I Got My Test Kit Now What Does It Mean?

[lemans81]

My tank is a 55 gallon, with fish listed in my sig. I added about 5lbs of rocks from an established tank, and a filter from an established tank.

So today I got my master test kit and here are the stats.


pH 7.1(was between 7.0 and 7.2 and tap water here is 7.2)
Nitrates 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Amonia was between 0.0 and .25

So what does it all mean, I am guessing that I am still cycling although the tank has had fish and been running for about 3.5 weeks.

 

[errien75]

I can't seem to see your fish in your sig, but for my tank, which is a tropcial community (tetras, rasboras, etc.), my stats are pH 6.8, Nitrates 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, and Ammonia 0ppm. Ammonia and Nitrites are the most toxic things in the water for your fish, so keep em at 0. For lowering ammonia I combined water changes and putting zeolyte media into my filter.

After your ammonia is 0ppm, you should be good, but what would be helpful is what's in your tank?

 

[lemans81]

I did at some point have it in my sig the fish are

55 gallon tank
2x dwarf Gourami
1x cherry barb
1xSerpae Tetra
1xraphael catfish
3xleopard danios
1xred tailed shark.

Also I retested and realized I messed up so here are the right stats

pH 7.1(was between 7.0 and 7.2 and tap water here is 7.2)
Nitrates 10 ppm <--
Nitrites 0 ppm
Amonia was between 0.0 and .25

 

[BigIan]

keep an eye on the ammonia....
it should read 0 all the time but some testkits arn`t that easy to read so it could be 0 or .25,
what sort of filter have you got on there as you might w3ant to look at getting a larger one if its not coping with the load it has

 

[lemans81]

I have two filters there both whispers, one is for a 30 gallon tank, the other is brand new and is for a 50 gallon tank.

The ammonia colorwise is lighter than 0.25 and a lil darker than 0.0 but there is no inbetween on the little card.

I also and sure that I must be over feeding as well...especially the algae wafers(I have been adding 2-3 at each meal time)

 

[BigIan]

Well i never take thoser tests as gospel, if its between 0 and 0l25 then its probably fine, just test regularly and watch your fish and you should have no problems

 

[lemans81]

Do you have any idea how much longer I have to compete the cycle, as I would like to get the tetra a school as he is becoming kinda a pain about chaseing the gourami.

but if the time isn't right then it just isn't(also until saturday serpaes are one sale for $1 each)

 

[xoedusk]

Your cycling seems to be going well. Just keep up on weekly water changes and you'll be fine.

If you feed less (i.e. don't over feed), that will keep your ammonia levels down a bit until the cycling completes

 

[BigIan]

yea as above,

i`d add a couple more fish (just 2 or 3) as all your stats seem ok

 

[xoedusk]

Do you have any idea how much longer I have to compete the cycle, as I would like to get the tetra a school as he is becoming kinda a pain about chaseing the gourami.

but if the time isn't right then it just isn't(also until saturday serpaes are one sale for $1 each)

I would say near the end of the week - but your ammonia and nitrite tests will tell you for sure.

How is your tap water's ammonia?

 

[lemans81]

My home tap appears to have about .25 ammonia in it, isn't that extremely high?

 

[xoedusk]

My home tap appears to have about .25 ammonia in it, isn't that extremely high?

I think some of our UK members have ammonia approaching 1 ppm, or so I remember.