Test results

[karna68]

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 5-10

Should I do a water change? How much? I think I might be overfeeding. Should I feed less or less often?

Thanks!

[Rbishop]

Still no fish, just the snail?

I'd do water changes, 10-15% daily. I like ammonia and nitrites as close to zero as possible.

Also, how often do gravel vac? Seems like you wouldn't be feeding very often.

[webcricket]

Is this the 10 gallon tank that only has the pond snails in it? The nitrite is high for fish, and if you have fish in there I'd do a 50% or more water change right away to bring the nitrite down.

[amyandlars]

Yeah your going to need to do at least a 50%w/c to bring that nitrite level down. It Nitrites keep the red blood cells from getting oxygen. And you'll probably want to do another tomorrow just a 10% or something. If this is a new tank and you haven't been doing alot of w/c's then this is really isn't a sign that your overfeeding. Ammonia is zero, and your showing nitrates so your tanks is cycling. Your goal is to have 0 nitrites and nitrates to be abour 12.5 ppm.

[karna68]

No this is a 30g with 2 white clouds, haven't tested the 10 gallon yet. So there isn't enough nitrates yet?

[amyandlars]

Nitrate lvl is going to go up naturally, so don't worry about that. But you really need to get that Nitrite level down now, like right now. Step away from the computer and do a w/c.

[karna68]

I'm on it! lol!

[karna68]

Okay, w/c is done, whew! Do I test Nitrite again right away or do I have to wait. Also, do you just rinse the test tubes with tap water each time or what?

[amyandlars]

Yes just rinse them. Just like in chemisty class you don't want to drink from the test tubs neither do your fish. I get a cup of tank water and dip tube in there and dump what's in the cup or use that water if I think I need to retest.
You can test right away again if you want, but you really don't need to. I took me a week to figure out it's just simple math. If your at 1.0 ppm and you do a 50% water change your reading will be around .50 ppm. So if you did a 50% change and you were at 1.0. Your going to need to do a w/c tomorrow morning. The good thing about testing the water right after a w/c is if the test is within a good range, at least that is one thing you don't have to worry about for a few more hours :shark:

[karna68]

No way can I do a water change in the morning, I have to get a 1 year old and 6 year old and myself up and ready, I would have to do it tomorrow evening.

[amyandlars]

The water change doesn't have to be a gravel vac or anything. It can be a small change. But if your still too busy, tomorrow even should be fine.

[karna68]

I tested the water again and it did seem to go down, it's now a little over .50 I just find this odd though because a week ago I took a sample to my LFS and they tested it and it was fine. I don't know the exact number but it wasn't as high as it is now. That's what makes me think I'm over feeding. I haven't fed them today, I may feed them a little in the morning.

[amyandlars]

Is this a new tank, or one that is already established? If it's new than this is part of the normal cycle and will require alot of water changes anyway. And so a 1.0 nitrite lvl from a week ago reading is really normal.

[karna68]

I've had it up and running for about a month now. So are you saying my nitrites are just now spiking?