totally surprised. Is it possible that the water quality can be that "good" even though I totally neglected the tank in the last few months?
I only used to test the water sporadically at my LFS and have not changed any water in there in at least 4 months.

Its a 45G tank with emperor 280, one female angel in there (lays eggs at least once every two weeks) and three tetras of some sort (got them from a friend who was getting rid of them). I feed twice a day.

I touched on that subject in my previous thread below but had no responses there.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128977

any responses would be greatly appreciated.
 
How old is the tank?

Plants?

Also, don't forget that the nitrAte test, although good at helping to determine water quality, is not the only factor at play. It's a good test, and if maintenance is done accordingly, by keeping your nitrAtes down you are inevitably keeping other toxic buildups, which we don't test for, down as well.

Lastly, after going this long between Water Changes (WCs), I would do small WCs as opposed to 1 large change which could cause issues.

How often do you gravel vac? If never, man are you in for a suprise when you do!
 
Tank is 2 years old. no plants.

I used to vacuum gravel everytime I changed water (20% once or biweekly) but never tested water then.

I will have to move that tank accross the room and I understand that will have to do some partial water changes first to get the nitrates down.
 
40 ppm nitrates are not that bad.
a 50% wc should get you down to half that. (which is noraml from my tap)
 
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