The Puffer Forum

my opinion.. your NO3 is guite "high" cause there is no live plants, what is problem, F8 destroy everithing!! I had same problem. There is some options: do water changing more often, or try to change water flow..

Snoopy wrote:my opinion.. your NO3 is guite "high" cause there is no live plants, what is problem, F8 destroy everithing!! I had same problem. There is some options: do water changing more often, or try to change water flow..

I do wish I could have more plants, but I do have some live plants, just a few really. I have 1 small windelov java fern, 1 java fern (with 1 leaf lol, but lots of baby fernlets), and 4 nano marimo moss balls. I tired anubias but it melted and nearly died so I transferred it to my DP tank, and have pretty much given up on any plant that isnt java ferns/marimo. My F8 is also destructive of plants lol, many of my fernlets/ferns have perfect circle bites out of them in many places. As for water, I think it may have been timing, because I did test my water the day before I performed a WC, when Nitrate was at it's highest =P. Now my reading is around 10ppm, after doing a 75% WC on sunday. I do a 75% weekly water change on saturday/sunday.

Heres reading on NH3/NH4+ and NO3 for my source water and tank water (after 2 days from last WC). NH3 is on the left side, NO3 on the right, ALSO source water is the vial to the left, tank water is the vials to the right.

Something's very off with those colors.

Pufferpunk wrote:Something's very off with those colors.

How so? They seem fine to me, reading 0 NH3 for both source water and tank water, and 0 N03 for source water, 10-20ppm NO3 for tank water.

Nitrite should be blue, if 0, not yellow. pH is 6???

Ahh I see how you're confused. I didn't test PH or Nitrite, only the Ammonia and Nitrate levels of the source water (from my sink) and the tank water. I tested each, and used 2 vials for Ammo and 2 for Nitrate. Refer to the original post with picture, I explain what exactly is tested in the text right above the pic.

For the best explanation, the vials are in this order from left to right: vial #1 = ammo of sink water, vial #2 = ammo of tank water, vial #3 = nitrate of sink water,
vial #4 = nitrate of tank water. Sorry if my original explanation wasn't clear enough, I wasn't sure how exactly to explain it =P. HTH.

So your tank's nitrate is pretty high.

10-20ppm is bad? :/ my ammo/nitrite is 0..

Looks redder than that.

Ugh I just give up then... Idk what else to do, I do at least 75%+ WC per week, I clean the filter out once a month, I have a few plants, and I thoroughly gravel vacuum every water change. The tank is cycled with 0 amm, 0 nitrite, and apparently constant 40 nitrate, and has been up for over 4 months! The fish seem to suffer no ill effects so I will just continue to do as is... I'm afraid it's overstocked; with 2bbgs, 1 F8, and 1 balloon molly all in a 10G but I've tried to make up for this with larger WC and over-filtration. I cannot have a larger tank in my dorm, and atm I can barely afford to pay bills, let alone buy/find another 15g tank with hood (I know a 15 wouldn't be noticed any more then 10g). I can't get rid of the molly because it's my girlfriends and I haven't another tank over 1G suitable for it. I've read balloon belly mollies don't live long (under 1-1 1/2 years) so would it be OK to just wait it out till it kicks the bucket then leave my tank alone? I wish I could get away with a 29g tank at college, because I have one in storage, but alas it would be obvious to even the least aquarium experienced person that it is far over 10g. I'd really love to have just the bbgs and the puffer, as I became aware after doing research a F8 needs around 15G for water quality issues, but again shouldn't larger water changes make up for this? Idk what to do honestly, I've been a lot better about aquarium and fish care then I ever have in my previous years that were full of ignorance on the subject, but it seems I still have a lot more to learn >.<. Any suggestions? I'd really rather not get rid of my F8, Binks, I've grown attached to him and I don't know anyone I would trust to take care of him even if I could let him go. Pet stores are out of the option, we all know how they treat their fish. Is 40ppm nitrate really so bad that I should be worrying so much about this? Is there any data on the affect of prolonged exposure to fish of nitrates at these levels? Binks will get a tank upgrade to a 29g as soon as I'm out of college in ~2 years, no question on that.

P.S. Sorry if I'm freaking out a bit, but I'm a little stressed out about this, among many other things in life lol.

Maybe do WC 2x/week?

Why not put your 29g up for trade for a 20g? Sounds a little silly but you could almost guarantee interest, you could then replace the 29 when times are easier. Or give up the Molly and just say it got eaten lol

@bertie The idea about the molly cracks me up, but I can't give it much thought besides that though lol. The idea of trading in my 29 doesn't actually sound too bad! I wonder if I could try for a 15/20G long? I'd love a long tank for my puffer, because he's so active.
@PP I guess I can do 2X 75% a week, that doesn't sound too much does it? It'd be about every 3-4 days.

EDIT: After some searching, found a ad on CL for a 20G long for $30.00 I offered the guy $15.00 if i didn't have a hood, or 29g as a trade for it. Have yet to hear back, but I don't think it has a hood... Will the hood of my 29 fit it? I believe they're both 30" length and approx 13'' wide.

I had a similar issue with nitrates being high in my saltwater tank. TBH, I really didn't solve the problem until I started to use RODI water. Lots of water stores sell RO water cheap, and that would be easier than getting a RODI unit. But my tap water had very very high nitrate count, and now using RODI water, it's always less than 5ppm. Nice thing about having a constant supply of RODI water sitting in a BRUTE trash can in my living room? Puffers benefit from it as well Again not ideal, but meh, whatever works.

But seriously, it means a lot of water hauling, but try using RO water. I got mine for $.12 a gallon from a nice, family owned water shop, and they let me test the water, and they kept their filters changed.... HTH

Good luck