weird test results.
- Thread starter RockabillyChick
- Start date
we get our water here from an aquifer, so its got lots of minerals, and i think about 100-150ppm kH.
ok, i let it sit for a couple days without doing a water change. i just tested now and my tank water has 0 ammonia!
however, my nitrAtes are rather high (about 20-30ppm)
but i'm afraid to do a water change to drop them because it seems like if i do a large water change, obviously i'm adding .25ppm ammonia every time i do a water change, which is essentially adding to my bioload, which is causing the nitrates to build up faster! i can't seem to get them down! you'd think the plants would be helping, but it doesn't seem like they are. i did cut back their light quite a bit, so i think i'm going to bring it up again to 12 hours and see if that helps. grr!
however, my nitrAtes are rather high (about 20-30ppm)
but i'm afraid to do a water change to drop them because it seems like if i do a large water change, obviously i'm adding .25ppm ammonia every time i do a water change, which is essentially adding to my bioload, which is causing the nitrates to build up faster! i can't seem to get them down! you'd think the plants would be helping, but it doesn't seem like they are. i did cut back their light quite a bit, so i think i'm going to bring it up again to 12 hours and see if that helps. grr!
0.25 ppm of ammonia will contribute to maybe 1 ppm of Nitrates. It is not a big difference made because of the ammonia in the water. Waterchanges are the way to go for Nitrates. Test your tapwater to see if they are contributing to the Nitrate problem. My tapwater has 10 ppm NO3, 0.5 ppm NH3 and 0.5 ppm of NO2. By the end of the week my tanks usually only get up to 20 ppm of NO3 before their next 50% waterchange. Lets do the math on this situation. 20 ppm of NO3 - 50% of 20 ppm = 10 ppm but my water has 10 ppm of NO3 in it so I would have to add 5 ppm back to the tank since 50% of 10 = 5. After a 50% waterchange my Nitrates only drop to 15. That means that the biofilter produces 5 ppm of Nitrates per week including the Nitrates produced from the ammonia and nitrite in the water. I do have plants though which probably reduces the amount detected vs the actual amount that could have been produced.
