Not Using A Master Test Kit?

[chigwellhammer]

Right ive been told to use a master test kit to no what's happening with my water, but it's 20 quid!! Im 17 and not made of money.. Is it really a essential i need to do or is there a cheaper way? i no about adding fish food to my tank for about a week before i add fish, But would this be okay and maybe add some of this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/King-British-...plies_Fish&hash=item5d284dcdcc#ht_3197wt_1137 and some of this

 

[PDSimon]

adding fish food is a waste of time, its unreliable and your relying on it to rot...which isn't accurate or progressional

The test kit has a lot of tests and is well worth the money imo. I'm not sure of cheaper alternatives... but its pointless if you get test strips so try and get liquid test kits

 

[Liverbird36]

Right ive been told to use a master test kit to no what's happening with my water, but it's 20 quid!! Im 17 and not made of money.. Is it really a essential i need to do or is there a cheaper way? i no about adding fish food to my tank for about a week before i add fish, But would this be okay and maybe add some of this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/King-British-...plies_Fish&hash=item5d284dcdcc#ht_3197wt_1137 and some of this

£20 !!!! Crikey !! I want to know where you saw it at that price !!! I had to pay £30 at Pets @ Home !!! I wouldn't be without it. I have used the cheaper test strips and found them extremely unreliable. It's worth every penny.

 

[chigwellhammer]

ebay... Cheapest ive found is 18 quid.

 

[Liverbird36]

I think you can get the individual bottles for around a fiver each. You really need agood reliable Ammonia test kit at the very least. Even if you are cycling using the fish food method you will still need to be regularly testing for Ammonia levels. You really aren't gonna know where your tank is at otherwise.

 

[Katty]

A week of fish food in the tank will not get it properly ready for fish unless its already cycled. Check the links under "Cycling" here if you haven't.

If you really can't buy the liquid test kits, pet stores that sell fish can usually test your water for free, but it's not a very reliable way to do it. Also check the sales bins at the pet store, I see test reagents in there sometimes for like 80% off, nothing wrong with them either.

 

[chigwellhammer]

So is buying the liquid test alright then ? Instead of a master test kit.. http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_...ropical+liquid+test&_sacat=See-All-Categories Just one of them?

 

[Liverbird36]

So is buying the liquid test alright then ? Instead of a master test kit.. http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_...ropical+liquid+test&_sacat=See-All-Categories Just one of them?

I haven't used that particular brand so i'm gonna let someone with more experience answer that one.

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

As mentioned, the master kit is a good thing to have, although the price seems steep, the kit will last well over a year and works out much cheaper than buying individual tests or test strips which are highly innaccurate.

The 3 tests you ideally need for a cycle are Ph, ammonia and nitrite. The nitrate test isn't so important until you come to the end of your cycle.
The 2 best brands are either the individual API tests or individual saliferts tests but each one would cost in the region of £5 so that's £15, so for an extra few quid you may as well get the master kit which includes nitrate test which will save you having to buy it later.


Andy

 

[SlyPolak]

I bough my API MAster on AMAZON for 16 buks!!!!

 

[chigwellhammer]

What i dont get is.. what happens if all the results are not what there meant to be? what then happens..

 

[PDSimon]

Its more expensive buying individual kits...

Better off investing in a full kit cos you will need them all if you want fish.

 

[Katty]

If something out of whack shows up on your test results (while you have fish in), a good idea would be to do a partial water change and check again.

If you get high ammonia or nitrite while doing fishless cycle, don't worry about it.

 

[chigwellhammer]

So what if anything else shows up wrong while doing a fishless cycle?

 

[Katty]

Testing during fishless cycle is not to see if anything goes wrong, but to monitor how things are going in the cycle.

You will be adding ammonia. Once it shows up around 5ppm on the test, you stop adding ammonia. Then you wait. Once the ammonia ppm goes down to 0ppm, you add ammonia to get it back up to 5ppm. Then you start watching the nitrites, which will start rising. During this, you keep adding your ammonia to 5ppm once it drops to 0ppm. Eventually, the nitrites will drop to zero. Then you will keep adding ammonia until the ammonia and nitrite levels turn to 0 within 12 hours of adding the ammonia.

If the pH level starts changing drastically during the fishless cycle, a small water change may be necessary. Once the cycle is all done, change a large amount (50%) of the water and check the nitrates. If the nitrates seem high, change the water again.