Saving Money On Test Kits

[Musho3210]

i never test water, BUT, its because A. i research, B. i dont overstock, C. its a heavily planted tank, and D. i think you should test your water when you can and when you feel the need to. I never feel the need to. I am similar to dave spencer, i take the time to learn about how my tank works, when my tank needs attention, and how to fix something that is wrong in my tank. I tested ammonia nitrite and nitrate in the beginning, my cycle took 18 hours to finish, ever since then i have never tested. Plus hobby test kits arent as acurate as you think, you want an accurate test, call the local water managment office.

BUT THIS IS ME, NOT YOU, I AM NOT YOU, YOU ARE NOT ME lol

 

[matthi22004]

i used water tests the first year of my aquarium keeping. I don't test my water anymore because like musho said i do frequent water changes, don't overstock and have lots of plants. normally you shouldn't have a lot of ammonia in your aquarium because you do water changes and one of the most important things everyone should do is checking how your fish are doing. If they aren't acting normal then you should do further investigation offcourse

 

[Behold]

Question all. I understand the older way works but now there are better means surly using them is better. This is whay carbon monoxide detectors are slowly working there way in to new homes to set a standard. a small trace will not kill you but surely you would not want to be in a house with it. and you will not detect it till its damaging to your health.

With this in mind a tester kit for once in a while just to confirm what you think (I understand once your tank is well established this may be months at a time) is not a bad or stupid idea.

Its just safety.

 

[afishdude]

can we get a mod here to close this its way off topic.

 

[rdd1952]

where I do have the problem is in the execution of changing the water parameters too quickly. Altering the pH, water softening/hardening using chemical methods, cycling using chemicals (ammonia etc.) and over frequent usage of chemical remedies. When there is simply no need to. These trends are killing more fish than curing.

I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, the only chemicals that shoulc go in a tank are dechlorinator (and it maynot be necessary either but it's so cheap, I will continue to use it) and fertilizers for plants. The pH adjusters, water clarifiers, algae killers, bacteria in a bottle products, etc. are all just a crutch for doing it the right way.

I do 2 water changes a week to keep my nitrates low

This in itself is almost enough (I said almost now) to eliminate the need to test. In a properly stocked and filtered tank, 2 water changes a week would most likely always keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to prevent a major problem until the tank cycles.

i never test water, BUT, its because A. i research, B. i dont overstock, C. its a heavily planted tank, and D. i think you should test your water when you can and when you feel the need to. I never feel the need to. I am similar to dave spencer, i take the time to learn about how my tank works, when my tank needs attention, and how to fix something that is wrong in my tank. I tested ammonia nitrite and nitrate in the beginning, my cycle took 18 hours to finish, ever since then i have never tested. Plus hobby test kits arent as acurate as you think, you want an accurate test, call the local water managment office.

While your reasons for not testing are basically the same reasons that I don't test, I have to totaly disagree with one thing you said. A tank physically can not cycle in 18 hours unless you are extremely heavily planted so that the plants consume the ammonia (which in actuallity means that your tank isn't cycled at all but the plants are making up for it) or you introduced a full bacteria colony at once. According to studies, nitrifying bacteria take between 12 to 30 hours to double their quantity. The more perfect the conditions, the faster they reproduce but optimal temps for reproduction is in the upper 80s which is much warmer than most tanks. In most of our tanks, the reproduction time is going to be on the high end and is genreally considered to be aboout every 24 hours. So in that case, it isn't possible for a tank to cycle in 18 hours unless you cloned the tank from another tank.

 

[mark7616]

I do 2 water changes a week to keep my nitrates low

This in itself is almost enough (I said almost now) to eliminate the need to test. In a properly stocked and filtered tank, 2 water changes a week would most likely always keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to prevent a major problem until the tank cycles.

I would not try pulling me up on the way I keep my fish mate. I dont keep your everyday run rate community tank. I have thousands of pounds worth of fish in my tank so I dont go cutting corners. So if I was you I would keep my thats almost enough comment to yourself im experianced enough to know how to look after the fish I keep alot of my fish get bigger than most peoples tanks.

