Recent Visit To Lfs

[fm1978]

Hello chaps and chapesses!
 
I went to my LFS last night to replace a rogue Tetra I got with 5 Head and Tail Light Tetras - some of you might have seen the pics and identified it as a Gold Tetra, and I think you were right!
 
Anyway, it was bullying everything in the tank, including BOTH male dwarf gouramis - they didn't know what to do with themselves. So, she had to go!
 
The nice man at the LFS, (Maidenhead Aquatics, Glasgow branch) gave me 2 H&T tetras for my trouble, which I thought was quite nice of him. I also asked him to test my water for me - I got the impression he really didn't want to, to be honest. He tested it with an API strip of some kind and also used the API Ammonia test kit. He said I had a little bit if nitrite and a little bit of nitrate but all well within limits. His Ammonia result was the same as mine (as it should be using the same kit) which was as expected. But, how come his strip test showed both nitrites and nitrates while my API Master Kit doesn't detect any at all?
 
He asked me how often I clean my filter. I said, I don't clean it as I'm still cycling, all I do is rinse the polypad in tank water and put it back in. If it's horrible and brown, I replace it! He seemed quite shocked that I don't clean the filter but I was under the impression that, especially while cycling, you have to let it mature and grow all the lovely bacteria. To clean it, as he suggested, seems awfully counter productive. 
 
Why are these gems of wisdom so contradictory?
 

 

[TallTree01]

The test strips aint particularly accurate. It was probably a misread.

 

[the_lock_man]

1) Re nitrite, the test strips are pants, to be honest, they are notorious for giving incorrect results.
2) Re nitrate, whilst the strips are unreliable, the API nitrate test is possibly worse. You should be seeing some nitrate, unless you are doing 80% PWCs daily, or have more plants than substrate. The nitrate no.2 bottle has a powder reagent in it, which precipitates out of solution quite easily. In order to get a reading, you have to make sure that this powder is fully dissolved, and that means shaking merry-hell out of it, at least 2 minutes, and maybe more.
3) Yeah, don't clean your filter much, even after the cycle is complete. Just a quick swish in the tank water is all you need, pretty much what you are doing.

 

[fm1978]

Good god, these test kits are a bit of a nightmare aren't they?
 
After many many weeks, I'm still getting 0 for Nitrite and 0 for Nitrate - and that's with shaking the bottles vigorously and banging the Nitrate No. 2 off the kitchen worktop...
 
I must be doing something wrong; there should be both of those in there.
 
Oh, and the other thing he said was to cut down on the water changes... I do a 20% one day then a 50% the next. He advised against that.

The test strips aint particularly accurate. It was probably a misread.

 
I thought that too, but, they gave a result I would have expected.
 
PS. that's the single best gif I have ever seen in the world in my whole life in the universe...I must now watch whatever movie/tv show/advert that comes from...where is it from???

 

[the_lock_man]

Oh, hold on, you're fish-in cycling?
 
What is your ammonia reading?

 

[fm1978]

Oh, hold on, you're fish-in cycling?
 
What is your ammonia reading?

 
Yes, I am (SORRY)...it's somewhere between 0.25 - 0.5ppm using the API Freshwater Master Kit and less than 0.25ppm on the Salifert Kit.

 

[the_lock_man]

And how long have you had fish in there for?

 

[fm1978]

And how long have you had fish in there for?

 
About 6ish weeks now I would think...

 

[the_lock_man]

And you've never seen a nitrite or nitrate reading?
 
Do you have zeolite in your filter?

 

[fm1978]

And you've never seen a nitrite or nitrate reading?
 
Do you have zeolite in your filter?

 
No, neither. Bright blue for Nitrite every time, bright yellow for Nitrate every time!
 
Zeolite - not that I know of... it's a standard Juwel filter; Carbon Sponge, Nitrax Sponge, White fine sponge and polypad on top. I haven't added or taken any of those things save for replacing the polypad when it looks poo colour!

 

[the_lock_man]

In that case, stop replacing the polypad, whatever colour it is. I suspect that this is where your bacteria are mainly congregating, so everytime you change the pad, you are throwing away the bacteria too. Quite why they don't seem to be growing anywhere else in the filter, I don't know.
 
You really should have seen nitrite by now.
 
Only replace filter sponges, pads, etc., when they are literally falling apart.

 

[fm1978]

OK, I'll not do that any more. 
 
I thought I should be seeing it by now, yes. Just to be sure, it's also 0 with the Salifert test.
 
And yes, I thought as much about the filter pads - even although it says in the instructions to replace them within just a few weeks...I really don't get that at all...commercialism?

 

[DreamertK]

Yes, commercialism. Because then they'd be selling a product that their customer will come back for replacement parts (the apple/xbox model).

 

[Zante]

Yeah... I'll never buy an API test ever again. I lost three discus because of bogus readings.

 

[TallTree01]

Yeah... I'll never buy an API test ever again. I lost three discus because of bogus readings.

Oh blimey! That's like 200$ down the drain.