Water Testing question

[Jen21]

I just bought a water testing kit but its a bit different from others Ive seen. This one has 700 tests in it and its a test tube kit, not a testing strip. Has anyone tried these? Are they any good?

My tank tested high for nitrites so I added some Amquel to lower it. I really dont know why it went up, it has always tested good. What causes nitrites to rise... overcrowding, overfeeding, etc... Could this be why my fish are rubbing on objects?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sounds like the one I've got, seems very good so far.

If your nitrites are up, could be part of a (mini)cycle, caused by adding new fish, overcrowding or overfeeding. This would explain why your fish are rubbing.
How long has your tank been running? Made any additions lately? What have you got in there? I would do water changes rather than add Amquel.

 

[rdd1952]

Any time you have nitrites or ammonia present, your tank is cycling. That can be because you have added fish, maybe changed filter packs or scrubbed the tank walls. Basically, anything that removes good bacteria from the tank can cause a mini cycle. Water changes are the best way to lower ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (the only way for nitrates). It is much better than adding chemicals. The problem with using Amquel (or any chemical that "removes" ammonia or nitrite) is that it detoxifies ammonia and it's compounds rather than transforms them. That doesn't help you with cycling. As a matter of fact, it will actually keep your tank from cycling as you never build the beneficial bacteria you need to transform ammonia and then nitrite into nitrate so you become totally dependent on chemicals to keep ammonia and nitrite in check.

As for liquid test kits, they are much more accurate than strips. Once you have an established tank (over a year old) you can use strips for quick checks if you desire but you should always have liquid tests available to get a more thorough reading incase the strips show a problem.

 

[Jen21]

Thanks for all the helpful info...

I have just recently added some cories and two more platies. My tank is 30 gallon with about 15 livebearers. I think I may be overcrowded so I took a couple platies out to another tank. I have been doing water changes and it has helped a little. SHould I do changes every day? I have already lost a little platy... but the rest of the fish seem to be doing better.

 

[rdd1952]

Until you are getting 0 readings on both ammonia and nitrite, I would do daily water changes of maybe 10 to 20 percent, what ever it takes to keep the levels down. Once you are seeing 0 readings every day, your tank is cycled for the load of fish you have so you can go back to weekly water changes. If you add any more fish, you will get a mini cycle again but that isn't generally bad. Just go back to the daily water changes again for a while.

 

[Fiori]

Your kit sounds the same as the one I use and I have always found it to be pretty good - and accurate. When any of my tanks are cycling I test every day, otherwise I test every week anyway. I'm always a bit worried I may have a pH crash as my water is so soft, so I like to test regularly. Doesn't do any harm as they say.

 

[Jen21]

I just did another water change and that seemed to have helped... I just cant believe the levels got so high... anyway thanks for the info, Im glad I caught it in time