First Water Test , Good , Bad?

[AlexW]

Hi , today I did my first water test , the tank has been up and runnin for a couple of months .

Ammonia - somewhere between 0 and 0.5
Nitrate no2 - 0.5
Nitrate no3 - 25
Gh - 250
Kh - 100
Ph - 7.6

Is this good or bad ? Any advice welcome
I have 2 electric blue rams , a bulldog plec, featherfin cat , pictus cat , tatia sp , and 2 small loaches .

 

[CezzaXV]

NO2 is nitrite, I'm guessing that's what you meant.

Did you cycle your tank? 0.5 is far too high for those fish and you need to do a big enough water change to get the nitrite down to 0 or else it'll do the fish lasting damage. The ammonia is also too high and needs to be brought down, even more so as this is more damaging to fish than the nitrite.

 

[AlexW]

Could the nitrate be to do with the 'tetra plantamin' stuff I put in to try help my plants grow?

 

[CezzaXV]

Unlikely.

The nitrate will have come from your fish. When fish pee and poop, they release ammonia into the water. When you cycle your tank, you're cultivating bacteria to turn ammonia into nitrite into nitrate. A cycled tank will have constant levels of 0 for ammonia and nitrite. As you don't, you're not cycled and I'd highly reccomend you read up on that before you do anything else. You haven't tested for ammonia but I bet it's in there and it'll be doing damage to your fish right now, so it's important to do a water change to get the ammonia and nitrite down to zero, and test often and keep doing water changes.

If you don't have an ammonia test, I'd recommend you get one.

There is a chance that the nitrate may have come from your tapwater though. Nitrate isn't harmful to fish in small doses, but you need to do regular water changes even in a cycled tank to keep the nitrate levels down.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

You should do a massive water change ASAP if you have not done so since last night, at least 75% but preferably removing all but enough water to keep the fish covered on the tank floor.

I'm very concerned about your stocking though... Bulldog Pleco (Chaetostoma spp.) need excellently oxygenated water from lots of water surface movement, often at a temperature ~22C (C. milesi can do fine ~25C, which "Tizer" has three of). These requirements completely contradict those of Electric Blue Rams, who need ~28C and I doubt will be comfortable in riverine conditions.

 

[Tizer]

Did someone say my name? xD

My Milesi have been so active recently its unreal, gobbing around on the rocks, the wood, the long vallis grass, interacting loads with one another and then at 9pm at night, they stick themselves to the front of the tank for night time nibbles of the biofilm. Still one of the best little plecs i've come across, no noticable mess either, which is something that always put me off these fish.

 

[AlexW]

Did another water test , amonia 0 , NO2 0 , NO3 10 , GH 250 , KH 100 ,PH 7.6 . The bulldog plec died I bought it at the same time as the rams , I persumed it would be fine in the same temps as I asked while buyin the rams for advice on a algae eater and they said that would do the job.

On my water test kit is says as long as NO3 is under 50mg it is harmless ?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

NO3 is harmless at much higher levels than that as well, although different fish tolerate it at much different rates. Discus are notoriously sensitive to it, but others are fine at levels far exceeding 200ppm.

NO2 on the other hand is far more dangerous. It acts on fish similar to how CO works on humans. That should always be at 0 on your readings or you need to do a water change.

 

[AlexW]

Ok thankts, that clears it up a lot for me! So would you say my readings are ok now?

 

[HayzH]

out of intrest which test kit are you using?

 

[AlexW]

King british

 

[HayzH]

as suspected... strips. They are useless im afraid to say.
You need to get a liquid testing kit.
API or Nutrafin..lots use on here..Salifert is also available online..bit more expensive...but far more acurate.

 

[AlexW]

Are the strips actually useless or just not as good ?
I'll have a look at the ones youv just listed, do you have a link to a decent kit?

 

[HayzH]

Are the strips actually useless or just not as good ?
I'll have a look at the ones youv just listed, do you have a link to a decent kit?

http/www.ebay.co.uk/sch/items/__api+freshwater+master+test+kit_W0QQ_dmdZ2?rvr_id=279940574932&clk_rvr_id=279940574932&crlp=5538654053_228459_228459&UA=WVI7&GUID=96d8a74c1320a0aa18125c22ffe7aad9&agid=1790781773&tm_kw=api+freshwater+master+test+kit&siteid=3&MT_ID=11&tt_encode=raw&keyword=api+freshwater+master+test+kit&geo_id=21&ff4=228459_228459

useless im afraid..the chemicals mingle into each other making the results VERY inacurate. Liquids are far better.
The most accurate ones i've seen are the Salifert, these mostly come seperatly, but you can buy some in bulk on Ebay.

Overall for value and IF you go exactly by the instructions....then API is a good choice.

 

[AlexW]

Which one is the most straight forward/simple?

'Cheers for this advice btw