Water Change?

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wildgator25

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Jun 6, 2004
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Ok, wondering if it's time for a 25% or better water change? I brought my ammonia levels to the 5 ppm level Friday. I checked yesterday, and the ammo levels were just above 4 ppm, and nitrite was at .25 ppm. However, this morning, nitrite has shot up to 5 ppm, and ammo is borderline 4 ppm, maybe a little less. Do I need to hang tight until ammo comes down some more, even to 0 ppm maybe, or do I need to perform some amount of water change?
Thank you in advance for any and all help!
 
I would say its time for a water change. Keeping the ammonia and nitrite at 1ppm or less (but dont change enough water to get them to 0) would be good. The becteria will still multiply whether the ammonia/nitrite is 1ppm or 5ppm, but 1ppm (or less) is a lot easier on the fish than 5ppm.
 
Thanks, Rollin. Also forgot to mention that I am doing a fishless cycle for those like me who didn't know right off the bat. :)
When I do the water change, don't I still need to bring the ammonia back up to the 5 ppm level to see if the bacteria brings it back down below 1 ppm though. Also will test for nitrates after I do the water change and let everything settle down a bit.
 
When doing a fishless cycle, I don't change the water until the cycle has completed. There's no need, unless things got out of hand and I accidentally overdosed ammonia to 10 ppm or something similar. One of the nice things about fishless cycling is that you don't have to do water changes while cycling.

Sometime, if a tank is stuck at the nitrite spike, it will be advised to change some water, but that doesn't seem to be the case with you.

Generally, I don't change the water until the fishless cycle is done. For me, being done means that, 24 hours after I last dosed the tank to 5 ppm ammonia, I get readings of zero ppm ammonia and nitrite. Then I do a 95% water change, let the temp stabilize, and add fish.

One thing we're becoming more aware of: if your water has low KH (carbonate hardness), say of less than 3 degrees or 100 ppm, you have to make sure KH doesn't drop too far. The fishless cycling process burns up KH pretty fast, but the addition of a tablespoon of baking soda will replenish the KH and allow the cycle to progress.

Good luck,
Jim
 
Sorry, I thought you were cycling with fish. Disregard my information, Jims is much better for your situation.
 
For while you're fishless cycling, you can add a tablespoon of baking soda. Much better to boost KH to higher than normal levels than to let it drop off the charts. You wouldn't do this with fish in the tank, of course, but it's OK while cycling an empty tank. A tablespoon every couple weeks should be enough, unless this is a really big tank.

You can also ask your LFS to test your water for KH and GH. They'll probably try to talk you out of most of what you're doing (e.g., fishless cycling, adding baking soda), but if you ignore their advice and just find out what KH is, you'll have some additional useful info.

Good luck!

Jim
 
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