HI NITRATES

[Weezer]

I just added 4 new fish to my my new 80 bow front aquarium. 2 electric cichlids and 2 gouramis. The tank has run for about 1 month now and all chemical levels were normal, in less than 24 hours the nitrates rose .no2 is between 0 & 20 the no3 is between 1.0 & 3.0 the hardness is 0 & the ph is between 7.4 - 7.8 ammonia is o, iam useing a magnum 350 and a penguin 350 bio. all the proper chemicals have been added,i used the pollishing fillter for the first 4 weeks,then went to the charcoal set up in the magnum when i added the fish.how can the no3 go from 0 to 3 in less than 24 hours.any advise would be apprichiated...Weeser:huh:

 

[liv2padl]

it doesn't sound to me like the filter is fully cycled, nor would i expect it to be in 'about a month'. how exactly did yo "cycle" the filter?

african cichlids should not be housed with gourami's. how many and which specific fish are in this tank currently.

hardness is "zero"? i doubt it .. what are you testing this with?

please give the full 'history' of this tank for better help.

 

[Weezer]

Iam useing maedel 5 in 1 test strips, from what i read pink gouramis and electric yellows will be ok they all are about 2 inches.i did do a 15 percent water change the day before i added the 4 fish and all levels have been normal for a month until i added the fish the the no3 jumped to about 3.0 the test strip bottle indicates 3.0 is a stress full level.should this come down in time...thanks

 

[jm1212]

if you saw a huge spike in nitrites, chances are your tank isnt fully cycled. you need to do a water change to get your nitrite down.

between 0 and 20 i a huge plane to work with. if you ahve 0 nitrates and the nitrites that you are getting, your tank isnt fully cycled. what are your exact readings?

the fish you have chosen should not be in the same tank. african cichlids are pretty aggressive; even though some gouramis can get pretty aggressive, they wont stand a chance against most aficans.

EDIT- you ahve two pink kissing gouramis in an 80 gallon? kissing gouramis get to over 12 inches long and they are aggressive towards on another and will fight to the death.

 

[Weezer]

The nitrates no3 are between 0 and 20 on the test strip and the nitrite no2 is between 1.0 and 3.0..just wondering why the sudden spike in the no2 from 0 to almost 3.0 over night....

 

[jm1212]

it was probably because your tank wasnt fully cycled when you added the fish.

test strips are unaccurate as you can see; liquid test kits are much better and much more accurate. API makes a pretty good test kit.

 

[Weezer]

Would you recommed a 10 percent water change ?

 

[jm1212]

50%

you should take back the pink kissing gouramis also. two WILL fight in your tank, and they are not compatible with your african cichlids.