Whats All This Technical Jargon

[kas]

Ive been keeping fish for 30 years. Never tested for anything and had many years of happy fish keeping. i keep 6 3litre bottles of tap water which i use 2 at a time for water changes. i wait a week at least before using any of them so any chemicals can evaporate as we have strong smelling water round here. i currently have harlequin, emerald eye, red line rasboras, beckford and eques pencils, threadfin rainbows and bleeding heart tetras. all very happy.
so what on earth is all this about ph, ammonia, nitrate etc. or are you youngsters all trying to make a simple hobby expensive and technically complicated?

 

[Underwurlde]

In YOUR situation, perhaps applying any of this 'new' science could well be an over-complication!

I guess your water changes are keeping the toxic chemical levels at bay, otherwise you certainly would have problems. The curx of all this new fangled thinking (actaully I don't think it's new at all TBH), is that fish pee ammonia that is HIGHLY toxic to fish and the methods described are generic for ALL situations are aimed at removing these toxic levels of Ammonia (the result of which is slightly less toxic Nitrite, but that is also taken care of as part of any process).

Now the toxisity of 'ammonia' (the ammonia / ammonium ratio) is dependant on pH: The higher the pH of the water the more the ratio leans towards toxic ammonia instead of harmless ammonium.

So I guess in your situation, you are lucky enough to have consistently low pH tap water supply and you remove any residual build up of the remaining toxic ammonia via large weekly water changes.

Fair play to you, sir. If it ain't bust, don't fix it!

I have to ask, do you use a filter of any kind at all?

Andy