Bacteria

15 posts • Page 2 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Nitrates at 5ppm is pretty low. I'm not disputing GD, I'm just thinking that maybe you just go with your situation and do a water change once a week, or however quickly you need to to get it to stay below say 20, 25.

I don't think extra Prime is going to help either.

And yea, ammonia should be zero. Either your cycle is still out of wack or it's the tap water.

How much do you feed anyway?


Reavicus
 
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:00 pm

by Reavicus

O.k. So I just redid the test, marked the bottles, and then repeated the test again. The ammonia results should be yellow for 0, .25 is lightly green. The water in the tank is at 0 (maybe a slight tinge of green). The tap water is definitely closer to .25. Could the ammonia in the tank be lower than my tapwater? I did the test twice with labeled bottles to make sure.

The first time I did the test (yesterday), it could have been operator error, or maybe the lighting from one room to the next. Yesterday I also took a cup from the cabinet to scoop water aout the tank, tonight I took water directly from the tank.

I did just remove all the gravel from my tank (2 weeks ago) so the cycle could be a little funky right now.

If my tapwater continues to come back high, any suggestions on what I should use?


Reavicus
 
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:00 pm

by Reavicus

I only feed once a day to once evry other. and only a little bit each time. Food is gone in a minute (eaten).


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

I found these charts helpful when I was learning. Look at the graphs on this webpage: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_5 ... rticle.htm I love the cute little cartoon with the bacteria. :)

Oh, and by the way the surface area of the gravel is negligible compared to a sponge or the filter media (porous ceramic beads, usually, if the filter is designed for biological filtering). And surfaces are where the bacteria live.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Ammonia from the tap water is being converted by the bacteria. I think you can live with that. When your cycle is strong the bactera will take care of it very quickly.

Bacteria

15 posts • Page 2 of 2

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