Couple of questions from a beginner

[Essjay]

The figure you need is hardness Clarke 5.74
The two units used in fish keeping are dH and ppm. Your Clarke units convert to 4.6 dH and 82 ppm. Make a note of those two; some fish profiles use dH and others use ppm. [The full report gives your hardness as 82 ppm on average]

They also give your tap water pH average as 7.28, your nitrite as so low as to be undetectable with our tests (less than 0.0016), and your nitrate as an average of 7.55 ppm

 

[JPW003]

Great, thanks. All seems quite positive and good water for fishkeeping if my interpretations are correct.

Funny really, in that if my water is good for fishkeeping, the build up of bad stuff will actually be driven by the fish themselves. I suppose that's nature for you! Or maybe I've just finally understood the nitrogen cycle! Thanks.

 

[Essjay]

Very simply the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium is:
Fish excrete ammonia (it's their version of urine)
Ammonia eating bacteria eat ammonia and turn it into nitrite
Nitrite eating bacteria eat nitrite and turn it into nitrate
Fish keeper does water changes to remove nitrate.


But with live plants:
Fish excrete ammonia
Plants take up ammonia and turn it into protein.
Plants grow thick and lush and fish keeper often needs to trim them to stop them choking the tank.


In reality in a planted tank there will be some bacteria growing but not nearly as many as in a tank without live plants. And a planted tank still needs water changes to remove all the other things that build up which we can't test for; and to replenish all the things that plants and fish remove from the water.