Test Results....it seems to be weird

[Mjnorcal922]

Monday october 25
pH: 7.6
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0

Wednesday Oct 27
pH: 7.6
High Range pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

friday Oct 29
pH: 7.6
High Range pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

its really weird and i havent done a water change either!
Sombody help!!

 

[Newman]

plants in your tank? any visible algae growing? alage will lower nitrate. dissapearance of ammonia looks ok but what made it appear in the first place if the tank was cycled? IMO it wasnt completely cycled yet, keep taking care of the tank, dont add any fish until you get no ammonia or nitrite readings for a few weeks more.

 

[Mjnorcal922]

no plants at all and i cant really see any alage growing at all but like i said i have a 15 gallon tank and the minimum size filter i have is for a 30 gallon tank

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Did you shake the snot of the NitrAte test bottles? Pay particular attention to shaking bottle #2!

 

[Mjnorcal922]

Did you shake the snot of the NitrAte test bottles? Pay particular attention to shaking bottle #2!

yeah i shaked the bottles

 

[Newman]

shook...lolz

you must either be getting inaccurate nitrate results or there is algae growing in your tank and you cant notice it (maybe pleco has something to do with it) nitrates would not be 0 otherwise in a tank with a pleco w/o water changes for two weeks.
dont worry about it too much though, concentrate on the ammonia and nitrite. I'd say to be safe, wait till those two are 0 at the end of a week's time, and then do weekly water changes.

 

[Mjnorcal922]

shook...lolz

you must either be getting inaccurate nitrate results or there is algae growing in your tank and you cant notice it (maybe pleco has something to do with it) nitrates would not be 0 otherwise in a tank with a pleco w/o water changes for two weeks.
dont worry about it too much though, concentrate on the ammonia and nitrite. I'd say to be safe, wait till those two are 0 at the end of a week's time, and then do weekly water changes.

gimmie 2 min ill test the nitrates again....

 

[Mjnorcal922]

Ok Update on tests
pH: 7.6
high range pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrate:20ppm
Nitrite:0

 

[achase]

That has happened to me where I didn't quite "shake the snot" enough out of my nitrate bottles in my API testing kit.

 

[Mjnorcal922]

That has happened to me where I didn't quite "shake the snot" enough out of my nitrate bottles in my API testing kit.

yeah i just did it correctly and those have all been retested and they are corrected i just went as exactly the book said too

 

[Mjnorcal922]

With the ammonia being 0.25 should i do a water change??!? i heard it can be deadly since its above 0

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

No we all know the importance of "shaking the snot" out of the bottle!

 

[Mjnorcal922]

it has officially been 2 weeks since i did a water change....

 

[bassbonediva]

I'd do a water change, but that's just me.

 

[achase]

I agree with Paige I would do a water change especially since you have fish in the tank. Right?

 

[Mjnorcal922]

yes i do im going to do one in about 15 min and then ill test the water tonight around 10pm

 

[Newman]

yes the goal being to get the nitrate down, the ammonia should not be your target, but rather the bacteria's

 

[ValRasbora]

when all else fails... do a water change

Your parameters are kind of weird... the bacteria might still just be getting established.

 

[Newman]

mini cycle .

 

[Mjnorcal922]

lmao well all else failed and i did a water change XDD lool ill test it later tonight and let you guys know what the parameters are