Confused on water problem

well that would be awesome, I will see if I can pull some carbon out and filter sponge out and move it over...right now, the new tank is the least of my worries. I already had aaround 40 guppy fry, and then my female exploded today with another 40 or so fry :thud: :eek: :eek:
 
problem solved

I did a whole bunch of research and found that I have "green water" Due to the excessive sunlight that we have had, and the fact my brat brother keeps turning on my tank light, it has finally taken over. Solution: no light for a week. water changes won't do anything...gotta get my nitrates down from 10 ppm to 0, even though I have no idea where they are coming from...
 
Well, if you had ammonia in the aquarium then you possibly had some bacteria break it down into nitrites and then some other bacteria break it down into nitrates. 10ppm of nitrates is not bad for an aquarium. Heck it's right where my tap water is. Nitrates in an aquarium that is cycled is of course normal and is one of the reasons for water changes. As far as your ph being 8 its possible that your test strips are just off. It is also possible that the ph of your tap water is also around 8. Have you tried testing your tap water? Also I don't see anything in your post about what sort of substrate you have. Certain substrates and even filter materials will buffer your kh and cause your ph to rise naturally. At least you know why your tank was cloudy now so thats a good thing.
 
I have natural gravel substrate...purchased at my lfs and I soaked and strained it before I added it in. reading into the green water, it says that a sudden bloom of the algae spores can be caused by the ppm of nitrates being 10. That's what mine is...it also could be that I have well water versus sewer water...I will check my tap and see if that's where my problem could lie.

Params are as follows for tap water:

Nitrate: 20 ppm
Nitrite: .25 ppm
GH: 300 ppm
KH: 300 ppm
pH: 8.4

params for green tank:

Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
GH: 300
KH: 300
pH: 8.1
 
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kraemerwa2003 said:
it also could be that I have well water versus sewer water....
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I sure hope so... LOL OK, I know what you meant... City & Sewer vs Well & Septic. Sorry, I couldn't resist....

water changes won't do anything...gotta get my nitrates down
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Actually, water changing is exactly how you get the nitrates down.

So I'm still not exactly sure what you are really doing at this point. Are you trying to get this tank to cycle so you can keep fish in it? You really need to put in a source of Ammonia so the bacteria can get established.

Might just be that I missed something.... It's been known to happen. :)
 
lol...sorry, I know nothing about our set-up...lol...I will go and buy a bacterial supply tonight, raining like hell out here, not leaving until tonight...any good products that you would suggest?
 
kraemerwa2003 said:
Params are as follows for tap water:

Nitrate: 20 ppm
Nitrite: .25 ppm
GH: 300 ppm
KH: 300 ppm
pH: 8.4

params for green tank:

Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
GH: 300
KH: 300
pH: 8.1
Click to expand...

Wow... There's more Nitrates in that tap water than in my (slightly overstocked) 55g tank. I do a water change whenever it hits 10ppm. And the Nitrites too?

Looking at those numbers, you can sure tell what the algae is feeding on. Normally, water changes are done to reduce the Nitrates - but that which passes for water where you live would raise the nitrates in the tanks of many people here.

I'd be looking into a way to treat the water before it went into the tank if that was my water.
 
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