Three Questions!

[CezzaXV]

Hello all!

I got my first 0 for nitrite today! Woohoo! You have no idea how happy this makes me. As of tomorrow I'm starting 12 hour testing and I'm hoping things will happen pretty quickly now.

1) I was hoping to order some plants online (order one of those packs, then go to the LFS to get any plants I feel I'm "missing"). Is it too early to do so yet? Obviously I wont put them in the tank yet, but if I buy them it'll take a few days to come, then I can leave them in a bucket until the time arrives. Would this be a good idea to do now?

2) Secondly, I kind of give up on my API nitrate test since it keeps messing me about and I can't tell if it's reliable. Is there another brand of nitrate test that's particularly recommended?

3) Finally, I'm going to start looking into a hospital tank, just to be on the safe side. My main tank is only 60L so I dont want a massive thing - I want something that can easily be packed away. What size would be recommended, and is plastic okay? I heard plastic might melt, but surely not at the temperatures you'd be keeping tropical fish in, surely?

 

[Miles_hot]

1) I'd wait unless there is a truly unmissable offer out there. You can't add them till tour out of the cycle and it's just another bucket to mess about with...
2 salfert ate very good tests.
3 ours is 5 gallons and seems to be fine

 

[Tizer]

stick with the API nitrate kit, in a few weeks time when you have fish and get into the whole hobby a little more, you wont even be testing for it, so its kinda wasted money.

hospital tanks, just setup a search on ebay for aquariums listed near you and keep an eye on it, might pickup something small for £5. or pop into a shop and pickup a small clearseal tank. use your common sense. Plastic is fine, not sure who told you plastic will melt...lol

 

[ZoddyZod]

If you go with plastic for the hopsital tank, try to souce something that is 'food grade', which will help to ensure there are no chemical 'nasties' within the plastic.

Plastic melts at very high temperature (170c and upwards, depending on type) so there is absoloutely no chance it will melt unless you plan to keep it in your oven.