Api Master Kit

[Miss_Donna]

Hi all i've taken the advice and my API kit came today done the test and this is the result Any Opinions much appreciated...

PH high - 8.0
PH low - 7.6
AMMONIA - 0.0ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 5.0ppm

Oh tank is fluval roma 200 litre and has got....

5 Guppies(2 male 3 female)
4 Platys (1 male 3 female) 2 of which he hates
1 clown loach (which my LFs has said he will take back when he gets too big for this tank)





Oh sorry and has been cycling for about 4 weeks

 

[smegforbrains]

Damned fine results


Shows you are well under-stocked at present and you are keeping on top of maintenance.


Time for more fish me thinks


I would recommend more female Guppies (ideally 3 females per male) if you want to keep both sexes, or just stick to either male or female.

 

[Miss_Donna]

Woo Hooo Am so glad to hear that its been soooooooooooooooo hard to resist the temptation but i have been good now the question is what ones lol ??? i think a Pl*co may be in order any suggestions and i know i need another clown loach....

Good idea on the guppies will get another 3 of them first

1 more question how many should i add at 1 time???

 

[petertr]

200L tank, 3 more guppies wont cause any problems. A plec or other algae eater is a good idea too. Make sure that you don't get a plec that will grow too big though!


FYI the pH high and low have upper and lower limits - your pH is 8.

 

[smegforbrains]

You could get a pair of BN Plecs. Damned good algae eaters but only grow to 4" long.


Not sure about another Clown Loach though as they do grow pretty large.


You can add three more Guppies at once, just acclimatise them as normal.


You could always look at Corys. You could easily fit a dozen of them in. Panda, Adolfoi or Peppered are popular choices amongst others. There's nothing more fun to watch IMO, than a shoal of a dozen or more Corys swimming around the tank, each with their own personalities and quirks

 

[Miss_Donna]

Ok i've done i got 3 more female guppies and a pl*co with from now on i will refer to as Awesome as thats what my son has called him

All climmatised for 30 mins lights are off and they are settling in ... the male guppies are going insane as you can imagine.

Am soo excited new additions to the family woohoo for us

Thanks for all the advice you are excellent people and this is a fantastic site x x x x x x x

 

[smegforbrains]

the male guppies are going insane as you can imagine.

Am soo excited new additions to the family woohoo for us

I'll bet the male Guppies are going insane - sex on tap from now on


Hope you will be as excited when you have thousands upon thousands of Guppy fry

 

[waterdrop]

Ah, if you've just received your API kit and those are the first results on your tank, you owe it to yourself to see if it will repeat for about 3 days minimum before adding more fish. You can use the time to continue your stocking discussion that's already underway. You also should post up your tap readings from the new kit, as that will help in water change advice for you later, if necessary. If you've been Fish-In cycling for 4 weeks, its reasonable to expect you might indeed be nicely cycled, but give it some verification as *trends* are always the bigger bit of info from these tests, not any single instance of test readings.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss_Donna]

Morning!!!!!! how do i do tap readings ??? will test the water again today if that is the advice. and post up later when done im also gonna do a water change today because of adding the fish or is this not a good idea???

 

[Miss_Donna]

Lol and in reply to the guppy fry this may sound wicked but of the 3 females that just gave birth over the last 2 weeks i only have 2 fry left that poke thier head out now and again(noticed yesterday) the others ate them all before they even had time to cool down i was so gutted at 1st but suppose thats nature the 2 left seem to of out smarted the adults to no contest also am gonna scrub out my 10 gallon and my 5 gallon and start cycling them.

 

[backtotropical]

Morning!!!!!! how do i do tap readings ??? will test the water again today if that is the advice. and post up later when done im also gonna do a water change today because of adding the fish or is this not a good idea???

Good Morning Miss Donna,

Waterdrop was referring to testing the water from your tap in the same way you test the water in the tank. It is always handy to know the parameters of the water coming from the tap, as this will give you a good indication if everything is ok.

If the water in the tank starts to differ greatly from the tap water, it is a good indication that water changes should be increased.

I agree with Waterdrop that adding fish so soon was risky. I think you were given bad advice there. You should test your tank water every day for the next week to ensure that ammonia and nitrite are both 0. If not, you have a problem and need to start large daily water changes. This is the risk with adding fish after only one test. You don't know if the parameters are stable.

I look forward to seeing your test results as soon as you have them.

Good luck, and if you need any more guidance, just ask!

Cheers

BTT

 

[Miss_Donna]

Ok ive done the tap water and coz i wasnt sure what to test for this is what i done and the results i got....

PH high - 7.4

NO2 - 0ppm

Ammonia - 0ppm

NO3 - 5.0

thats from the tap like you said do i have to test my aquarium again ???

oh and did i have to test PH Low ???

 

[backtotropical]

Yes you should test the tank again.

Testing the tap water just helps you to understand what the parameters in your tank should reasonably be, and can help you identify any issues.

Because you have just added fish, you should test the tank water every day for about a week. If ammonia and nitrite consistently stay at 0, there is no problem. If you start to detect ammonia or nitrite, you must start to do large water changes straight away.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Miss_Donna]

Ok thanks BTT will post up results tonight gotta take my daughter to have a nerve taken out of her tooth today so its all systems go here today thanks again for all the help

Oh yeah and was the test results ok lol just started so am clueless lol

 

[backtotropical]

I see no problem with your results so far. Any potential problems will rear their head when you do your daily tests over the next week or so.

To give you an idea of what the results should be

Ammonia
Ammonia should always be 0 in an established tank. Any detectable ammonia indicates a problem.

Nitrite
Nitrite should always be 0 in an established tank. Any detectable nitrite indicates a problem.

Nitrate
Nitrate isn't so important, but should be kept as close as possible to the level found in the tap water. Any reading up to around 80ppm can be considered normal in the UK, depending on your area.

pH
For pH, the actual value isn't so important. What is important is that the pH is stable and not fluctuating.

Hope that helps and hope all goes well at the dentist

BTT