Water Test Results

skinpjs · Feb 17, 2009

having stocked my tank recently my water readings are as follows and have been consistant over the past week

gh fluctuates beetween 120 and 180 ppm (mg/l)
kh fluctuates beetween 120 and 180 ppm (mg/l)
ph 7
no2 0 ppm (mg/l)
no3 0 ppm (mg/l)

any advice would be greatfuly appreciated

:unsure:

Truck · Feb 17, 2009

your using 5 in 1 strips right? there rubbish buy an API liquid master test kit, better than strips, but still not that accurate

lordofthesea · Feb 17, 2009

most sound OK what about ammonia?

skinpjs · Feb 17, 2009

lordofthesea said:
most sound OK what about ammonia?

not tested amonia yet but will get a test kit after work tomoz

saz326 · Feb 18, 2009

No nitrate (NO3)....... Thats scary.

Nitrate SHOULD be present in all tanks (unless you do a lot of big water changes). It is a breakdown product of wastes.... Makes me worry about ammonia. Please get that test kit.

skinpjs · Feb 18, 2009

saz326 said:
No nitrate (NO3)....... Thats scary.

Nitrate SHOULD be present in all tanks (unless you do a lot of big water changes). It is a breakdown product of wastes.... Makes me worry about ammonia. Please get that test kit.

i have just tested my amonia and its bad the reading is 8.0ppm (mg/l). tested the others mentioned above and they have stayed the same. can anybody give me any advice as no i am worried. but the fish seem ok. please can someone HELP !!!! :shout:

Truck · Feb 18, 2009

saz326 said:
No nitrate (NO3)....... Thats scary.

Nitrate SHOULD be present in all tanks (unless you do a lot of big water changes). It is a breakdown product of wastes.... Makes me worry about ammonia. Please get that test kit.

wrong, nitrate is not always present in tanks
1. plants consume nitrates
2. if you have anaerobic bacteria living in the substrate, they will convert nitrates to nitrogen and it will gas off.

have you heard of cycling?

skinpjs · Feb 18, 2009

truckasauras123 said:
saz326 said:

No nitrate (NO3)....... Thats scary.

Nitrate SHOULD be present in all tanks (unless you do a lot of big water changes). It is a breakdown product of wastes.... Makes me worry about ammonia. Please get that test kit.

Click to expand...

wrong, nitrate is not always present in tanks
1. plants consume nitrates
2. if you have anaerobic bacteria living in the substrate, they will convert nitrates to nitrogen and it will gas off.

have you heard of cycling?

yes i have read up on it what would you suggest

Truck · Feb 18, 2009

you take all your fish back and do a fishless cycle

jonp · Feb 20, 2009

I have just come out of this exact scenario - relied on the test strips on a fish in cycle with four platy in a 64 litre tank (hadnt heard of fishless at that point). Bought some more guppy's and the LFS these came from said those strips are useless and sold me API tests for Nitrite and Ammonia. acclimatised the guppys and put them in and then settled down to use the test kits. Found I was only at the point of the spike in the cycle.....Dived on here and read through many similar postings

I then went through and changed 15% of the water every night for seven days or so and got the readings down to zero for both, where they have since stayed.

I lost one guppy and i believe this was down to stress caused by the spike ( he did get a stay in the hospital tank but didnt make it ). The other fish have stayed seemingly happy throughout. :fish:

OldMan47 · Feb 21, 2009

You do have the option of trying to do a fish in cycle Skinpjs. At the very least you need to start doing large water changes to get the ammonia down. I am a bit surprised that there is anything left alive at 8.0 ppm of ammonia. At 0.8 ppm you might be able to get away with a 75% water change, but at 8.0 it will take several changes to get things in line.
There is a decent thread on how to do a fish-in cycle on the forum here. I have a link to it in my signature area.

pippoodle · Feb 21, 2009

saz326 said:
No nitrate (NO3)....... Thats scary.

Nitrate SHOULD be present in all tanks (unless you do a lot of big water changes). It is a breakdown product of wastes.... Makes me worry about ammonia. Please get that test kit.

Truck is right what he says 2 of my tanks have 10-20 ppm nitrate from the tap then 1-2 days after a water change it drops to 0 and my tanks are running perfectly
nitrates do disappear if you have a heavilly planted tank or have that bacteria in you gravel/sand etc