should i do a water change or leave as is?

[Celbrise]

yea i try to fill up 5 gallon buckets with the waste water and dump it into our bigger rain water buckets i think it's 150gallons each but it rains so often here that they are almost always full. if anything i just feed it into the garden.it's the fact that a lot of water is being ran through the waste water but they dont understand that keeping an aquarium is more different then adding tap water and salt to it. thus why my dads pond isn't doing great to begin with.

i just went to petco bought some seachem prime and added as directed when should i do my next nitrate testing? no purigen though

 

[cmcoker]

yea i try to fill up 5 gallon buckets with the waste water and dump it into our bigger rain water buckets i think it's 150gallons each but it rains so often here that they are almost always full. if anything i just feed it into the garden.it's the fact that a lot of water is being ran through the waste water but they dont understand that keeping an aquarium is more different then adding tap water and salt to it. thus why my dads pond isn't doing great to begin with.

i just went to petco bought some seachem prime and added as directed when should i do my next nitrate testing? no purigen though

Might be worth doing some research on different rodi units, there are some (more expensive) models that have less waste. Or adding a booster pump, think that helps reduce waste as well. So that becomes less of a battle.

I am not sure if prime affects testing of nitrate.. Maybe some can chime in on that. Think it can mess up ammonia tests, if I recall.

 

[cmcoker]

This one has a 2:1 ratio, so half the waste.. http://spectrapure.com/RO-RODI/RODI-SYSTEMS/CSPDI-Manual-Flush-90-GPD-RO-DI-System

 

[Celbrise]

it says it reduces nitrtite, ammonia, and nitrates. i need to lower my ammonia i believe to 0 it's currently 0.25 nitrite seems fine at 0

 

[Celbrise]

This one has a 2:1 ratio, so half the waste.. http://spectrapure.com/RO-RODI/RODI-SYSTEMS/CSPDI-Manual-Flush-90-GPD-RO-DI-System

definetly will look into getting a ro/di filter that saves more water i have to buy a better one this one only does 50gpd

 

[cmcoker]

it says it reduces nitrtite, ammonia, and nitrates. i need to lower my ammonia i believe to 0 it's currently 0.25 nitrite seems fine at 0

From seachem help forum:
'1. Prime will bind ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for 24-48 hours. At which point, if they are still present, will be released. Of course, we are more concerned with ammonia and nitrites, rather than nitrates.


Q: How does Prime make a difference in reducing Nitrates?

A: The detoxification of nitrite and nitrate by Prime (when used at elevated levels) is not well understood from a mechanistic standpoint. The most likely explanation is that the nitrite and nitrate is removed in a manner similar to the way ammonia is removed; i.e. it is bound and held in a inert state until such time that bacteria in the biological filter are able to take a hold of it, break it apart and use it. Two other possible scenarios are reduction to nitrogen (N2) gas or conversion into a benign organic nitrogen compound.
I wish we had some more "concrete" explanation, but the end result is the same, it does actually detoxify nitrite and nitrate. This was unexpected chemically and thus initially we were not even aware of this, however we received numerous reports from customers stating that when they overdosed with Prime they were able to reduce or eliminate the high death rates they experienced when their nitrite and nitrate levels were high. We have received enough reports to date to ensure that this is no fluke and is in fact a verifiable function of the product.'

So, while it will bind nitrates, it is temporary and still needs a more permanent solution - water changes with RODI water.

Ammonia tests like API, will give a false positive when using Prime.
From seachem help Forum :

Re: ammonia tests when using prime:
'The false positive is referring to the fact that the salicylate test can't distinguish between NH3 and NH4. The reagent used in the test breaks the bond with the Prime and converts all NH3 and NH4 to the same form so the total ammonia is tested. The total ammonia includes any NH3, NH4, and ammonia which had been complexed with Prime. It will not show more total ammonia than is actually in the water.'

^^this is why you should get the seachem ammonia badge, it will show the free ammonia (toxic form) in the tank, regardless of if you are using the prime.

If you do water changes to get the nitrates down, you will also bring the ammonia down. I would do more water changes to get back to acceptable range then use a regular water change schedule, with RODI while leaving the seachem ammonia badge in to keep an eye on ammonia.

I would tell your family, this is a correction from using the tap water and is why you need to use only the the 'good' water out of the RODI system. And your plan to get a more efficient unit.

