Strange behaviour

[Tener ds]

Hi all,did a 10%wc this morning and 2 hours ago did a water test, all ok.
The thing is, the strange thing, is that my L081 ned has spent nearly an hour
hanging around the top of the tank,on the filter, glass etc.
Water temp is normal and nowt has been changed in the tank.
Is this normal behaviour ? Ive not seen him do this before.

 

[D-MAC]

As long as the water is testing OK I don't think there is anything wrong, just keep an eye on him and make sure there is plenty aeration...If you have more doubts get back to us.

 

[Lornek8]

Anytime fish exhibit behavior out of the ordinary I would become concerned, especially when bottom-dwelling fish hang around the surface. Keep an eye on things. Has anything changed? Anything added?

 

[rpp1973]

Are they doing water /road works in your area? water tests dont test for all toxic chemicals! so even though basic tests show good there may be something else in the 10% water that you added.

 

[Tener ds]

nowt added and nowt new or moved.no road works that i can find in my area.
before i left for work,an hour ago, i checked my stored water for nitrates and they were around 60ish,but i cant see wy only ned would be affected tho.
also got my boy to keep an eye on him when i left,he just told me that ned has stayed at the bottom and hes also eating his veg.
might be a one off.

 

[D-MAC]

nowt added and nowt new or moved.no road works that i can find in my area.
before i left for work,an hour ago, i checked my stored water for nitrates and they were around 60ish,but i cant see wy only ned would be affected tho.
also got my boy to keep an eye on him when i left,he just told me that ned has stayed at the bottom and hes also eating his veg.
might be a one off.

60ish is way too high...You really need to be keeping the no3 below 40 in the main aquarium and you will not achieve this if your replacement water is at 60...Just double check your test kit to make sure you are getting a true reading.

 

[Tener ds]

we have had high nitrates in our tap water for ages,is there something i can add to my stored water to bring it down?

 

[Doodles]

Try testing the tap water at different times of the day and different days of the week. There are nitrate removers out there but I would look into reducing the nitrates before the water is in the tank. How old is the test kit btw?

 

[Tener ds]

Hi, got the test kit just after Xmas. Would a cap full of prime when I top up
my stored water help?

 

[Doodles]

Prime would help.

What is the legal limit for water companies and nitrates? does anyone know?

 

[D-MAC]

You could try this
http://www.pozzani.co.uk/water-filters-185/product_info.html

 

[Tener ds]

cheers dmac,will look into it.
i,m thinking this might be a "gone off test kit" problem.
my stored water but holds around 80 liters,so this morning when i got in i added 5ml,
a cap full,good for 200L says the bottle, of prime.tested the water just before dinner,4:30 ish,and no change in nitrate reading.
will pick a new test kit over the weekend.

 

[Lornek8]

cheers dmac,will look into it.
i,m thinking this might be a "gone off test kit" problem.
my stored water but holds around 80 liters,so this morning when i got in i added 5ml,
a cap full,good for 200L says the bottle, of prime.tested the water just before dinner,4:30 ish,and no change in nitrate reading.
will pick a new test kit over the weekend.

I forget the way it works but Prime won't necessarily get rid of nitrate, so to speak. The numbers will still show but it is detoxified. There is an explenation on the Seachem site about it.

[EDIT] Okay its about ammoni in particular but possibly relates to nitrate as well.
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
The legal limit for nitrate in tap water is 50ppm, but some water companies regularly exceed this. It was because of the worries about high nitrate levels in drinking water (from agriculture mainly) that the "nitrate sensitive areas" were introduced to E. Anglia etc. <http://magic.defra.gov.uk/datadoc/metadata.asp?dataset=45>.

As Lornek suggests Prime doesn't remove nitrate, so it is still present. You can get resins which remove nitrate, but these will need frequent re-charging. (You can use any mono-valent anion to replace the NO3- ions, you don't need to use Cl- (from NaCl). PM me if you use nitrate pillows and that doesn't make sense to you).

I know Tener DS keeps planted tanks, and plants are the most efficient way of removing nitrate. The plant converts the nitrogen into proteins (like chlorophyll) and when you prune the plants you export the nitrate. Nitrate levels should fall in planted tanks, unless they are very heavily stocked or the plants aren't growing. In most situations nitrate limits plant growth, so more nitrate = more plant growth.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tener ds]

pm,d about nitrate pillows.

 

[Tener ds]

hi,the high nitrates where down to my test kit...:re:
took a sample of tank and stored water to my LFS for testing and both where
around 5mg,stored water just over 5mg.
so got a new test kit.double checked the nitrates with old test kit and it said over 100mg!!
how long do test kits last?

 

[D-MAC]

hi,the high nitrates where down to my test kit...:re:
took a sample of tank and stored water to my LFS for testing and both where
around 5mg,stored water just over 5mg.
so got a new test kit.double checked the nitrates with old test kit and it said over 100mg!!
how long do test kits last?

Glad you got to the bottom of your problem :yes:...The liquid test kits don't last too long after opening...I certainly wouldn't trust one that been opened for more than a year...I have thrown out loads of liquid kit that didn't work properly after 6 months...You don't know how long they have been sitting on wholesaler and retailers shelves before you buy them...This is one of the reasons that I always recommend the API 5 in 1 test strips...I have found these to be pretty good and easy to use and because of that we sell 50/1 against liquid testers, so stock is always new.

 

[Tener ds]

cool,might look for the strips when i need a new test kit.