Advice On Using Water Test Kits

[hives]

Hi, right im posted many posts on here and probably starting to annoy you guys by now (sorry ;[) well i did the typical noob thing and went out.. bought a fish tank 10g, gravel, underwater filter, pump and airstone, plus a fluval 1 and some rocks, plants etc...

This i now know was the wrong way to do it.. thanks to the guy in 'pets at home' who said it would be fine, after reading up on tank cycling etc i know isnt fine. Well here goes.. i firstly gave the gravel a good clean for about 3 hours till they was crystal clear in the water... set up my filters etc, put the rocks in after cleaning them also, and put 2 african dwarf frogs in and two red platys in (platys died the next day 8 hours apart after looking fine) the frogs are doing fine seeming healthy at the moment. After being told by you guys and lots of freinds to get a water tesing kit rapidly and sort it out. So today i went to the local pet shop and purchased a water testing kit (£15??) expensive, which tests for pH, KH, GH, NO2, NO3 all in one strip.. i have 20 strips and also bought some aqua safe chlorine remover as advised for water changes. Im know wondering where to go from here bassicly as ive never tested the water and i have been reading up a bit on cycling but as i have gone about it the wrong way i could do with some advice on where to go from here (need to test my water). The answer would be to take my frogs back and do a fishless cycle.. this would a good idea but as no pet shops here take fish back becuase of disease i have no choice but to leave the frogs in, ... Ive done this wrong and feel bad as the two platys died from my doing.. (stupid advice from the shop) either way i need to get on top of this so where do i start with the strips to test? sorry guys to annoy you but i do appreciate your quality advice. thnx

 

[Bloo]

If you haven't yet used the strip tests, take them back. They really aren't the best and for almost the same price you can get yourself a master test kit from API that works by putting 5ml of water into a test tube and adding the reagent. Far more accurate and last much much longer than those strips.

 

[hives]

nope, opend them and really want to get it sorted now,... been told these will do me for now, and want advice on using them not a diffrent method, thanks for the reply

 

[Bloo]

nope, opend them and really want to get it sorted now,... been told these will do me for now, and want advice on using them not a diffrent method, thanks for the reply

What brand do you have ? For most of them you just dip them in some tank water for a second (put some tank water in a clean glass) and take the readins by checking the colours against the back of the tube.

 

[hives]

if i post the readings could you maybe instruct me? appreciate the replys

 

[Bloo]

Sure go for it

 

[hives]

ph 7.6
kh15
gh16
no3 50
no2 1

doesnt mean an awfull lot to me this info? maybe you can help, cheers bud

 

[Bloo]

ph 7.6
kh15
gh16
no3 50
no2 1

doesnt mean an awfull lot to me this info? maybe you can help, cheers bud

This is a fantastic article that will tell you a lot about your pH, gH & kH. But in essence the NO2 (Nitrite) indicates that your tank is still cycling. The NO3 (NitrAte) indicates that you can do with a water change as it's slightly higher than ideal. Nitrates "generally" are between roughly 10 and 50.
This article will provide you with good info on the cycle process.

Hope that helps.

 

[hives]

ok, thanks for your help man... without people like you on the other end of this pc i wouldnt know what to do... im going to leave it for an hour till i have the time properly and do one more test and read up on those articals you advised... hopefully those results dont look to urgent? but im going to get on top ofit by tonight as i dont want to cause my frogs anymore stress, thanks again