API Freshwater Test Kit

[EOD]

Just tested all my tanks with the API freshwater test kit I finally received. I managed to get it from amazon.com for $25.
14G - pH 7.6 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 40
35G - pH 7.6 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 80
40G - pH 7.4 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 5

Time for some water changes on 14G and 35G I suppose. The 14G is constantly a bother to me and I think it's because of the gravel. Everytime I vacuum it out there is LOTS of gunk that comes out and fish just don't like to survive. (all 6 guppies died) Other that a WC, anything else I should do to the tanks to keep Nitrate down? Regarding any questions you may have about what the tanks are stocked with can go to my threads (40G Journal and 35G Hex Journal)

 

[Kashta]

Just tested all my tanks with the API freshwater test kit I finally received. I managed to get it from amazon.com for $25.
14G - pH 7.6 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 40
35G - pH 7.6 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 80
40G - pH 7.4 | Ammonia 0 | Nitrite 0 | Nitrate 5

Time for some water changes on 14G and 35G I suppose. The 14G is constantly a bother to me and I think it's because of the gravel. Everytime I vacuum it out there is LOTS of gunk that comes out and fish just don't like to survive. (all 6 guppies died) Other that a WC, anything else I should do to the tanks to keep Nitrate down? Regarding any questions you may have about what the tanks are stocked with can go to my threads (40G Journal and 35G Hex Journal)

You know, I think we've all probably neglected tank maintenance at some point where the actual cleanup process creates too much of a mess for the inhabitants to take that in stride. If gravel vaccing is stirring up the muck that bad, figure out a safe temporary place and just move your fish. Then vac and refill... vac and refill... as many times as needed to clean it all up. Remember the dechlor each time you fill again and keep the water temp somewhat consistent. That will keep your beneficial bacteria alive. Once you're done, reintroduce your livestock back where they belong.

As for nitrates, that's a product of fish waste, decaying plant material (if you've got live plants), and uneaten food. 6 guppies in a 14 gallon tank is not overstocked... that's a fairly easy/stable bioload. Do you have something else in there with them? It may be that you're overfeeding them. How often are you doing partial water changes?

 

[RiVerfishgirl]

6 guppies in a 14 gallon tank is not overstocked... that's a fairly easy/stable bioload.

Unless it's someone like my mother in law, who will overfeed ravenous fish until they nearly burst. She crashed her 65g a year or two ago because I made the mistake of giving her some of my livingstoni fry (which were not even an inch at the time) for her to grow out to sell (nitrates were GREEN as opposed to red at the high end of the chart, and our normally 7.5-7.6 pH water, which I have never gotten to drop below 7.4 even in OS tanks was slightly below 6). She fed them until their bellies were distended, they grew WAY faster than the ones I kept, and then her tank crashed. Calls me distressed going "why are my fish dying?" and I knew right off the bat what happened. The extreme test results were still a bit surprising. The overfeeding never registered with her as THAT bad, but the test results afterward horrified her. When people don't test periodically they often don't realize how bad their water is getting by overfeeding and/or not doing maintenance, even if technically there are not too many fish for the tank.
Honestly for the fish load I didn't think she could overfeed to that extent, but afterwards she admitted to feeding them until they were full several times per day (and as us cichlid keepers know, if that type of fish is actually full to the point not eating they are WAY overfed). Guppies will also and eat and eat and eat, as will many other fish species.

If there was that much detritus in a 14g with 6 guppies methinks there was either way too much feeding, decaying plants, not enough maintenance or probably a combination.

EOD the only way for most of us to remove nitrates is by water changes, and keep them down by not overstocking and not overfeeding. Some people lower them with plants, but for the average person with just a few plants it's not going to lower it significantly, and if the plants aren't healthy and/or don't have enough light and co2 it's not going to help much anyway.
There are denitrator filters, but that is more than is necessary for most people and water changes are generally an easier and cheaper way to remove them, especially on smaller tanks like you have.
You also want to maintain your filters at least monthly by cleaning all the gunk out of the cartridges with tank water (after all, a lot of the detritus is being sucked in by the filters, and it doesn't just disappear into thin air. Eventually it will decay and raise your nitrates.), you can also rinse the biomedia with tank water, and you can scrub out the housing itself with tap water and a pipe cleaner/scrub brush.

 

[EOD]

Thanks for the info. The 14G is my wife's tank and she doesn't like it when I mess with it much. She would prefer to be the one doing the water changes and cleaning and I often find myself doing it when she isn't home. It's not that the vacuum stirs up a lot of gunk, its that a lot of gunk comes out of the gravel and gets sucked away....much more than I would expect from the bioload. As for the stocking, my signature has it right when it says 14G- platy|betta|plecos|glofish. There is 1 platy, 1 betta, 2 plecos, and 2 glofish. There used to be 6 guppies as well but they all died. I think it was because of ick or the treatment that I used. The 14G is especially susceptible to ick because of its gravel. Soon, I plan on replacing it with sand and getting a better hood that holds a flourescent light as opposed to the one it has which houses 2 screw in bulbs. I did waterchanges on all the tanks today after the water testing and I will probably do one on Tuesday too. The liquid test kits are a little more work but the results are much easier to read and trust. I enjoyed using it and the instruction manual even comes with a log for all of your readings.

 

[Taari]

wow, the price on those has gone up in the last couple years. I used to be able to get a master test kit from Bigalsonline.com for $15. Well, actually I'd print it out and take it to petsmart and they'd price match it, but still....

 

[rtbob]

I don't think plecos will do well in a 14g. Everything I have read states a common pleco should be kept in a 75g min. They generate alot of waste and might be the cause of your problems with this tank.

 

[Taysius]

I don't think plecos will do well in a 14g. Everything I have read states a common pleco should be kept in a 75g min. They generate alot of waste and might be the cause of your problems with this tank.

Did he mention that they were commons? If so I missed it. Two plecos of any species full grown would be too much for a 14g IMO, but a couple juvies would be fine for a while. People would flip if I said I had 4 pleco in a 5gal. You have to add in the specifics that mine are all 1inch or less BN fry.

Anyways, I'm not sure I understand what the problem is with your gravel. I have gravel in my tanks and you just have to vacuum it when you do your weekly WC and it's no trouble at all. Unless overfeeding is a big issue then the gravel isn't really the problem.

Also, you say you need a new light because the one you have uses two screw in bulbs. Did you know that you can screw in two CFLs with a daylight rating? It works great and is cheaper and easier than buying an all new hood. If you can do that and add a few live plants with preferably something floating, feed less and vacuum more then your nitrates should become lower.

 

[excuzzzeme]

What type of plecos and what size are they?

The mulm you are vacuuming up is quite natural. I have a couple of tanks that no matter how much I vac, it seems like they lay it down faster than I can remove it. But it is quite natural. Cut back on how much you feed will be the largest help. You are always going to pull quite a bit, it's the whole reason for vacuuming.

 

[EOD]

Question then:
The gravel tank accumulates the gunk under the gravel. Where is this gunk is my sand tanks? The plecos are both very small. I'll post a picture.

 

[Taysius]

With sand, the gunk is either resting on top or your current is good enough to push it into the filter. Mulm is still natural though and if regular vacuums are done then it really is no problem. A little mulm is also good for plants as far as I know.