Test Kit Question

[gixer1000]

ok,so after spending most of the day reading through how 2 set up a new tank,i have one question,can u guess what it is yet? lol,which is the best test kit to buy for use while fishless cycling? I've kept fish b4,and after reading a lot of the posts on this site i think i have been very lucky to get away with it up till now lol,at the moment i have a lovely oscar in a 3ft tank,he's about 7/8 inches in length,and i've just bought(second hand)a 300 litre tank to put him in,which i spent the best part of yesterday setting up,its filtered by a (new)fluval 405 external filter,and has 2 air pumps running 3 stones,i was going to let the tank run for a few days,then put him,or her??? in new home,as have done b4 with previous fish,but after reading quite a few posts on here have thought better of it,so am planing on geting a bottle of pure ammonia,and doing the "add and wait" method,any help would be much appreciated

 

[Gilli]

ok,so after spending most of the day reading through how 2 set up a new tank,i have one question,can u guess what it is yet? lol,which is the best test kit to buy for use while fishless cycling? I've kept fish b4,and after reading a lot of the posts on this site i think i have been very lucky to get away with it up till now lol,at the moment i have a lovely oscar in a 3ft tank,he's about 7/8 inches in length,and i've just bought(second hand)a 300 litre tank to put him in,which i spent the best part of yesterday setting up,its filtered by a (new)fluval 405 external filter,and has 2 air pumps running 3 stones,i was going to let the tank run for a few days,then put him,or her??? in new home,as have done b4 with previous fish,but after reading quite a few posts on here have thought better of it,so am planing on geting a bottle of pure ammonia,and doing the "add and wait" method,any help would be much appreciated

Do you have a mature filter in your old tank? How many litres is the old tank?

The best kit to use to test the water is a liquid test kit - the paper strips are not accurate enough. The best is the API Freshwater Master Test Kit - you can buy them in shops or from Ebay.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I love the API freshwater test kits - haven't had any trouble. And I got about 200 ammonia tests out of the bottles before they ran dry (two days ago). All of the other testing bottles (nitrite, nitrate, etc) still have plenty left.

Have a new kit already on order.

 

[Katch]

API Master Kit

Cheapest option in the long run and its what most people on here use so it makes it easier to share and compare results.

I bought other kits to start with and they ran out very quickly whilst also giving inaccurate results.

 

[fluttermoth]

You probably don't need to cycle your new tank; just take all the filter media out of the filter that's in the 3 foot tank and put it in the Fluval; then you can move the fish right away, although it's not a bad idea to let the new tank run for a couple of days beforehand, as you can check everything's working properly and arranged the way you like it etc. Just don't move the media until you move the fish.

Try to think of the filter media being paired with the fish rather than the tank or the filter

THe API Master test kit is the one most people recommend; it seems to be the most accurate, and is useful to have even if you don't do a fishless cycle. You can keep an eye on your water quality then and will be able to tell if your Oscar needs extra water changes or anything like that.

Well done for upgrading your tank size; your Oscar will be a much happier fishy

 

[gixer1000]

Thanks for the replies,re taking out the old filter media and putting it in the 405,as it's square foam(got 2 internal filters in old tank)would it be viable to remove the ceramic media out of the top basket,cut up the old foam filter's and place that in the top basket?

 

[fluttermoth]

Any way that works for you is fine, as long as you've got all the sponges from your internals in and all the baskets in the Fluval are full (but not jammed in so much you restrict the flow of water through it).

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, the API Freshwater Master Test Kit often works out to be the sweet spot for what we want to accomplish here in the beginners section with fishless and fish-in cycling and eventual maintenance. Its arguable that the Salifert individual tests give more accurate results in many cases but when looking at the bigger picture of the overall processes we do, its really a skill we practice and it involves just getting a bit of crude feedback at the right time under the right circumstances, to give us a sufficient hint of how to proceed.

Its kind of like our fishless cycling process is a process of winding through some city streets - we need to follow the stoplights, noting whether they are green or red and proceeding accordingly - we don't need to know more precisely what wavelengh of red or what wavelength of green we have, we just want to get across town safely.

Agree with moving the media with the fish, but be sure to test for ammonia and nitrite frequently after the move, as sometimes the bacterial colonies can go on strike for a bit and cause some mini-cycling then they are moved. In that case some large water changes may be in order until they settle properly in to their new home.

~~waterdrop~~