Advice Please :)

[SteelerLuke]

Hi everyone,

I've had my tank for many years now but have never actually thought about my ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels.

After joining & reading through this forum today this is something I'm obviously keen to address, so can someone advise me of what these levels should be, how I can test them & how to treat them if they are too high.

Firstly if someone could point me in the right direction to a tester kit, I will run the tests & post the results in this thread & hopefully someone can help me from there.

At the moment I have a 60 litre tank with no living plants, I just have artificials. I have 1 air pump, 1 internal filter which I'll post the exact model of when I get home, & I have my tank temp set to 26 celsius.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as I really do love my tank but have obviously been neglecting the welfare of my fish. I'm willing to take a slap on the wrist from this but when I get my tank when I was only about 12 I was never informed of anything like this so have always been working under the assumption of clean my tank out every once in a while & make sure my filter/pump are always on.

Regards,

Luke

 

[Crossfire]

Hi everyone,

I've had my tank for many years now but have never actually thought about my ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels.

After joining & reading through this forum today this is something I'm obviously keen to address, so can someone advise me of what these levels should be, how I can test them & how to treat them if they are too high.

Firstly if someone could point me in the right direction to a tester kit, I will run the tests & post the results in this thread & hopefully someone can help me from there.

At the moment I have a 60 litre tank with no living plants, I just have artificials. I have 1 air pump, 1 internal filter which I'll post the exact model of when I get home, & I have my tank temp set to 26 celsius.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as I really do love my tank but have obviously been neglecting the welfare of my fish. I'm willing to take a slap on the wrist from this but when I get my tank when I was only about 12 I was never informed of anything like this so have always been working under the assumption of clean my tank out every once in a while & make sure my filter/pump are always on.

Regards,

Luke

The best test kit is the API Liquid Freshwater Master Test Kit.
Good thing you found this site, its a great help to any beginners and even advanced fishkeepers.
What fish do you have in your 60l?

 

[soybean]

If you've had your tank many years and haven't been cleaning the filter in tap water or changing all the sponges at once, it's likely to already be cycled. A cycled tank will show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and a reading of nitrate which will probably vary from about 5-40 in the average tank, depending on your area,how often you do water changes, and whether you have plants, etc.

As mentioned, the Api freshwater kit is probably the best all rounder for the average hobbyist.

The link in my sig is to the beginners section - there is a lot to explain, so it's easier to read it over in your own time.

But if it's been going years, you must be doing something right

 

[Cossie1111]

Your tank sounds ridiculously similar to mine...

Your stocking?

 

[CezzaXV]

Soybean is right, ammonia and nitrite should be 0 (even the tiniest amount more will be harmful to fish). Nitrate will never be 0, but the lower the better. 40ppm is a good general guideline for beginners, but some types of fish are more tolerant of higher levels of nitrate than others. My tapwater has nitrate of 10-20ppm, so even with twice weekly water changes, my nitrate is never that low!

Would be nice to know what kind of fish you have - there's a chance they might benefit from turning the heater down a degree or two.

 

[XeroTolerance]

I use the API Master Freshwater Test Kit. All you need to do is take a small sample of your tank water and add the chemicals in the test kit to the water. Then a color will develop and according to the chart it will tell you how much of a certain substance is in your tank. For example, yellow means zero ammonia.

 

[SteelerLuke]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Just for info my filter is a "Fluval 2 Plus" - it's an internal filter that will clean 400 litres an hour apparently.

I'm going to have a look at the testing kits tonight on eBay when I get home from work, thanks for the recommendations

In my tank I currently have the following fish;

2 x Yellow Goldfish
12 x Guppy
6 x Golden Barb
5 x Red Platy
2 x Apple Snail

My 2 Goldfish will be put in the garden pond once temperatures heat up a little bit as they are getting a bit too large & I'm afraid that the might start to eat my smaller fish - especially if I introduce some young guppies to the tank as I have one pregnant female.

 

[snake007]

I think you may have to many guppies other than that it seems alright.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Two goldfish seem two much for the tank your size.

 

[soybean]

Two goldfish seem two much for the tank your size.

Yes, but he said they're going into a pond when it gets a bit warmer, which is fair enough.

 

[CezzaXV]

Agreed on getting rid of the goldfish, but you knew that anyway. 12 guppies aren't a problem in themselves. 12 guppies will get along fine, but the rest of your fish are other surface/mid dwellers, so there's probably a lot of activity and tension going on in your tank as the fish battle for space in that relatively small tank.

I'd definitely turn the temperature down. 24 degrees celcius would be ideal for all the fish you have there (except for the goldfish which are coldwater fish) and will save you a bit on the leccy too

 

[swanseastilo]

Keep it up luke your doing a good job.

Glad some peoplevtake advice

 

[XeroTolerance]

Two goldfish seem two much for the tank your size.

Yes, but he said they're going into a pond when it gets a bit warmer, which is fair enough.

Oh sorry, I must've skipped that part. I swear sometimes that I have a slight case of dyslexia because half the time I don't understand what Im reading.

 

[SteelerLuke]

Right, that's my API Master Test Kit ordered off eBay, £19.98 brand new which included postage which I didn't think was too bad at all.

I should hopefully get this by next Monday, maybe even Friday if I'm lucky, when I do I'll do the testing & post my results up here for further advice

Just in regards to my Goldies, I've had them for a couple of years now so it will be sad to see them go in the pond because they are real beauties, even if they are just the humble Goldfish. Both are scale & fin perfect & I've always been fond of them.

They'll have to go though!

Unless... perhaps another tank

 

[soybean]

They'll be happier in the pond where they belong.