Water Chemistry

[Killer Smile]

Hi everyone,i've been having a few questions in my mind about my water chemistry,the main thing is,i have 0 ammonia,0 nitrites,but also 0 nitrates. I have 3 tanks,a 15 gal,an 11 gal,and a 10 gal. The 15 gal and 11 gal are both heavily planted,while the 10 gal is my newest set up and im still waiting for the plants to really flourish,so i guess i'll call it moderately planted. Is it normal for my nitrates to be at 0 ppm? As far as i read,its expected to have atleast some nitrates in a tank even if it is already cycled. Do the plants use up all the nitrates? What? Is it even a good thing to have 0 nitrates?

Second question would be about my ph,i cant seem to figure it out exactly,when i use the normal ph test from the API master test kit,it registers at 7.4,i have heard that when its that high,its actually 7.4 onwards,so i tried the high range ph test,and it registered at 7.6 which i think is also the same that it means 7.6 and below,i could be wrong,but could anyone give me tips on what my real ph is and how i could possibly lower it,as all my stocks in all 3 tanks require a bit of acidic water,aiming for around 6.6 or such

Any replies would be appreciated!!!

 

[StandbySetting]

It's possible, the plants will be utilising the nitrate as a source of nitrogen, but I wouldn't complain about having 0 nitrates, it's a good thing , it could be an inaccuracy with your test kit as most of the nitrate test kits tend to have large tolerances.

With regards to PH, if the 7.4 is the highest on the scale of the standard PH kit and the 7.6 is the lowest on the test kit then you have a value between 7.4 and 7.6, so take the mean and presume you have a PH of 7.5.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What are your tap parameters?

Adding wood to your tank should slowly lower the pH - or adding a bag of peat to the filter. Someone with more experience than me should be able to give you some better advice on that though.

 

[Killer Smile]

is it really possible that my test kit be inaccurate? Is there any other better test kit there? Im already using the API master test kit

i just checked my tap now and it gave the exact same results,ph between 7.4 - 7.6,0 ammonia,0 nitrites,0 nitrates

are there other ways of lowering ph aside from adding wood? as i said my tank is already heavily planted,i cant find any more room to add more wood

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I had some trouble with getting accurate readings from the API nitrate test kit. It really requires following the directions TO THE LETTER. (Something I failed to do early on)



Are you shaking/banging the heck out of the 2nd bottle of nitrate for a full 30+ seconds? There are TWO reagents in that bottle, and you need to make sure that they are thoroughly mixed before you use it, otherwise your results aren't trustworthy.

 

[StandbySetting]

Most hobby test kits are inaccurate, but they're accurate enough for our needs, you really don't need to worry about nitrate, it's harmless even at levels into the hundreds.

You can use peat to lower the PH, but most of your fish will probably be fine with the PH of the tank at the moment, as they will have more than likely of been bred in similar parameters.

 

[LoriF]

Your plants are eating up all of the nitrates it would actually do them some good to get some fertilizers. I am asking the same questions about the test kits.

 

[LoriF]

I did come across this post which might give you some good info.
http/www.fishlore.com/fishforum/test-kits/6439-important-information-api-freshwater-master-test-kit-users.html

 

[nurglespuss]

Hi there,

Pick up a digital pH meter, I use this one;

meter

It may seem expensive, but compare it to the cost of refreshing API test kits/the stuff losing its 'accuracy' (these tests are great) over time, and its a good investment.

 

[Killer Smile]

that was a really good article LoriF,however i checked my own test kit and most of it were made at April 2010,some march,but most april,so i dont think any of it is expired

and yes i do shake the bottle for the whole 30 secs and the actual test for a minute (its quite a hastle when you have to do 3 times again and again)





nurglespuss,that looks like a pretty good buy there,im going to look around on where i could buy it

 

[eaglesaquarium]

that was a really good article LoriF,however i checked my own test kit and most of it were made at April 2010,some march,but most april,so i dont think any of it is expired

and yes i do shake the bottle for the whole 30 secs and the actual test for a minute (its quite a hastle when you have to do 3 times again and again)





nurglespuss,that looks like a pretty good buy there,im going to look around on where i could buy it

I would suggest that you bang and shake the heck out of bottle #2 for at least 2-3 minutes before a test until you get a nitrate reading from your tank. It would definitely seem that the reagents aren't mixed properly. The advice from API is that one of the reagents has a tendency to solidify in the bottom of the bottle and needs to be shaken drastically once this has occurred. I ran into this problem with a "new" bottle, but since I shook the (fill in the blank) out of the bottle, I've been getting reasonable results since then.


Good luck;

 

[StandbySetting]

As the above poster explained, the 3rd reagent that is mixed into bottle two seperates out of the solution, which is why I prefer the Salifert nitrate test kit.