Fishkeeping: Day 3

Right before the Larrimore's rolled out, I grabbed the latest numbers on the tank.

pH = 7.0 (Woot!)
Ammonia = 1.0 mg/l
Nitrate = 5.0 mg/l

I was happy about the pH finally leveling out, but the nitrates have me worried. I knew the gravel was still dirty when I put it in the tank even though I attempted to clean it, but I thought that the filter would fix everything.

After doing some research, I think I may have uncovered the problem. In a fish tank, there are 3 types of filters; Mechanical, chemical and biological. Mechanical filters pull in water and pass it through a mesh that keeps dirt and particles from flowing back into the tank. Chemical filters are a medium like charcoal removing chemicals like ammonia. Biological filters are live bacteria that take the nitrogen (nitrates and nitrites) and fish waste and produce oxygen.

The reason why I still have nitrates in the tank is because I don't have a biological filter. The problem is that a biological filter is grown not made. Fish naturally have the bacteria in them and when they excrete waste, they also excrete the bacteria. The bacteria gather in the mechanical filter and grow.

This means that the only way to lower the nitrates is to clean the gravel and replace the water and start over, unless I want to take a chance with the new fish.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet, but luckily I have some time to think about it.

What do you think?