Water Parameters

[DeepSeaFishin]

I dont think I ever got a solid answer:

What should your average freshwater tanks water parameters have?

Heres what my Mardel 5 in 1 Test Strips say:

Nitrate: Up to 40 ppm can be tolerated by most fish.
Nitrite: Above 1ppm causes stress, 5.0ppm is toxic
Hardness: Community Tank Range is 120 - 300 ppm
Alkalinity: Community Tank Range is 120- 240 ppm
ph: Community Tank Range is 6.8 - 7.6 ppm

Anyone think otherwise? Feedback and discussion is appreciated.

 

[WILDER]

Them test strips are not very good, liquid test kits are the best.
Your tank saying not cycled as ammonia and nitrite should be 0.

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

In all the years I have kept fish, I never used test kits, the only test kit I had was a liquid pH tester. I always just let my water sit out overnight heavily aerated to get chlorine out, and then I put it in. Then again I havent kept fish that have a small range of water parameters. I figured it was time to start and It would be beneficial anyway, non of my fish ever showed signs of stress nor I ever had disease outbreaks. All my fish lived 3+ years, but as I said I only keep hardy fish. I guess different people are at different levels of the hobby.

When I say in all the years I got around 7 years under my belt. That may not be much compared to some avid members on here .

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons or litres is the tank.
What fish and how many.

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

My 30 gallon, kept 5 Giant danios for 3+ years along with a pleco. Pleco died a few months ago because I believe he was very old, I got him as a juvenile. Same happend with the danios, got them all @ juveniles and I still have 4. My 5 had a baby turtle in it for a while and then I released it so now it houses nothing. My 10 is what I first bought and that thing has had cories, kuhlis, guppies, endlers, and more than I can remember. My 30 is a year old, and for the first 6 months I've kept a blue gill bass in there with plecos and they lived happily, I released the bluegill because he had grown too large. After which I added 5 Giant Danios. They have been in there ever since. In general I have a 5, 10, 30, 55 (which is retired), and if I get the money Im shooting for a 100 gal when I move out of my parents home.

 

[Jozlyn]

Leaving the water out over night with an airator will remove the chlorine but not chloramine and heavy metals, using a good dechlorinator will remove everything instantly so you wont have to leave buckets out overnight. My bottle of dechlorinator cost AU$15 and will treat 6,250 litres of water! It's a cheap way to ensure your water is 100% safe all the time. And your local water authority is not likely to notify you if they change from using chlorine to the cheaper chloramine to treat your town water.

NitrItes and amonia should be 0.
40 is ok for NitrAtes.
Ph, Gh & Kh are a messy subject, it's difficult to change them and keep them 100% stable if you do try to change it, fluctuating ph, gh & kh is worse for fish than a stable measurement which may not be in their "ideal" range, you're best off to buy fish that suit the water coming out of your tap.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, strips aren't very accurate and the worst thing about that particular strip is it doesn't measure ammonia which is the most toxic chemical in the tank. And if you are having nitrite problems, I'll bet you also have ammonia present. Throw the strips away and get a good liquid kit that tests ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

 

[Jozlyn]

Yes as rdd1952 says the test strips are rubbish, throw them out. If you get a liquid based master test kit it should have tests for amonia, nitrite and nitrate it will probably also have a gh, kh and ph tests as well. But make sure that it has amonia, nitrite and nitrate as these are the three most important tests which you'll want to do once a week.