Tropical Tank Tests
- Thread starter Buddy33
- Start date
LOL - and I've never tested for GH or KH!
The main killers of fish in a tank are high ammonia and nitrite levels - it's literally toxic poison to them. In a healthy tank you need these readings to be nil or as near to nil as possible. Any trace of these can cause various illnesses in the fish and even deaths.
But if you run a well-maintained tank with good filter, regular water changes, you don't overfeed, you do regular gravel vacs etc, then ammonia and nitrite readings will usually be fine (unless something causes a sudden spike, like a dead fish or overload of food left to rot etc).
Anyway, always worth having a good test kit to hand. As soon as you spot anything out of the norm going on in your tank, you can do a quick test and tackle the problem before it snowballs.
Regards - Athena
The main killers of fish in a tank are high ammonia and nitrite levels - it's literally toxic poison to them. In a healthy tank you need these readings to be nil or as near to nil as possible. Any trace of these can cause various illnesses in the fish and even deaths.
But if you run a well-maintained tank with good filter, regular water changes, you don't overfeed, you do regular gravel vacs etc, then ammonia and nitrite readings will usually be fine (unless something causes a sudden spike, like a dead fish or overload of food left to rot etc).
Anyway, always worth having a good test kit to hand. As soon as you spot anything out of the norm going on in your tank, you can do a quick test and tackle the problem before it snowballs.
Regards - Athena
Those are the most important ones - and for now I would not worry yourself about any other tests as they are for the more experienced fishkeepers who like to get into the real science of everything.
Most of us don't have the time, money or energy to go into that amount of detail - and on the whole, regular aquariums don't need much more than testing those all-important chemicals, as mentioned.
You can buy a kit that will contain all the tests for those 4 things - and the kit will last you a fair while unless you go over-the-top and test every single day LOL
The most basic things to do when setting up a tank and maintaining it are to cycle the filter properly, do weekly/fortnightly water changes (not the whole lot - I do one washing up bowlful a week on the 2ft tanks, and 2 bowlfuls on the 3ft - roughly about 15%), gravel vac and don't overfeed your fish. Once in a while test water stats to ensure all is ok. Whether you make this a weekly/fortnightly/monthly occurrence is up to you. Some people start out testing all the time, then when they realise that their tank actually runs the same week after week, they ease off and only check when they notice something strange going on (like odd fish behaviour or change in water colour etc).
Also - don't be tempted to thoroughly wash out your filter sponges. Your good bacteria live in there and this is what you need to keep your tank healthy. Just give the sponges a light swish in a bit of tank water to remove any heavy bits of debris. And don't change the filter sponge every 3 months like some fish shops recommend.
Sorry - hope I've not bombarded you with too much info in one go!
Athena
Most of us don't have the time, money or energy to go into that amount of detail - and on the whole, regular aquariums don't need much more than testing those all-important chemicals, as mentioned.
You can buy a kit that will contain all the tests for those 4 things - and the kit will last you a fair while unless you go over-the-top and test every single day LOL
The most basic things to do when setting up a tank and maintaining it are to cycle the filter properly, do weekly/fortnightly water changes (not the whole lot - I do one washing up bowlful a week on the 2ft tanks, and 2 bowlfuls on the 3ft - roughly about 15%), gravel vac and don't overfeed your fish. Once in a while test water stats to ensure all is ok. Whether you make this a weekly/fortnightly/monthly occurrence is up to you. Some people start out testing all the time, then when they realise that their tank actually runs the same week after week, they ease off and only check when they notice something strange going on (like odd fish behaviour or change in water colour etc).
Also - don't be tempted to thoroughly wash out your filter sponges. Your good bacteria live in there and this is what you need to keep your tank healthy. Just give the sponges a light swish in a bit of tank water to remove any heavy bits of debris. And don't change the filter sponge every 3 months like some fish shops recommend.
Sorry - hope I've not bombarded you with too much info in one go!
Athena
paulbr1
Fish Crazy
Hi, if you get yourself a decent test kit to test the above and post your figures -this gives people a good idea of why you are losing fish.
It may be a good idea to read the pinned article about fishless Cycling as it gives good info about how your tank "should" work.
It may be a good idea to read the pinned article about fishless Cycling as it gives good info about how your tank "should" work.
not bombarded its cool,
but confused about one thing... u say around 15% water change but than u say most tanks just run the same? how does that work? u change the water wouldnt u have to compensate for the new water?? all 4 tests?
but confused about one thing... u say around 15% water change but than u say most tanks just run the same? how does that work? u change the water wouldnt u have to compensate for the new water?? all 4 tests?
Sorry, not sure I understood the question fully - but I'll answer what I think you asked...
When you do a water change, you have to decide for yourself how much water to remove from the tank. It all depends on the volume of water and how many fish you have in your tank as to how often and how much water you need to change. Obviously, if it is looking quite dirty, smells bad, or if fish are showing any signs of stress or illness (from toxin build up) then you remove more water.
