New to the forum

[Essjay]

The lower range tester looks to be 7.0 or 7.2 for tank water and 6.8 for tap water.
The high range test shows the lowest colour because it can't test any lower than that so you need to go by the lower range tester.

The tank water is tap water that's been standing for 5 days . The tank pH is slightly higher than newly run tap water, probably because the tap water had carbon dioxide dissolved in it, which lowers the pH. After standing in your tank the CO2 has come out of the water causing the pH to go up a bit. This is normal, and it's why we always ask to test newly run tap water and some tap water that's stood for 24 hours.
Just to check - all that's in the tank is plain ordinary sand and plain ordinary gravel? You've not added anything else yet?

 

[777james777]

The lower range tester looks to be 7.0 or 7.2 for tank water and 6.8 for tap water.
The high range test shows the lowest colour because it can't test any lower than that so you need to go by the lower range tester.

The tank water is tap water that's been standing for 5 days . The tank pH is slightly higher than newly run tap water, probably because the tap water had carbon dioxide dissolved in it, which lowers the pH. After standing in your tank the CO2 has come out of the water causing the pH to go up a bit. This is normal.
Just to check - all that's in the tank is plain ordinary sand and plain ordinary gravel? You've not added anything else yet?

Correct I’ve only added sand and gravel purchased from the aquatic shop

Is everything so far we it should be

 

[Essjay]

Yes it is.

I needed to make sure you'd not added a limestone rock or something which would increase pH

 

[777james777]

Yes it is.

I needed to make sure you'd not added a limestone rock or something which would increase pH

Ok great, il have a look at the other levels in the test kit later tonight and get back to you with the results. One last PH question...
Is the PH level just something now that I need to keep testing every (? how long ?) making sure it stays around 7.0?

 

[Essjay]

No, you don't need to check that every day - once there are fish in the tank. But during cycling I would test pH every time you test for ammonia and nitrite.

Assuming you have very soft water like the bank in Golden Square, you probably have low KH as well. United Utilities doesn't give this on their website. Cycling involves quite high levels of both nitrite and nitrate which are both acidic, and when KH is low it can get used up leaving nothing to stop pH dropping. You need to keep an eye on pH during cycling just in case.

After cycling when there are fish in the tank, nitrite will be removed by the bacteria as soon as it's made, and weekly water changes of at least half the water will remove nitrate. And water changes will replenish KH. This will keep pH stable. Test it regularly by all means till you are confident it's staying the same but once you are satisfied just test when you feel like it.
I have low KH. Years ago I believed the old books in the library which said water changes were bad and to do them every few months, not weekly as we do now. My pH crashed off the bottom of the scale. Once we got broadband back in 2004 (our small exchange was one of the last to get broadband) I found fish forums. I discovered I should be doing big water changes every week not small ones once a month. Since then my pH has not crashed - my weekly water changes did the trick.

 

[777james777]

No, you don't need to check that every day - once there are fish in the tank. But during cycling I would test pH every time you test for ammonia and nitrite.

Assuming you have very soft water like the bank in Golden Square, you probably have low KH as well. United Utilities doesn't give this on their website. Cycling involves quite high levels of both nitrite and nitrate which are both acidic, and when KH is low it can get used up leaving nothing to stop pH dropping. You need to keep an eye on pH during cycling just in case.

After cycling when there are fish in the tank, nitrite will be removed by the bacteria as soon as it's made, and weekly water changes of at least half the water will remove nitrate. And water changes will replenish KH. This will keep pH stable. Test it regularly by all means till you are confident it's staying the same but once you are satisfied just test when you feel like it.
I have low KH. Years ago I believed the old books in the library which said water changes were bad and to do them every few months, not weekly as we do now. My pH crashed off the bottom of the scale. Once we got broadband back in 2004 (our small exchange was one of the last to get broadband) I found fish forums. I discovered I should be doing big water changes every week not small ones once a month. Since then my pH has not crashed - my weekly water changes did the trick.

So I did the first ammonia test (both bottles) below is the result.

I have then added in 5.05ml of ammonia to the tank.
What is my next step?

I’m right in thinking I want to get ammonia to 3ppm ?

 

[Essjay]

Is that photo before or after you added the ammonia?
If it's after, how long after adding it did you do the test? You need to wait about half an hour after adding to let it mix in thoroughly.

 

[777james777]

Is that photo before or after you added the ammonia?
If it's after, how long after adding it did you do the test? You need to wait about half an hour after adding to let it mix in thoroughly.

