water checks

[fishyfoo]

well so far i have only ever checked my water once and that was after if had been cycled without fish for 3 weeks to test if the water quality was ok to get my first batch of fish - ive read people do them every week but i only got like one test for £2.50 at my lfs - i know u can get them cheap on the net but i dont know any sites and will they deliver to the UK and take debit cards as payment?? i think its worth investing in some cause at the moment im having a bit of trouble nothing serious i dont think cause fish are fine - with brown substance covering the gravel i think i may also have been over feeding which could maybe lead to the brown waste? i dunno how many flakes would people put in for the amount of fish i have?? any ideas cause this brown stuffon the gravel wont come off with vacuum i just had to literally do a 75% water change and scrub the gravel the fish seemed a bit stressed so i tried to do it as quick as poss - also if doin a big water change u think its still best to leave the fish in the tank or put them temporarily in a bucket or summat similar??

 

[CFC]

The brown stuff is probably brown algea which is caused by low lighting and excess nutrients in the water. When feeding your fish you should only give them the ammount they can eat completely in 3 minutes once a day, if there is any food left after this time it needs to be removed and less given the next time. Boosting the output of your tubes with reflectors will also help.
It is important to test the water once a week in tanks under a year old, during this time parameters can fluctuate rapidly, especially if you are still building up a stock of fish.
After a year is is less important to test for ammonia and nitrite but tests should still be done fortnightly for nitrate and pH just to check is is still going well, older tanks can suffer from pH crash due to a build up of organic matter in the filters and substrate and as filters become more established nitrates can exceed safe levels as they become too efficient at converting nitrite to nitrate which can only be rectified with more regular small water changes.

 

[fishyfoo]

ok lets say that i get these tests and find out i need to alter things like PH or i have ammonia how do i go bout rectifying this - do like water changes and stuff or is there actual like treatments i can by to lower levels of whatever is in excess etc???

 

[Alien Anna]

well so far i have only ever checked my water once and that was after if had been cycled without fish for 3 weeks to test if the water quality was ok to get my first batch of fish

That's fine if you haven't got any problems. But it is useful to have a nitrite test on stand-by, just in case you get a mini-cycle at some point in your fish-keeping career. These things always seem to happen at 9pm on a Sundary evening before a public holiday.

ive read people do them every week but i only got like one test for £2.50 at my lfs

I don't, not once my tank is established. I do test before getting some more fish, especially if they're expensive, delicate ones. But I like doing chemistry tests - it's just a thing I like to do.

- i know u can get them cheap on the net but i dont know any sites and will they deliver to the UK and take debit cards as payment??

I get most of my stuff from Aquatics Warehouse Online . They take debit cards as far as I know. They've got a good deal on one of those multi-tests at the moment (I think its the Tetra one) - £17.

i think its worth investing in some cause at the moment im having a bit of trouble nothing serious i dont think cause fish are fine - with brown substance covering the gravel i think i may also have been over feeding which could maybe lead to the brown waste?

Sounds like brown slime algae, which is actually diatoms. It's common in tanks with high nitrates, but could have started when your tank was cycling and had high ammonia (once its established, its difficult to get shifted). A lot of fish eat this stuff so don't worry too much. Golden apple snails love it too. Regular water changes should help get rid of this - think of it as a sign that your tank is still maturing.

i dunno how many flakes would people put in for the amount of fish i have??

One generous pinch of flake per day is usually sufficient for about 20 small fish. You can be a little more generous with low-protein foods like lettuce, courgette or cucumber.

any ideas cause this brown stuffon the gravel wont come off with vacuum i just had to literally do a 75% water change and scrub the gravel the fish seemed a bit stressed so i tried to do it as quick as poss - also if doin a big water change u think its still best to leave the fish in the tank or put them temporarily in a bucket or summat similar??

Argh! No - don't do that! You'll knock out your beneficial bacteria. Never clean your gravel that thoroughly, especially in a newly set-up tank. And I would not recommend doing more than a 50% water change per week (25% is better), for the same reason. Get yourself a snail, a shrimp or an algae-eating fish of some kind (not a Chinese Algae Eater/Sucking loach or common pleco).