How Is The Health Of My Tank?

[Andypalf]

My 125L community tank is now about 3 months old and had fish for 2 months. I've had a couple problems with filter problems and plants not taking too well. And worst of all was the death of my two German Blue Rams, I still don't know why.
But everything has been steady for the last two weeks and I wanted to see what you guys thought of the "health" or status of my tank. I want to add an Indian Gourami (Colisa Fasciata) and some more small fish (not sure what yet). But I want to see how my tank is doing before I do anything else.

Stocked with: 5 Yellowtail Rasboras (I think Rasbora tornieri), 3 male guppies, 2 young Ancistrus, 1 Platy and 4 Amano Shrimp.

Fluval 3Plus filter, 30inch 25watt light that is on for 12 hours/day. Heated with a 150W heater to 25-26 degrees celcius. Quite heavily planted.

Water stats: pH-7.0, NO2<0.5ppm, NO3~20ppm, KH>240ppm and GH>180ppm

Thanks very much in advance, Andy

 

[afishdude]

it looks fine.. you never said what the amonia lvl is tho. (i could be wrong)

 

[Andypalf]

I didn't. I don't have an ammonia test kit unfortunately.

I assume it's ok. Just to let you know I do a 20% water change every 10-14 days.

 

[Sammy-Boy]

You want to water change every 7 days if its only 3 months old? Am i correct?

My tank is 120 litre.. planted as you can see in my display picture and i water change every 5-7 days.

 

[afishdude]

i change mine every 4 days

 

[JamieBailie]

i change mine every 4 days

100% every 4 days?

 

[Leitch]

i change mine every 4 days

100% every 4 days?

Hey im from Northern Ireland too!

And im pretty sure the guy meant a surface water change. =]

 

[Andypalf]

OK then. I'll do water changes every 5-7 days. Sammy-Boy, you said "if it's only 3 months old"....does the frequency of water changes alter as time goes on?

With my water stats are there any types of fish that I should avoid?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

NO2<0.5ppm

this should be 0

even a small concentration can be seriously bad news. it shows your tank has either not finished cycling or that your filter is underperforming. you need to get an ammonia test asap

do not add any more fish for now. do 20% water changes everyday until it and ammonia are both steady at 0

oh and this reading is almost certainly the cause of death of your rams, they are v picky with water quality

 

[Andypalf]

Miss Wiggle, the NO2 reading is as low as my two test kits go. I have API test strips (I know they're not very accurate) and another kit (I can't remember the manufacturer off the top of my head). But it's the same the my LFS use, you take 5ml sample of water and add 7 drops of bottle 1 then 7 drops of bottle 2....wait and you get a reading. Deos that make sense?
My reading comes out as low as it goes. I'll get an ammonia test kit asap.

My water seems to be very hard. Are there any types of fish that like hard water?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can you just clarify what sort of tests you are using, you say test strips but the procedure you have described sounds like the liquid tests.

if it is the API liquid test then it is fairly accurate but should definately have a 0 reading, the test strips I've never used so I'm not sure about.

if you are not using an accurate test kit then asking us for help on the health of your tank is pretty much pointless I'm afraid, without reliable accurate test readings we can never give a proper answer. So I would strongly recommend you invest in a decent liquid test kit covering pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as a minimum