Still Clueless

[tennis4you]

Not until I got the 125g tank did I really start testing the water conditions. My 55g tank has always done really well with very little loss of life over an 18 month span. But now that I have this big 125g tank I am trying to be more sensitive to all of my fish tank's water conditions. All of my tanks read the same though and I am not sure what to do, all have ammonia readings, although admittingly I have not yet gone out to get liquid tester yet. I looked today at the LFS and they didn't have any. But while I was there I decided 10 tetras would look good in the tank. If the angels don't start eating them I will get some more. Cute buggers. That is besides the point though.

Here are my readings...

Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: 120
Alkalinity: 80
pH: 6.4
Ammonia: .25-.50 (tough to read these crappy sticks, I would say somewhere inbetween.

I tested the ammonia in my tap water and it was .25-.50 as well.

Is my fish water bad? Good? I know I shouldn't have ammonia. Like I said the other day, the ammonia sticks already read .25 when I pull them out of the box, both kinds too! (I have two types of ammonia test strips).

I want to start cleaning some of the gravel in the large tank. It has been set up for about 7 weeks now but I have dared to touch it. I had a ton of brown algae form about 1-2 weeks ago. I left it alone until 3 days ago and I wiped it all off, I haven't seen any new appear yet. DO I dare start cleaning the gravel yet?

I have these test strips and they just don't seem to tell me anything. Same readings every time, I don't know what they mean.

 

[rdd1952]

I strongly suspect your strips are the problem. Strips in general are very inaccurate and not worth the money. If your other tanks have been set up for as long as 18 months, they should not be showing ammonia. Even if it is in your tap water, the bacteria in the tank would quickly process it after a water change. I would toss the strips and get a good liquid kit as soon as possible. In the long run, liquid is much cheaper than strips anyway. You can get an API master kit from Petsmart for about $17 and you will get 100+ tests for each toxin. Usually 25 strips cost $10 to $12 so that is over $40 for 100 tests.

As for the gravel, clean away. There isn't enough beneficial bacteria in the gravel to matter unless you have an undergravel filter. There has to be water flow over the bacteria to bring food and there isn't any water flow to amount to anything in the gravel.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I agree with rdd...definately ditch the test strips. Not only are the liquid drop kits more accurate and stable (test strips can be corrupted by humidity in the air), but they are also more economical in the long run. Sometimes you can even save money at the local box store by printing out the online price and asking them to match it.

 

[kittycat12]

what would be the best test kit to buy?

 

[rdd1952]

what would be the best test kit to buy?

Any liquid kit is fine. The API master kit seems to be the most commonly used one among forum members.

 

[Musho3210]

any signs of stress to the fish? With your pH that low the ammonia wont be that damaging to the fish but still.

Have you dont anything different lately? Adding new fish, changed filter media? It probably is the strip tester but just in case....

 

[tennis4you]

any signs of stress to the fish? With your pH that low the ammonia wont be that damaging to the fish but still.

Have you dont anything different lately? Adding new fish, changed filter media? It probably is the strip tester but just in case....

The fish have been great. Nothing really new happening, it is just a 7-8 week old tank. Other than a school of tiger barbs thinking my angels fins taste delicious, everyone has been fine. Even the angel with 1/3 the fins he use to have is doing well and eating. The barbs have been removed...

 

[tetraqueen]

I bought strips for ages from different lfs until I realised how expensive they were and after using liquid would not trust those strips at all.

You can if in trouble buy online but most lfs do sell them.