Habitat - Indoor :: Ammonia & Nitrates

[WaterLogged]

I just did a 60% water change in my turtle's 75 gallon & I know I let it go for an extra week longer than I wanted.
The water tested between .25-.5 ppm Ammonia BUT the Nitrates were at a colour I can't even find on the colour chart!
What kind of reading is it when it's CHERRY RED?

There's sand in the tank & just like I'm doing with my Oscar, I'm thinking of removing 25% of it each day. I believe it holds a lot of gunk. All the bacteria is mainly in the filter media anyway.

I've got a 2217 Eheim canister filter for the tank, it's well established.

Thanks for any help. Maybe pieces of lettuce stuck here & there that I can't see & wouldn't syphon up?

[ljapa]

You can probably do even larger water changes than 25%/day. Fish are much more sensitive to water changes than turtles.

However, if you are showing ammonia and nitrates off the chart, it means that something is out of balance. The ammonia means your bacteria can't keep up, but the high nitrates obviously means you have bacterial colonies at work. Besides large water changes, I'd look to clean the filter media in aquarium water. You may have large amounts of waste, or lettuce remains, that have been pulled into the filter.

I suppose it's possible too that a very high nitrate level suppresses the bacteria's ability to process ammonia.

[devilduck]

Test your water source too as a baseline it could be that your water has nitrates in them.

Remember to really really shake the bottle of test solution for nitrates. If you don't shake them well enough before you do the test in my experience you will get unpredictable results.

Of course when in doubt water changes don't hurt.

[VeipaCray]

I think people just assume I make this stuff up because I have nothing better to do than to tell everyone to go buy bigger filters.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30145#p288933

Your 2217 is a bit undersized for that 75G tank assuming you have it full. You don't need a bigger filter unless you like doing daily water changes. The test kits have a manufactured date on the cap. They're good for about a year then you start to get false readings. Also make sure the test tube is really clean. Don't use any soap to clean it... just rinse the hell out of it under cold water and let it dry completely.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

High nitrate readings are normal for any turtle tank after a while but there is no reason for ammonia readings unless, as Veipa has insinuated, your under filtering. Keep up with daily WC's or get another filter

[VeipaCray]

Yeah the ammonia is the concern. Turtles are much more tolerant to nitrates than fish so a slightly elevated nitrate level is OK unless you have fish in the tank. It's the ammonia not reading 0 that I'd be worried about.