Is my water bad?

dwayne

dwayne

AC Members
Jul 12, 2001
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Boston, MA
Water parameters last Thursday:
ammonia - 0
nitrIte - 0
nitrAte - 20
ph - 6.6
kh - 3 drops (53.7ppm)
gh - 4 drops (71.6ppm)

Water parameters last night:
ammonia - 0
nitrIte - 0
nitrAte - 40 or 80, hard to tell
ph - 7.6 (low range test) 7.4 (hi-range test)
kh - 3 drops (53.7ppm)
gh - 5 drops (89.5ppm)

Saturday I put a large piece of driftwood into the tank (it had been soaking for 2 weeks and didn't color the water at all), and all new substrate (larger sized gravel), and also added some plants (java moss and fern, and an amazon sword). I also changed about 45% of the water.

Why did my nitrAtes skyrocket? Is 40-80 bad?
What's up with the ph swing?
Will a water change tomorrow night (my usual 15% or so) be ok, or harmful?

Thanks in advance everyone!
~Tara
 
Is there a difference in time of testing? Morning/night, pH will often change in planted tanks as the plants quit using CO2 at night with lights off.

The nitrate jump might be of some concern, but really not much. Very few fish are sensitive to nitrates. You might want to review your fertilization and lighting though, since nitrates that high indicate your plants aren't growing much (or there is a HUGE ammonia source in there).

Your KH is just on the border of being low as well, which leave the pH more prone to jumps. Not sure if you want to treat the water for that or not--can be a pain.
 
Dislcaimer-Poster is discharging firearms in the dark here:

Are your plants okay? Are they rotting at all? I'm not sure if rotting plants would contribute to nitrates but the thought crossed my mind.

When was your last water change each time? Has your tank gone longer since its last water change on the most recent test?

You added the driftwood which normally brings pH down but did you add that rock too? Some rocks could affect pH.

My head's going to start to hurt if I try to remember the correct relationship but I know C02 has an effect on pH. Could it be that by adding live plants your sucking more CO2 out of the water and changing pH? Happychem? RTR?

Tom
 
Thanks OG & Tom for the fast replies...

OG ~ if I had a huge ammonia source, wouldn't I get a reading on an ammonia test?

I tested at exactly the same time both nites - 8:45pm... the lights had been on all day (since 7am). As for the plants growing, they're still pretty new, so no growth yet. Lights are a regular 20 watt bulb. I don't have any fertilizer or anything like that...

Plants rotting ~ I don't think so. The sword has a bit more brown on the leaves, but there are also some 'bites' taken out of the leaves (witnessed the barbs nipping at it, and pleco was hovering over it, maybe eating, when I turned the lights on yesterday am), so I assumed the bites were causing the brown spots... the fern and moss look the same as the day I got them.

recent schedule:
5/10 ~ Weekly 15% water change
5/18 ~ Weekly 15% water change
5/27 ~ Water tested
5/29 ~ Added new stuff and ~45% water change
6/3 ~ Water tested

I added the ROCKS!!! God I got those rocks so long ago for a betta tank I had here in the office... I got them at PetCo. Pink/red color, almost colored like a piece of marble (all swirly colors), and I used a black one as well, colored the same marbley way - they have a porous texture like a brick - not smooth. I remember when I first got the rocks for my betta tank they still left white grit around the top of my betta tank when some of the water evaporated...

I wonder if that's the problem? My money's on the rocks. I'm taking them out tonite.

Will a water change help, or make things worse?

Thanks so much guys, I don't know what I'd do w/out you!

~Tara

PS... all the fish look just fine, no signs of any ph swing stress, but should I maybe put some Stress Coat in the tank just in case the ph goes down again after a water change?
 
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If there was a large ammonia spike a week ago, it would now be showing up as nitrates, not as ammonia. Just a guess.

I'd agree that the rocks sound suspicious...
 
It's possible, Tom, that if Tara's plants upped their CO2 intake that they'd pull the equilibrium over a bit and move pH up. Think of CO2 like an acid, it's not exactly, but indirectly. So add CO2, pH down, remove CO2, pH up.

But if that were the case, NO3 should have decreased, as opposed to doubled or more!

Perhaps if you really scared the carp outta your fish while changing the gravel and adding driftwood that might've caused a big NH3 release, which appears to be well handled by your bio-filter. Still doesn't really explain the pH up though... But if that was the case, things should probably settle back down to pre-renovation levels.
 
Og ~ Thanks... ammonia was '0' last week too...

Happychem ~ I took the fish out of the tank to do the redecorating. Unfortunately I don't have acid in the house to test the rocks :)

Plan of action ~ Remove rocks tonight, 15% water change, retest in a few days, hope for nitrates down a bit and ph back to 'normal' 6.6ish.

As always, thanks guys!

~Tara
 
Those rocks may very well be the culprits of your pH swing. I'm torn over whether or not I'd remove them. Your KH is low enough that removing those rocks will probably have a pretty quick effect on your pH dropping it back down to 6.6 over a short period of time. You already did that to your fish in reverse last week. That's a big swing to take twice in such a short period of time. That's just my opinion though.

As for nitrates, I'm baffled. Are all your fish accounted for? No hidden dead guys? Did you feed more than usual once you restocked the tank? Its not really that alarming at this point since a water change with clear a lot of it out. It may be a one time thing. It would concern me more if it started happening every week. Especially with plants. Even in my 8g with only one sword plant I get no nitrates.

Tom
 
Tom ~ no hidden dead guys, I've been doing a headcount every morning because the cories are so spazzy that I keep thinking one of them is dead, but they're just too fast zipping around for me to find them... What if the rocks keep upping the ph though? Ugh, what a tough decision... if I leave the rocks in there, then every time I do a water change the ph will go down a bit with the tap water, then after it's sitting w/ the rocks in it, it will go back up again... decisions, decisions, decisions...
 
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