# Water Test help!



## Phantheman (Mar 4, 2012)

i just did a water test in my 10gallon german red fry tank and got these results:

pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 8.0 ppm
Nitrite - 1.0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

the test kit says that tanks should have 0 ppm for both ammonia and nitrite for a healthy tank. it also says its fine that its not at 0 if your tank is not fully established yet. i've had my tank for about 3 weeks now, should i worry about these results? what can i do to fix this? i'm doing a 20% water change soon


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## Anoobias (Feb 16, 2012)

3 weeks is not long enough for your tank to have been established. If you have some old media from another filter (that has been established for a while) then you can add some to the filter on the new tanks to help get things rolling

edit: yes you should worry, water change water change water change. your bacteria havent even established to the level where nitrite is converted to nitrate. if you dont have any other media someone here might be able to help, i have some depending on where you are located

cheers


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

You should be very worried if you have any livestock in the tank. Ammonia of 8ppm is off the charts.


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## Phantheman (Mar 4, 2012)

is it possible that pool filter sand release ammonia? what else could be the cause? fish waste? leftover food?

@Anoobias that was the first thing i did when setting up my tank, i took old filter media from my already running tanks and put it into this one.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Phantheman said:


> is it possible that pool filter sand release ammonia? what else could be the cause? fish waste? leftover food?
> 
> @Anoobias that was the first thing i did when setting up my tank, i took old filter media from my already running tanks and put it into this one.


No, pool filter sand will not release ammonia.

Fish waste and leftover food are the biggest culprits, and the two go hand in hand.

It really doesn't look like you used a cycled media in this tank. If you did, Nitrates would not be 0. How long had your other tank been running?

You should start by reading this:

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

If you do in fact have 8ppm of ammonia, you need to change all the water in the tank, not 20%.


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

wow, 8 ppm? Are you using an API test kit? Because 8 ppm is the upper limit of what it can detect, you could very well be over 8 ppm.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

The german red fry are still alive?
Are you sure about the readings? Did you use strip test or liquid kit? Strips are not accurate.
Put some live nitrifying bacteria and hope for the best. You can use ammonia remover, but I think you put to much food in the tank. 25% or 75% water change. You decide.

Good luck!


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

Phantheman said:


> i just did a water test in my 10gallon german red fry tank and got these results:
> 
> pH - 8.0
> Ammonia - 8.0 ppm Totally Deadly!!!
> ...


Are you using test strips or liquid tester for ammonia. Liquid is always more accurate.

You should get those German Red Peacock fry in another tank right away and fix your problem before introducing any fish in the new tank

*Need some help:* I have some "disgusting looking grey water and mulm", a.k.a. filter residue, I cycle all my new tanks with it and your welcome to some for free. This stuff is 'extra premium' nitrifying bacteria, as I haven't cleaned out the filter in about 6-7 weeks.

I also have frogbit floating plant and lots of duckweed.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

What is you ph?
Under 7 ph, ammonia is not so toxic, and you may have a chance to save the poor guys. 
Above 7 ph, DEADLY.

But you know this, right?

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

TankCla said:


> What is you ph?
> Under 7 ph, ammonia is not so toxic, and you may have a chance to save the poor guys.
> Above 7 ph, DEADLY.
> 
> ...


His pH is 8, as stated in the first post.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

solarz said:


> His pH is 8, as stated in the first post.


Oh, yeah!
Sorry about that!

This is not good.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Based on your values,



> pH - 8.0
> Ammonia - 8.0 ppm
> Nitrite - 1.0 ppm
> Nitrate - 0 ppm


your tank is going through a cycle. You have ammonia, you have nitrite, no nitrate. Best thing is to put some nitrifying bacteria in your filter to speed up the process. Also, if possible, move the fryies to another tank until this once is cycled and stabilized.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Take up Scotmando's offer of 'disgusting grey water & mulm'. I'm the one that described it that way and I can vouch for it's effectiveness ! Very quickly denitrified my 30G tank. If I recall, it took less than 36 hours and the tank has remained very stable in the month since then. So far have only needed to do minimal water changes, as I haven't much livestock yet, but do have lots of plants, which help use up the nitrates the bacteria produce.


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

Fishfur said:


> Take up Scotmando's offer of 'disgusting grey water & mulm'. I'm the one that described it that way and I can vouch for it's effectiveness ! Very quickly denitrified my 30G tank. If I recall, it took less than 36 hours and the tank has remained very stable in the month since then. So far have only needed to do minimal water changes, as I haven't much livestock yet, but do have lots of plants, which help use up the nitrates the bacteria produce.


Thanks Fishfur, it really works for me when I set up a new aquarium.


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