Current water conditions

[ahnatar]

I 'inherited' a 10g tank when my ex moved out, and I have since been trying to get it under control. As far as I know she did no research, just bought the tank, treated the water with a chlorine/chloramine remover, and stocked it with a "fruit" tetra and two platys. I added a black molly, two small dalmation mollies, and a bristlenose pleco, not realizing I was overpopulating the tank. Before adding the new fish, I did a water change and gravel vacumn, and thought everything would be fine.

Last week, both platys and one of the dalmations died in quick succession. So I got a water testing kit, and found the nitrate level at 150ppm, nitrite .5ppm and ammonia at .5ppm. I've since done two water changes/gravel vacumns, and the latest results are:

Ammonia: between 0-.5ppm
Ph: 6.8
Alkalinity: 80ppm
Chlorine: 0
GH: 300
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: roughly 40ppm

Am I on the right track? What should I do next? Continue water changes, or...? I'm in the process of refurbishing a 20g long tank I got from freecycle and eventually will move everyone over.

All advice/suggestions appreciated. :)

[Lupin]

Nitrates seem a little too high. Ammonia should not exceed beyond 0.25. Water changes will help.:)

[Rbishop]

You are on the right track....

Hope you are using a good liquid test kit and not the unreliable dip test strips.

Perform ater changes whenever you have indications of ammonia or nitrites at .25 ppm or greater.

Use a good dechlor such as Prime.

When cleaning filter media, just rinse/squeeze them clean in old tank water.

[ahnatar]

OK, thanks. Is the GH level a problem? Seems high. And yes, I'm using the dip strips. Is there a particular brand of test kit you recommend?

[Lupin]

API liquid is best recommended.:)

[dvd_wightman]

The API liquid test is definitely better than the strips. Just keep doing daily water changes, and you should be fine. Remember to never change all the water at once though. I would say not to change any more the 50% at a time. Good luck!

[OldMan1947]

GH of 300 ppm is about 17 degrees if I am remembering the conversion correctly. The same partial water changes that reduce your nitrates by half should take this down to reasonable levels unless your tap water is very hard.