That photo is before I added it.

I’m not very good with all the science behind it but I guessed it would come at that colour at first.

So after the photo I added 5.05ml

 

[Essjay]

That's fine. The before test shows you've no ammonia in your tap water (the UK allows up to 0.5 ppm)

Wait half an hour then test again to make sure the colour is between 2 and 4.

Then test for ammonia and nitrite every 3 days - that is on Monday, Thursday, Sunday and so on until you get a day when the readings are ammonia under 0.25 and nitrite over 2 ppm. It could be a couple of weeks for this, it took 21 days before my ammonia dropped and nitrite appeared. One thing fish keeping teaches us is patience
Once you've got those readings, tell us and we'll help with the next stage. Don't add any more ammonia till you get those readings.

 

[777james777]

That's fine. The before test shows you've no ammonia in your tap water (the UK allows up to 0.5 ppm)

Wait half an hour then test again to make sure the colour is between 2 and 4.

Then test for ammonia and nitrite every 3 days - that is on Monday, Thursday, Sunday and so on until you get a day when the readings are ammonia under 0.25 and nitrite over 2 ppm. It could be a couple of weeks for this, it took 21 days before my ammonia dropped and nitrite appeared. One thing fish keeping teaches us is patience
Once you've got those readings, tell us and we'll help with the next stage. Don't add any more ammonia till you get those readings.

Brill, thank you for that. I’m just out at the moment but will be home shortly. So the time between adding ammonia and testing will be 3 hours.
I’m guessing this will be ok. Il post pym results in about an hour!

 

[Essjay]

That's fine, the level won't change over a few hours this early in the cycle.



Edit to add - you'll find it easier if you make a note of when you add ammonia and how much, and what the readings are whenever you test. It is very easy to lose track

 

[777james777]

That's fine, the level won't change over a few hours this early in the cycle.



Edit to add - you'll find it easier if you make a note of when you add ammonia and how much, and what the readings are whenever you test. It is very easy to lose track

Ok so here’s the result… iv put 5ml of ammonia in the tank
3 hours has passed
It’s gone off the scale it’s almost black

I did 8 drops off each ammonia tester (which is what the bottles say)

 

[Essjay]

Ah, that's too high I'm afraid. Not now, tomorrow will do, you need to remove half the water from the tank and replace it with fresh water. Don't forget the water conditioner for amount of new water. Wait half an hour and test again.

Can you tell us the dimensions of the tank, please - length, width and height from the top of the substrate to the surface of the water. It is common for manufacturers to the volume of the tank is such and such litres when that includes the air space on top of the water, and quite possibly the volume of the lid as well. They give the volume as the amount of space the whole tank takes up, not what it will hold. Then the sand and gravel takes up some of that volume, reducing the amount of water even more.

 

[777james777]

Ah, that's too high I'm afraid. Not now, tomorrow will do, you need to remove half the water from the tank and replace it with fresh water. Don't forget the water conditioner for amount of new water. Wait half an hour and test again.

Can you tell us the dimensions of the tank, please - length, width and height from the top of the substrate to the surface of the water. It is common for manufacturers to the volume of the tank is such and such litres when that includes the air space on top of the water, and quite possibly the volume of the lid as well. They give the volume as the amount of space the whole tank takes up, not what it will hold. Then the sand and gravel takes up some of that volume, reducing the amount of water even more.

Ah, that's too high I'm afraid. Not now, tomorrow will do, you need to remove half the water from the tank and replace it with fresh water. Don't forget the water conditioner for amount of new water. Wait half an hour and test again.

Can you tell us the dimensions of the tank, please - length, width and height from the top of the substrate to the surface of the water. It is common for manufacturers to the volume of the tank is such and such litres when that includes the air space on top of the water, and quite possibly the volume of the lid as well. They give the volume as the amount of space the whole tank takes up, not what it will hold. Then the sand and gravel takes up some of that volume, reducing the amount of water even more.

Argh how frustrating!

The dimensions are 100cm x 40cm x 40cm

The substrate is currently 1cm in height and the water level is 5cm from the top.

So half of my water out, and replaced

Also… water conditioner? Is that the tetra safe bottle??

 

[777james777]

@Essjay

Also… Tomorrow, Once I have replaced half of the water and i test again…
(providing it’s at this point green and not black) what is it that I then add to the water? (I think it’s bacteria that starts to react with ammonia?)