So i did a 30% water change today. for multiple reasons. 1 being the ammonia was between 0 and .25.

Well... 4 hours or so later. i tested the water.

Some good some bad....

Ammonia is 0 now

Nitrite is 0 still

pH has gone down from 7. to around 6.7

but the nitrate which was about 5-10ppm is now so red (api test) I seriously cannot tell if its 40 or 160. Either way. Its even higher now.

do i change some water again?

I should wait till tomorrow and then test the water again. I don't see why your nitrate should have suddenly gone sky high? Are you absolutely sure that you are carrying out a nitrate test properly? You must shake the second bottle for 30 seconds, and then when you have added the second lot of 10 drops, shake the vile for one minute.

OFL wrote:


ya. i did it 3 time and it came out the same all 3 times.

The fish seem fine. swimming around moving rocks etc.

Sounds like you have yourself a cycled tank, congratulations! What is the size of your tank, what kind of fish, and how many?

Make sure you look at the test result in very good light, its difficult to read the colour accurately in poor light. I find its best to test during the day.