I tested my water today!!!:)how is it?

Yes, do another water change tommrow, and prune all the bad leaves from your plants so they dont rott and foul the water..

Blue
 
bettafish777 said:
oh well they are a little tattered looking. Should I do another water change tomorrow then?
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I mean the plants should be eating the nitrates.
 
alright. The amazons are growing new leaves though. Also I cleaned off the glass under the light because it was all algea(gross). Always forget to clean that thing! Would THAT have anything to do with it? Its nice and bright in the tank now.

oh ok. well I dont have a TON of plants in there but enough. Also I checked the water RIGHT after I did the water change. Is that ok?
 
Live plants should eat up a lot of the nitrates but you still want to have some. Ideally the nitrates should be between 10-20 in a healthy aquarium. If it gets much above that then your fish are at risk for nitrate poisoning that can kill them. It is not dangerous to do water changes even every day if the conditions in the water demand it. I do large water changes in my discus tank five times a week on average and my fish love it. I have some glo-lite tetras in that tank with them that show thier colors beautifully since I keep the water so clean for them and the discus. I also have live plants in this aquarium with them and as long as you keep up with the dosing of micro and macro nutrients and the plants have a source of co2 the plants will be all the better for it. All of the water changes will also keep the algae at bay too. The only way to successfully reduce the nitrates in your tank is to do a lot of water changes until the levels are where they should be. Then you still should do water changes on a regular maintenance schedule to keep the nitrates as well as the ammonia and nitrites where they should be too.

Marinemom
 
ok! thanks! so I probably shouldnt put my betta in there until the nitrates are down?? Do you think the nitrates will go down after only one water change?


The first year and a half of fishkeeping I didn't bother with nitrates and such. I wish I had!!
 
Wait until your nitrates are down and stay down before you add the betta. Nitrates can go down with a water change but then go back up again which means another water change is in oder again. When the nitrates are down to the right level consistently then you can add another fish.

Marinemom
 
It may only take one more water changge to get the nitrates to a safe level, but you will have to test and see. Using a "logic scale", divide the ppm of nitrates by the number of gallons in your tank. This will tell you how many ppm of nitrates there are per gallon. say you have a ten g tank, and your nitrate reading is 40. That would mean you would have 4 ppm of nitrate per g. If you wanted your nitrate level at 20, then you would remove 5 gallons of water, or do a 50 percent water change.

Then you still should do water changes on a regular maintenance schedule to keep the nitrates as well as the ammonia and nitrites where they should be too.
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If your tank is cycled, you should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Other reasons for reg maintenance incude removing fish hormones from the water, as well as nasties that will grow. Remeber your fish tank is your fishes toilette.

Blue
 
ok. I dont want my betta to die so thank you for telling me this!! I think the betta tank probably has that problem too. I do not have live plants in there though. I'll do a water change every day and check the nitrates every day! I was hoping to put the betta in before Wed. caues thats when I go back to school and I need to watch him all day:)


My tank has been cycled for 11 months! My tetras are orignal and thats the longest fish that have ever stayed alive!!! They will live much longer now that I am learning more:)

THANKS ever so much!!
 
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