If your tank is kept stocked with fish at a decent level and you keep to a regular maintenance regime, then your tanks will not become overly dirty/smelly/toxic. In fact, once you are into a good routine, your tank should never reach the stage of looking rank! Regular good maintenance should mean you have a clean, clear tank with healthy fish.
When you remove, say, 15% of tank water, and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water, it's not necessary to test the water in the tank every time you do a water change because you are not putting anything toxic into the tank that would raise the chemical levels. If anything you are then diluting whatever trace of chemicals are in the tank already.
Of course, if you wanted to test the tank water after every water change that's entirely up to you. I suppose there are odd occasions when water companies put things in the tap water that can have a detrimintal affect on the fish. Most of us wouldn't realise until our fish showed signs of stress. If you wanted to test after each water change I guess you'd know in advance if anything was wrong.
There are no set rules really, you have to find a routine that you find suits you (and your wallet!). So long as you are doing the main things to keep your fish happy and healthy, then that's all that matters. If you have the time and money to test every day or every week, indefinitely, it's doing no harm. There are some who do this and keep daily records of readings.
Personally, that would take the pleasure out of fishkeeping for me. I test when I need to test now, not just for the sake of it. Besides, with a recession on I couldn't afford to keep buying test kits every few weeks LOL
Athena (sorry, I'm really rambling a lot today)
When you do a water change, you have to decide for yourself how much water to remove from the tank. It all depends on the volume of water and how many fish you have in your tank as to how often and how much water you need to change. Obviously, if it is looking quite dirty, smells bad, or if fish are showing any signs of stress or illness (from toxin build up) then you remove more water.
If your tank is kept stocked with fish at a decent level and you keep to a regular maintenance regime, then your tanks will not become overly dirty/smelly/toxic. In fact, once you are into a good routine, your tank should never reach the stage of looking rank! Regular good maintenance should mean you have a clean, clear tank with healthy fish.
When you remove, say, 15% of tank water, and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water, it's not necessary to test the water in the tank every time you do a water change because you are not putting anything toxic into the tank that would raise the chemical levels. If anything you are then diluting whatever trace of chemicals are in the tank already.
Of course, if you wanted to test the tank water after every water change that's entirely up to you. I suppose there are odd occasions when water companies put things in the tap water that can have a detrimintal affect on the fish. Most of us wouldn't realise until our fish showed signs of stress. If you wanted to test after each water change I guess you'd know in advance if anything was wrong.
There are no set rules really, you have to find a routine that you find suits you (and your wallet!). So long as you are doing the main things to keep your fish happy and healthy, then that's all that matters. If you have the time and money to test every day or every week, indefinitely, it's doing no harm. There are some who do this and keep daily records of readings.
Personally, that would take the pleasure out of fishkeeping for me. I test when I need to test now, not just for the sake of it. Besides, with a recession on I couldn't afford to keep buying test kits every few weeks LOL
Athena (sorry, I'm really rambling a lot today)
If you have fish that require very hard or very soft water or you have very hard or very soft tap water, the GH and KH can guide you to making the water match well with the fish. I measure TDS electronically to get an idea of the minerals content of my water for keeping mollies. As Athena said ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are the key parameters. Also pH helps judge how much CO2 there is in your water from a CO2 system and can give a gross indication of KH. Otherwise, IMO, a lot of what pH is expected to show is really a function of GH but is not often recognized as such.
vereyna
New Member
Hi there, I am new to this site but felt the need to pitch in here. Hope no one minds.
The person at your LFS told you incorrectly. Nitrites and nitrates are, as the above posters stated, VERY important parameters to keep track of. Also, the test strips that most LFS's will do for you are not *as* accurate as the liquid kits. It's much better to get a set of your own, so you can do it yourself with reliable, accurate readings, from home! hehe.... And better yet, if you get confused about your readings, I bet you can come on here, post the test results, and people will help key you in and what you need to do next (if the parameters aren't meeting the needs of your fish friends, that is).
If the LFS dont want to make the sale then buy an API test kit from Ebay, it will be much cheaper than in the shops anyway.
Do the 4 tests (you actually get 5 tests in some kits as there is a 'normal' and high range pH test) and use the results to see what the problems are (if any) and also to keep a track of how the cycle is going if you do a fishless cycle.
As far as I have worked out you need to do the waster change to remove some of the levels of nitrates or nitrites (cant remember which)
The bacteria in the filter should remove most stuff eventually but the water change removes or reduces the remaining (effectively by diluting it all)
In fact, you really need a hometest kit as whenever you post on here and ask for help, one of the first questions you will get will asking for the stats of the tank: ammomnia, nitrate, nitrite and pH
Do the 4 tests (you actually get 5 tests in some kits as there is a 'normal' and high range pH test) and use the results to see what the problems are (if any) and also to keep a track of how the cycle is going if you do a fishless cycle.
As far as I have worked out you need to do the waster change to remove some of the levels of nitrates or nitrites (cant remember which)
The bacteria in the filter should remove most stuff eventually but the water change removes or reduces the remaining (effectively by diluting it all)
In fact, you really need a hometest kit as whenever you post on here and ask for help, one of the first questions you will get will asking for the stats of the tank: ammomnia, nitrate, nitrite and pH
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