 

[rdd1952]

I do 2 water changes a week to keep my nitrates low

This in itself is almost enough (I said almost now) to eliminate the need to test. In a properly stocked and filtered tank, 2 water changes a week would most likely always keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to prevent a major problem until the tank cycles.

I would not try pulling me up on the way I keep my fish mate. I dont keep your everyday run rate community tank. I have thousands of pounds worth of fish in my tank so I dont go cutting corners. So if I was you I would keep my thats almost enough comment to yourself im experianced enough to know how to look after the fish I keep alot of my fish get bigger than most peoples tanks.

Boy, who ruffled your feathers? My reply was not meant as a stab at the way you keep your tanks and I really don't see how you could have taken it that way. It was meant to point out that water changes in themselves remove harmful toxins and thus potentially eliminate the need to test the water even in a new tank. That is why people can keep bettas for years in unfiltered bowls, simply by doing daily water changes.

 

[backtotropical]

I do 2 water changes a week to keep my nitrates low

This in itself is almost enough (I said almost now) to eliminate the need to test. In a properly stocked and filtered tank, 2 water changes a week would most likely always keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to prevent a major problem until the tank cycles.

I would not try pulling me up on the way I keep my fish mate. I dont keep your everyday run rate community tank. I have thousands of pounds worth of fish in my tank so I dont go cutting corners. So if I was you I would keep my thats almost enough comment to yourself im experianced enough to know how to look after the fish I keep alot of my fish get bigger than most peoples tanks.

The whole point of this forum is for people to exchange views. RDD is entitled to his opinion as much as you are entitled to yours, and how much your fish cost, or what size they are doesn't make your opinions or views more valuable than anyone else's.

You have no right to tell anyone to keep their opinion to themself, just as nobody has the right to tell you to.

If people can't discuss and exchange views, we may as well close down the forum now.

 

[mark7616]

What I was trying to point out is that I dont invest all that money and mis treat the fish. And RDD pointed out that 2 water changes a week is not enough to eliminate the need to test and that is basically saying I dont agree with what your doing and seeing as he has no eexperiance in maintaining a large tank not quiet sure what he bases his knowledge on???

 

[rdd1952]

I do 2 water changes a week to keep my nitrates low

This in itself is almost enough (I said almost now) to eliminate the need to test. In a properly stocked and filtered tank, 2 water changes a week would most likely always keep the ammonia and nitrite low enough to prevent a major problem until the tank cycles.

What I was trying to point out is that I dont invest all that money and mis treat the fish. And RDD pointed out that 2 water changes a week is not enough to eliminate the need to test and that is basically saying I dont agree with what your doing and seeing as he has no eexperiance in maintaining a large tank not quiet sure what he bases his knowledge on???

I think if you read more closely, you will see that I said that it most likely WAS enough to prevent ammonia and nitrite from being a problem, thus eliminating the need to test. I obvioulsy have no knowledge of your tanks or your fish so I certainly wouldn't try to tell you that you were doing anything wrong. Once again, just trying to point out (to others, especially those that were saying earlier that water changes weren't needed unless there was ammonia and nitrite present) that water changes in themselves, will prevent problems.

 

[mark7616]

Advice I would give to a new inexperianced fish keeper would be to test you water and monitor the fishes behavior so you know what signs to be looking out for and when you know how the act at feeding and at certain times you can cut down the ammount that you test. As for dechlorinator I dechlor all my water I just run the hose through a evolution aqua dechlorinator that connect straight to my hose. Remember people we keep WATER fish just happen to live in it.

i never said I do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite away I do water changes to keep my nitrates down. I have know problem with ammonia and nitrite as my tank is fully established. And I also gave my advice to other on what people new to the hobby should do so maybe it is you that should read things properly and not just pick one line form a whole paragraph to make people look bad.

 

[rdd1952]

I also didn't say you used the water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite at bay. I have no doubt your tanks are cycled and running as they should. What I am saying is that water changes remove ALL toxins that may be present. It was a general statement toward everyone's tanks, not toward only yours.

I was not trying to make anyone look bad. I was actually trying to state that what you were doing was actually GOOD. I pulled one sentence from your post because it is something that everyone (especially the ones I mentioned in the last post) can benefit from as it is a good thing and one that I wanted to comment on, not as a slam but as general information.