Testing Water

[Brainjuice]

Hi there,

I was just wondering, When's the best time to test water? Because I was thinking the results will be different if you before or after a water change, I think anyway as I haven't tested the theory yet!

 

[fluttermoth]

Of course the results will differ before and after water changes.

Usually you'd test before a water change, but it really depends what the reason for your testing is.

In normal, well cycled tanks you'd test maybe once a week to keep an eye on nitrate (I sometimes do nitrate tests to decide which of my tanks I'm going to water change that day) and any time the fish don't look quite 'right'.

If you're doing a fish in cycle, you'd be testing to work out how much water you need to change to stop the ammonia and nitrite levels rising too high, so you'd want to test before, and probably after as well, to make sure you'd changed enough.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Test before a water change. If there is a problem with your results, test again after the water change to make sure all is well.

 

[Brainjuice]

Yes, that all seems very reasonable.

Thanks