 

[Humblefish]

This one has a 2:1 ratio, so half the waste.. http://spectrapure.com/RO-RODI/RODI-SYSTEMS/CSPDI-Manual-Flush-90-GPD-RO-DI-System

+1 I own one of these. Excellent little RODI unit.

 

[Celbrise]

i will wait until sunday and do another 50% water change and check parameters again will post results.

 

[Celbrise]

i had a question about my nitrate problem that i think could also be a huge cause but not sure if it is. my sand bed doesn't really get sifted even when i do water changed i usually just take it from the mid level via gravel vac because it sucks up the sand and removes it if i place it on in the sand. i was wondering if this could also be a cause of high nitrates. if so should i literally be placing the vacuum pump into the sand when doing water changes or should i stir up the sand then do the vacuum as i did or should it just be left alone? the only fish that somewhat sifts the sand is my trigger and he just moves it around to carve out a house inside the rocks. i used to have a golden sleeper head goby but it died it seemed fully grown when i got it and i think it died from stress or maybe even starvation but i had it for almost a year

 

[McMullen]

Just catching up to thread. When I first started years ago I bought a complete up and running system. Couple weeks after the breakdown and setup using new sand but same rocks and livestock my nitrates were maxed at 200 on test kit. Ammonia was as close to 0 as my eyes could see. I didn't lose any livestock including fish, anemone, and mushrooms. The LFS people freaked out and had me buy all this stuff to add to tank emergently. My point is ammonia is bad, once you solve the reason for ammonia showing up on test kit your nitrate will eventually reduce. In the mean time, dilution is the solution…..water changes. Don't panic from nitrates, don't get me wrong thats stupid high, and you need to find whatever is causing the problem, but ammonia is your true enemy.

Look up and read about the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle if you have yet to do so. This will hopefully put things into perspective and may help you eliminate the source.
Just my 2 cents

 

[Celbrise]

yea mine showed up at 0.25 ammonia that is i think it's just due to all the neglect and not maintaining it properly but i am sure i can get it down to 0 will take some time though don;t want to shock the tank. just was wondering if siphoning the substrate could help reduce those levels. i get mixed answers some say to siphon the top only where as others say to stick it into the sand and siphon but then i will be losing subtrate slowly and most video's i look at on youtube have gravel like substrate rather then coarse sand or they only explain how to do it breifly rather then showing so it doesn't help clarify. i will be doing probably a 20% water change and try stiring up the sand before siphoning and see how that works out. if anything i might simply just rehome my trigger and puffer once i get better parameters

 

[cmcoker]

yea mine showed up at 0.25 ammonia that is i think it's just due to all the neglect and not maintaining it properly but i am sure i can get it down to 0 will take some time though don;t want to shock the tank. just was wondering if siphoning the substrate could help reduce those levels. i get mixed answers some say to siphon the top only where as others say to stick it into the sand and siphon but then i will be losing subtrate slowly and most video's i look at on youtube have gravel like substrate rather then coarse sand or they only explain how to do it breifly rather then showing so it doesn't help clarify. i will be doing probably a 20% water change and try stiring up the sand before siphoning and see how that works out. if anything i might simply just rehome my trigger and puffer once i get better parameters

IMO, If you are disturbing the sand bed for the first time since you set up, only do a small section at a time.

How deep is the sand?
you may have already said...

Anyway, don't try and do it all in one go with livestock in there, there's 18 months of dirt in there.

 

[martini5788]

I have used API test kits for a long time, and it is very hard to tell the difference between 0 and 0.25. For the longest time I also thought I had ammonia but it turns out I didn't. I think your ammonia level is actually zero based on the pictures, it just takes a long time to figure out what is zero and what is very minimally elevated.

On a side note, make sure that when you are doing the nitrate test that the dropper is completely upside down and not at an angle to the bottle which will affect the size of drops and screw up the result.

 

[martini5788]

If you want to be sure, then go get a seachem ammonia badge which will not be affected by the prime and will give you an accurate reading. Just keep it on the tank wall, it's good for 6 months.

 

[martini5788]

It looks like it might be 0.25 but it's not. I've had this test kit and water checked by so many people. I was convinced that I had a small amount of ammonia for the longest time. But it's actually zero. 0.25 looks like a Granny Smith apple and you will know. Since this is a new test kit to you I wouldn't be worried about the ammonia at all, especially since the tank has been up for a long time.