Pepsi Dave
Member
- Joined
- 1 Apr 2013
- Messages
- 33
So I’ve restarted my tank after a few years with it sat in the garage since moving house.
The filter has been cycling for a few weeks, and all was good and stable! Had the ammonia and nitrite spikes and all had settled to zero apart from a few Nitrates.
I then planted a load of plants a couple of days ago, and again all was ok on water tests. A few nitrates but nothing else, all good, even as of last night.
So today on way home from work I bought some shrimp for the tank, and did another water test, and the results were way off the charts like I’ve never seen before!
4ppm+ ammonia
5ppm+ Nitrites
160ppm+ Nitrates
So I urgently carried out a 75% water change. Still had some ammonia and nitrite readings, so did another 75% water change, finally no ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. Thinking all was good to go, I acclimated the shrimp to this water and 90 minutes later once they were in the tank did another water test just purely out of curiosity.
2ppm Ammonia
2-3ppm Nitrites
80ppm Nitrates
Sadly I already know my shrimp will not last long! And more water changes now, at this time of day, will be just a waste of time, so I just want to understand why this has happened, learn from it and move on.
The only thing I can think of is that when planting I put some APF Root Tabs into the substrate.
Since then I’ve seen some of the white plastic coatings floating about. Which I wasn’t expecting because they weren’t visible at all at the time of planting.
If these are leaching into the water column is this what is likely to have caused my sudden catastrophic parameter changes? And how long can I expect this to happen?
I can’t think of anything else that would cause my water parameters to change so dramatically in such a short space of time! I’ve made newbie mistakes in the past, and never seen any results like I’ve seen tonight!
Thanks in advance.
Tank Specs:
100L Tank
No CO2
EI ferts (scaled right back for low tech and only dosed one day so far)
Moderately Planted
39W T5 on for 6 Hours
Eheim Professional 3 350 with inline heater.
Caribsea EcoComplete Substrate with APF Substrate Capsules.
Crypts (Balansae and Kasselman)
Hottonia Palustris
Limnophila Sessiliflora
Java Ferns
Amazon Swords
Bacopa Monnieri
Rotala Rotundifolia
Floating Plant (Identified as Limnobium Laevigatum - I threw the plant box/label away and forgot the name)
The filter has been cycling for a few weeks, and all was good and stable! Had the ammonia and nitrite spikes and all had settled to zero apart from a few Nitrates.
I then planted a load of plants a couple of days ago, and again all was ok on water tests. A few nitrates but nothing else, all good, even as of last night.
So today on way home from work I bought some shrimp for the tank, and did another water test, and the results were way off the charts like I’ve never seen before!
4ppm+ ammonia
5ppm+ Nitrites
160ppm+ Nitrates
So I urgently carried out a 75% water change. Still had some ammonia and nitrite readings, so did another 75% water change, finally no ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. Thinking all was good to go, I acclimated the shrimp to this water and 90 minutes later once they were in the tank did another water test just purely out of curiosity.
2ppm Ammonia
2-3ppm Nitrites
80ppm Nitrates
Sadly I already know my shrimp will not last long! And more water changes now, at this time of day, will be just a waste of time, so I just want to understand why this has happened, learn from it and move on.
The only thing I can think of is that when planting I put some APF Root Tabs into the substrate.
Since then I’ve seen some of the white plastic coatings floating about. Which I wasn’t expecting because they weren’t visible at all at the time of planting.
If these are leaching into the water column is this what is likely to have caused my sudden catastrophic parameter changes? And how long can I expect this to happen?
I can’t think of anything else that would cause my water parameters to change so dramatically in such a short space of time! I’ve made newbie mistakes in the past, and never seen any results like I’ve seen tonight!
Thanks in advance.
Tank Specs:
100L Tank
No CO2
EI ferts (scaled right back for low tech and only dosed one day so far)
Moderately Planted
39W T5 on for 6 Hours
Eheim Professional 3 350 with inline heater.
Caribsea EcoComplete Substrate with APF Substrate Capsules.
Crypts (Balansae and Kasselman)
Hottonia Palustris
Limnophila Sessiliflora
Java Ferns
Amazon Swords
Bacopa Monnieri
Rotala Rotundifolia
Floating Plant (Identified as Limnobium Laevigatum - I threw the plant box/label away and forgot the name)
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