thanks for posting this, i went home and did the test correctly, by the looks i have a nitrate level of aruond 5ppm!

thanks again!

OFL wrote:

However, it won't to any harm to give it a quick shake.

No, it never does...does it. Actually, it's perfectly acceptable, healthy and normal.

Btw, this video is...shall we say...instructional...in more ways than one penn, thx.

Bow chicka WOW wow...

kazzy wrote:

how about one for ammonia xxxx

Yes, I will do one for ammonia, nitrite and pH. However, the reason why I did one for nitrate is because people often don't do the tests properly and it's so easy to get a false reading.

johnnyphoenix wrote:

OFL wrote:

However, it won't to any harm to give it a quick shake.

No, it never does...does it. Actually, it's perfectly acceptable, healthy and normal.

Btw, this video is...shall we say...instructional...in more ways than one penn, thx.

Bow chicka WOW wow...

I assume you are referring to Chrissy? Actually, she is my ex, but we are still very close friends

My 90gal.(6"Oscar,5"geos,6" featherfin catfish) & 65 gal.(community 2anglefish almost adult about dozen tetras, 3 sm. catfish) are cycled, ph 72, no ammonia, , nitrite 0,nitrate 20, problem is our tap water test 10 for nitrates.
I know there are nitrate removers but don't like to use chemicals . We do water changes every 3rd.or 4th. day. Nitrate never gets about 20. Should I be concerned as it's still in the tank water when part of the problem is the tap water.
What should I do
Everytime I have a question about Oscar fish keeping I run to my laptop, and open Oscarfishlovers to get my answers. You wouldn't believe how helpful you have been to me, when I thought I was an old seasoned fish keeper and knew it all.

Don't worry there will always be nitrates you just have to maintain them at 40ppm or lower (preferably 20ppm or lower). Make sure ammonia and nitrites are always 0ppm.

I did my nitrate test EXACTLY like this, with API, and I swear I got a reading of 0. The water was yellow, not even a tinge of colour hinting to nitrates.
To cut a long story short, I was given an Oscar in an uncycled tank. I only became aware of cycling after a few days of him being in there (I feel awful trust me)

Anyway its been almost a month now, and ive been using Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability to help with the cycle..

At the moment my readings are
PH 7.0
Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0

WHYYYY?
is my tank not cycling or should I be patient for another month or two?

Rex my tiger oscar seems perfectly happy in their, hes eating like theres no tomorrow and swimming around happily

But I want to get this sorted as I know even with chemicals like seachem stability, the long term exposure to ammonia will really effect his health '


Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

I found you lol

how often are you WC the tank?

and what kind of filters?

how large is the tank and oscar?

a cycle can take 2-3 mts

Tank is about 160L
It has a biological filter with 3 stages, bio rings, bio balls and carbon + the wool stuff
Im doing 50% water changes every day (sometimes every second day depending on the ammonia reading and how much Rex has pooped)

You just have to keep it up. Eventually ammonia will start dropping and nitrites will start rising, then nitrites will start dropping and nitrates will start rising. Once ammonia and nitrites stay at 0ppm and Nitrates are greater than 0ppm you'll know the cycle is complete. During this time don't clean any of your filters at all