new to the forum :D got a few questions

[superjody]

Just did a water test earlier today and all seems normal, a month ago nitrites and nitrates were very high though

[mpmistr]

An aquarium of that size should be fine for three frogs. I'm not familiar with that filter though, do you know how strong it is G? High Nitrites/Nitrates is actually quite toxic. I'm actually surprised you have any Nitrates at all if there is Nitrite present.

Again Nitrite is quite toxic.

What is normal exactly?

Normal would be 0ppm Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite and >20ppm Nitrate.

[superjody]

No idea what the g is on the filter, its a juwel bioflow 3.0.
My latest test results are 7.2 ph 0 ammonia 0.2 nitrite 10-20 nitrate
when i was having problems last month mynitrate level was 30 then went to 100 the next day, i treated the problem and it went down to 20 the week after, ,the nitrite level was at 2.5 when nitrate was at 100.

I have recently added live plants to the tank, not sure if that will help them out in any way??

had a weird incident the other night, Iv had cloudy water issues for a while but been trying to keep it under control with green away which seemed to clear it up a lot. Anyway, the water hasnt been crystal clear for a while but nowhere near as bad as its been, i do my weekly changes and it clears up a little with the green away then stays as it is which is slightly cloudy. The other night it seemed crystal clear in one corner where 2 new plants are but the rest was a little cloudier, the night after i got home from work and the water was crystal clear........no idea how or why but im not complaining

[mpmistr]

No idea what the g is on the filter, its a juwel bioflow 3.0.
My latest test results are 7.2 ph 0 ammonia 0.2 nitrite 10-20 nitrate
when i was having problems last month mynitrate level was 30 then went to 100 the next day, i treated the problem and it went down to 20 the week after, ,the nitrite level was at 2.5 when nitrate was at 100.

I'm trying to understand the readings is it .2ppm nitrite? Any nitrite = bad.. 100ppm nitrate??? That is insanely high.

I have recently added live plants to the tank, not sure if that will help them out in any way??

It will help soak up nitrates a bit.. but make sure your lighting is adequate enough for plant growth because decaying plants will only make your water quality worse.

had a weird incident the other night, Iv had cloudy water issues for a while but been trying to keep it under control with green away which seemed to clear it up a lot. Anyway, the water hasnt been crystal clear for a while but nowhere near as bad as its been, i do my weekly changes and it clears up a little with the green away then stays as it is which is slightly cloudy. The other night it seemed crystal clear in one corner where 2 new plants are but the rest was a little cloudier, the night after i got home from work and the water was crystal clear........no idea how or why but im not complaining

Cloudy water could be a bacterial bloom, did you change the media in your filter maybe?.. generally speaking water clarity and water quality aren't one in the same. ACF are dirty animals as far as waste production I am curious if the filter that came with your tank is powerful enough for 3 ACF.

[superjody]

im using a nutrafin mini master test kit which gives results in mg/L (ppm) NO2, to be honest i dont fully understand everything like that, i just have a basic idea of what the levels should be at.
no idea what caused the nitrate to shoot up like that.
The tank has two tubes which provide plenty of light, that get about 5-6 hours then whatever natural light makes its way to the tank.

I didnt change anything in the filter, it just decided to go cloudy, ive had it that cloudy that you coudlnt see to the back of the tank properly once (before i used green away)
i tested the water and there were no problems with it apart from slightly low ph.

The filter is 12" in height and seems quite powerful, it has6 lots of sponges etc inside

[rodsboys]

I have some experience with those jewel filters. They are plenty adequate. Basically an internal canister filter with bio media and sponges stacked driven by an internal power head.
I would stay away from those chemicals that "clear" algae. They usually contain ingredients that feed baby algae while killing the mature algae causing you to continue to have to use it. Just let your tank finish cycling and do water changes on a normal schedule.
The plants will help a lot. The more you have the better. When plants are well established they turn ammonia/nitrogen into plant matter. Keep in mind that you need fairly durable or prolific plants to withstand the abuse of the ACFs.

[deranged chipmunk]

I agree with the above, specifically, stop using chemicals to fix the problem. It's like treating the symptoms of cancer without treating the actual disease. Fix the root cause of the problem first. Let the biologic filter do it's thing and mature on it's own. Adding a sm!all hang on back filter with some carbon in it wouldn't hurt. Remember, algae is, for the most part, a plant. If you have excess nutrients that your plants cannot absorb, guess what is going to utilize them? The main 2 things i see in planted tanks that are plagued by algae are lack of flow and too much light. You said the tank gets natural light, is it near a window? That could be one of your problems. And you said you have 2 tubes, what kind of flourescents are you running?