Done My First Test Readings?

[MarkR]

My tank has been setup now for 4 days and I have done my first test readings and the results are as follows

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0.25 ppm

Nitrate: 5.0 pmm (Or very slightly less)

Are these levels good or bad?

 

[laurasmithuk]

are you cycling the tank?

 

[trace1]

hiya mark
reading depend on weather or not you have fish in the tank, if fish in the tank then you need to do a water change to get rid of the nitrIte although not greatly high.
if no fish then you need to be adding a source of ammonia to get your cycle going.
i'm sure some 1 else will come along soon & tell you better than i can thou

 

[MarkR]

So far I have not treated the water with anything other than the dechlorinater when filling up. I cannot find where to buy 100% ammonia, I have looked in chemists and hardware shops but still no luck. The filters I am running are the ones that came with my Juwel 190 tank.

In the end I asked my lfs advice and they have told me to use Bactozym by Tetra. I have not used it yet but thought I would do a water test first.

 

[kimbowee]

Never heard of bactozyme before so can not tell you anything about it. It is strange if the nitrite reading ois straight from your tap at .25, nitrates in tap water can go up to 20ppm I believe, but could be wrong.

As for the Ammonia, it won't say 100% ammonia anywhere on the bottle. It will usually say ammonia & water. You can usually find it at discount stores, its usually the no-name brand or the really cheap brands. As long as it doesn't have perfumes or dyes added you should be fine. If you shake the bottle it will not foam up, maybe a couple of bubbles, but not like soapy water.

Here is a link to commonly available Ammonia sources on the UK & US http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=38840

Hope that helps!

 

[trace1]

hi mark
lfs also gave the bactozym for my first tank & told me i could put fish in within 24 hours, wish i hadn't listened to them as the tank was still cycling after 6 weeks.
i have put that in as well as ammonia when i cycled my other tank.
do you have bargin hardware shops where you are as thats where i found my ammonia eventually.
have gota say its well worth trying to do it fishless way as in my first tank i lost all my fish

 

[laurasmithuk]

here is a link where you can get pure ammonia from in the uk

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=38840

hope this helps..... tank needs to be cycled before adding anything! it akes time and bit of patience but worth it in the end!