Feeling like a complete failure...water test results

lorindaleigh

lorindaleigh

AC Members
Jan 24, 2009
484
0
0
42
I got my liquid test today. The results are so different from the strips. According to the strips my tank was cycled a month ago. According to the API master kit my tank is still not cycled. I don't understand why. I'm hoping someone can help me figure out why its not cycling and get it cycled.

Test results:
ph-7.2
ammonia-.25
nitrite-0
nitrate-10

Facts about my tank:

  1. I bought it used on December 27th. Lady said tank had been set up for 2 years. All fish were sick with columnaris and extremely overfeed. It took me hours to clean the gravel there was so much nasty junk. She said she added more water when needed and advised me not to vaccum the gravel like experts recommended. (Im so glad I knew not to listen to her). When she brought the tank to me, she left about 4 inches of water in the tank but the filter media was taken out and put into a box. It was out of water for about an hour at least.
  2. I have another outbreak of columnaris. Apparently I didn't cure it 100% the first time. Could I be going through a mini cycle because of the columnaris?
  3. I do daily water changes of 25% and weekly 50%. Each time I vaccum at least 40% of the gravel, alternating sides of the tank each time. Is it possible that Im graveling too much?
  4. I use prime.
  5. I feed once a day (sometimes I will do 2 but not often) and I try to fast once a week but Im not always on schedule. I switch between flakes, crisps, freeze dried blood worms, and sun dried shrimp.
  6. I put in 3 to 4 algae wafers a night for my snail.
  7. I also give vegetables when I have them but they do not stay in the tank for longer then 12 hours.
  8. I feed live worms to my adf's every 2 to 3 days. I give them 1 earth worm cut up and make sure to take out all the pieces about 8 hours later.
Tank inhabiants:
1 common 4-5" pleco (cant get an exact measurement). He will be getting a new tank soon. Waiting for a check to arrive.
2 mollys that are about 2" inch
8 neon tetras
1 glowlight tetra
1 male platy
2 babies platys, they were both newborns and in a breeders net when I got the tank on December 27th.
1 male betta
3 adf's
and 1 apple snail
I also have 2 ramshorn snails and about 15 to 20 MTS

Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to provide as much info as possible. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
 
I was just thinking...maybe I'm not rinsing my biofilter properly?

When I do my weekly 50% I take out the biofilter and I dip it in the tank water that I just vacummed out of the tank. I dip it a few times and I will take and pic off any matter that I can see (like plant pieces).
 
you dont really need to do water changes every day, once a week is fine

other then that, I have no idea, but at the moment you should do another water change to lower that ammonia
 
lorindaleigh said:
I was just thinking...maybe I'm not rinsing my biofilter properly?

When I do my weekly 50% I take out the biofilter and I dip it in the tank water that I just vacummed out of the tank. I dip it a few times and I will take and pic off any matter that I can see (like plant pieces).
Click to expand...


i never clean out my filter or filter media unless it is so clogged up with gunk that it is obstructing water flow.
thats where most of your good bacteria is at
 
It sounds to me like daily gravel cleanings are whats killing alot of the bacteria. The feces from the fish is what produces the ammonia that fuels the growth of bacteria. So aggressive gravel cleaning isnt giving the bacterial enough fuel. What you can do is either reduce the gravel cleanings or you can scan the top of the gravel with the siphon without digging in. This picks up any garbage sitting on top and leaves the bacteria in the gravel put.
 
kreesdqban said:
It sounds to me like daily gravel cleanings are whats killing alot of the bacteria. The feces from the fish is what produces the ammonia that fuels the growth of bacteria. So aggressive gravel cleaning isnt giving the bacterial enough fuel. What you can do is either reduce the gravel cleanings or you can scan the top of the gravel with the siphon without digging in. This picks up any garbage sitting on top and leaves the bacteria in the gravel put.
Click to expand...

I was also thinking that :iagree:
 
I did do a water change before posting to clear up the ammonia. I will be testing it again in a little bit. I will reduce the water changes starting tomorrow. I do daily because theres just so much poo from the pleco. I turn off the lights at night and its perfectly clean, in the morning when I turn them back on theres poo everywheres. It dangles off the plants like tinsel lol. For some reason the filter doesn't seem to suck up his poop.
 
I disagree with all the above posts! Daily water changes and diligent gravel vacs are certainly not your problem. Many people keep tanks without any gravel at all....

I suspect the excess food/poo and overstocking problem is too much for your bacteria load, hence your ammonia levels.
 
I didn't think I was overstocked besides the pleco. How overstocked am I?
 
AshK said:
Many people keep tanks without any gravel at all....

I suspect the excess food/poo and overstocking problem is too much for your bacteria load, hence your ammonia levels.
Click to expand...

Without an established biofilter the gravel only helps build the bacterial colonies...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom