Finally bought a testing kit!!

[Elisabeth83]

Hi, Here are my results:

NitrAte 15-20
NitrIte 0
GH 5
KH 10-17
PH around 7.5-8.0

These are the results after 30 seconds.

I posted this same topic in the beginner section as well but not getting many replies so I decided to post here as well.

I think my results are pretty good??

This testing kit doesn't do ammonia but I don't think I have an ammonia problem. I change the water at least once a week sometimes twice a week. Only about 15% each time. I also am not overcrowded, don't overfeed and gravel vac once a week.

I was at Swedens largest aquarium store today and was told not to worry about Ammonia that Sweden has very good water. I know fish poo and pee a lot though so I don't know what to make of what I was told.

Anyways would love some replies!!

Thanks

 

[Elisabeth83]

Is anyone awake? lol

 

[bunjiweb]

Have you got an Ammonia reading? Despite what a fish shop tells you, you DO need to worry about ammonia.

Your Nitrite, GH, KH and PH are all lok.

Your Nitrate is worryingly high. Possibly think about getting a couple of small live plants, these will use up the excess nitrate in the water.

Ben

 

[Elisabeth83]

Hi again,

I read that if you can keep your NitrAte below 40 your doing a pretty good job? I would think 15-20 would be pretty good then?

I do have live plants in my tank 3 of them.

 

[Leslie]

Yes, your Nitrates are fine.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I took a guess that the NitrAte was 15-20....it's hard to tell what it is really cause on the bottle theres 6 colors from 0-200.

The color I got was somewhere in between 0-20...it wasn't light light pink like 0 but it wasn't as pink/purple as 20 either.

What is a normal NitrAte level??

 

[TorPeteO]

Your nitrates are alright, but they could be better. As it is they may not damage your fish, but if you can get them lower, it will be better for your fish. If you haven't got any live plants, they are highly recommended in my books. As bunjiweb said, they will get rid of some of the nitrates, plus they look SOOOO much better than fake plants.

 

[wetwetwet]

Wish I could keep my nitrates that low - but when it comes out the tap at anything from 40 - 60 ppm its not going to be an easy job....




www

 

[bunjiweb]

Thats odd, I never see my nitrates above 10...

Maybe because I use fake plants? not sure.

Ben

 

[Elisabeth83]

But I don't understand really. I mean is some people have their NitrAte levels sitting on 40-60 ppm all the time then I would think 15-20 would be pretty good?

Mine could even be lower than 15-20 like I said it's hard to tell. 0-20 is a pretty big jump on the color scale. I just took a guess. This is my first time using these test strips so I really don't know for sure. I mean it could be 5, 10, 12....hard to say really.

The brand is called Amtra and it's German I think.

I do have live plants 3 of them.

 

[Leslie]

Fake plants won't do anything for your nitrate reading. Sounds like you have good feeding/cleaning habits in order to keep them that low all the time.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Ok so everyone seems to have different opinions about NitrAte...which is confusing me

I wouldn't say my NitrAte is at 20 because the color definately wasn't as dark as that so I'm guessing my NitrAte is sitting somewhere between 10-15.

How often should I test my water? I read at least once a month and some people say even every 2 weeks?

 

[Leslie]

You were right when saying keeping nitrates below 40 was fine. As for testing, it's a good idea as a beginner to test every week or two until you get to 'know' your tank. Once it has been established for awhile you will know if something is wrong instinctively. There are people on these boards who never test and they've been running tanks for years.

It's important to know the contributing factors to higher nitrates. The most common ones would be overfeeding/overcrowding/poor maintenance habits. Live plants are beneficial as they use nitrates. That being said, when you have live plants you also have to be a good gardener and keep them trimmed and the dead leaves, etc removed.

There are other contributing factors, such as the nitrate reading of your tapwater straight out of the tap, but for the most part that's how it works.

Hope this helps and good luck. Welcome to the wonderful world of fishkeeping.

 

[CFC]

All your test results are fine, in fact you have water that most fish keepers can only dream of.

Your Nitrate is worryingly high. Possibly think about getting a couple of small live plants, these will use up the excess nitrate in the water.

A nitrate of 20 is extreemly low, most tapwater supplies have a higher ammount of nitrates in them. I run my 200g with the ray and catfish in which are nitrate sensative fish with a nitrate level of 20ppm.

Thats odd, I never see my nitrates above 10...

Nitrates are the hardest test to get right and most comercial test kits are terribly inacurate, i have used ones from tetra, aquarium pharmaceuticals and esha at the same time and all 3 gave a different result!

I have been led to believe that the AP tests are the most acurate so those are the ones i use now but the instructions must be followed exactly, i recently forgot to shake the second bottle before adding it to the test tube and got a reading of 0, thinking this was a bit odd for a tank containing large fish before a water change i retested and got the true reading of 20, a huge difference and one that could of killed my fish had i gone with the first result.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Hi Leslie,

Thanks for the great information

Yeah I will definately be testing every 2 weeks or so to begin with.

I've had my tank up and running for about 3 months now. Only yesterday though did I find a store here in Sweden that sold the multi testing strips. First thing this morning I went down and bought some. About a month after setting up my tank I learned I needed the testing strips but couldn't find a store that sold them. So for 2 months now I've been trying to find an on-line aquarium store to ship me a testing kit but because the shipping was so high I kept putting it off. Anyways I'm just glad I found a store that sells them. Actually it's Swedens largest aquarium store so they stock just about everything you can think off. So it's a big relief to me.

Yeah you definately have to become a little aquarium gardener with live plants I am in my tank at least once a week removing dead bits and gravel vacumming up the small dead leaves etc.

They are all thriving and growing so my tank must be pretty healthy.

I'm just glad to know that all my readings are in the normal range

I can now relax a bit

Thanks again!!