what went wrong..

[Derrick]

I have a 30 gallon fish tank, My last test numbers were way wrong:

Nitrate 20-40

Nitrite 3.0

Hardness 300+

Alkalinity 300+

PH 8.4

I took out 20 gallons and replaced it with water i bought and tested before hand. It was ) all the way across the board with a PH of 6.2

But now i test my water after the change and non of the levels changed the water is still pretty bad?? what went wrong here? I am about to dismantle the whole setup and clean it again? I dunno

[Keith Rowan]

what makes you say the numbers were wrong?  what were they before?  did you follow the test instructions?

 

what kind of water did you buy?  what kind of media/flow system do you have set up?

[Derrick]

I meant wrong as in bad water/dirty water. they were the same as the test above before the water change and did not change after the water change. i filled a few 5 gallon jugs at the supermarket but before i even added it to the fish tank i tested it and it was Zero Nitrate,Nitrite,Hardness,Alkalinity And 6.2 PH. its a flood and drain system. Im not sure why it did not get any better?

[Keith Rowan]

sorry.. but for me to be able to assist i'd need lots more info..

how long has your system been cycling? did you fishless cycle?  how many fish?  what are you feeding them if you have fish?  what water did you use to start the system?

how big is your growbed? (any other filtration?)

and what was the water you bought at the store? spring water? distilled water? well water?

do you have any aeration?

[Derrick]

its been 2 weeks since i set up, i am useing fish to cycle with (mistake in the beginning not knowing exactly what cycling was).

I started with 10 goldies and 2 algae eaters, now have 7 golds and 3 guppy 2 algae eaters. I feed them goldfish food from Walmart but since about day four I only feed every couple days if i have to, when i feed i loose a fish in a matter of minutes.

My 2 grow-beds are about 15 gallons together no other filtration.

unsure i think spring water.

and lots of airation not only with air stones but also the water return to the tank.

Even though i changed some water and cleaned the rocks (with a gravel sucker) the water still looks dirty. kinda of a light tint of green but no smell anymore. 

[Keith Rowan]

don't feed until your system is cycled

put a "scrubbie" pad under your gb inlets for a while to assiste with cleaning the water

your water should not come up all the way to the top of the media, you should have at least an inch above your highest flood point..

[Derrick]

Thats a good idea with the scrubby pad im sure i have a few somewhere,

I found that out the hard way when pellets were floating in the water, im trying to get this bell syphon to work for a new bed design.

Would adding start zyme bacteria help?I did when i first setup my tank and the directions say to add some more at a later time. My thought was that it would eliminate some of the ammonia...