Water Test Kit

Wether NH3 is the first stage of the cycle is not the question and nobody mentiond messing about with the ph.
Ammonia test is a 2 part test where as Nitrite is only 1 part test.I.e Nitrite test is easier/simpler.
Even if you do regular w.c.,your system gradualy acidifys.If you aren't aware of this,a ph crash is inevatable.
And then if you introduce new fish to a tank,how would you aclimate them correctly if you don't know the ph of your own tank,let alone the water your new fish came with from the LFS.

 

ok so you dont mind NH3 spike because the test takes longer to perform and is more labour intensive, so you just test for nitrite after the fish already have damaged gills etc from NH3 ?

haha, i aclimate everything for an hour to an hour and a half, i do this especially for ph differences. Just a question do you want to know what the ph of the shops tanks is so that you know whether to aclimate quickly or slowly ? I am sure everyone knows you need to aclimate longer from lower to higher ph, but why not just aclimate everything over a longer period which is better in anyway.......................

I agree that because of fish waste, decaying plant matter etc etc that a tank`s ph slowly drop, what i would like to know that is how you sort this out, since you agree that tinkering with ph isnt a good iedea ? Because i have never experienced a ph crash as i like to do routine maintenance etc.

 

butcherman don't worry about shakes have you read some of his fish keeping practices in his threads ?
full of bad practices . I am sure people know beter than to take that advice .

please shakes don't give people bad advice most people here care for their fish and for the newbies it is a bad idea teaching them the wrong things to do .

cheers

 

Agree with Butcherman. You guys profess to do fishless cycling but don't mind sacrificing a fish to "test" for water quality? Great husbandry there. If cost is that much of a factor, get a decent LFS that will do free testing for you...

A decent starter test kit is the API master test kit. It includes ph, high ph, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate for around R300 IIRC

*edit to add* Neons aren't the greatest of indicators of water quality either...

 

Hi neil, where can one get the api test kits at that price, according to the thread in the link it is fine to post the name of the shop and price, just not any contact details.

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=735

 

I might be wrong on the price, I last bought around a year ago from Animal Kingdom Hillfox. It may have been closer to 500 bucks....

 

Still not too bad, and API makes decent products.

 

Animal Kingdom Hillfox sold me mine over 18months ago... paid R399.00 for it. The last time I saw it it just over R450.00. In my personal opinion, it has lasted me 18 months, and still going strong. The Nitrate test is finished, because that's the one I test the most.

 

Ammonia/ Nitrite/ Nitrate

Hi guys,

There's been a bit of confusion, and in my opinion, some bad advice given here with regards to testing of water.

First of all, testing water with a fish is not humane, and I by NO MEANS condone throwing in a fish to "test" the water. I have heard of people using the rummy nose tetra in their tanks as a schooling fish, and the secondary benefit to a rummy nose would be that when it looses it's reddish colour, you will immedietely know that there is something wrong with the water, or the dynamics within the tank.

I've had this discussion with the professor before, and a lot of "myths" regarding tha bacteria and nitrogen cycle within the filter I'd like to clarrify and correct.

Firstly, if you are experiencing a nitrite or ammonia spike within your water perameters on an already established (+6months) tank that has been balanced, then there is something seriously wrong. Not just a dead fish.

The bacteria in your filter colonize according to the size of the filter, and NOT the size of your bio-load, as previously believed. If you are experiencing ammonia and nitrite spikes in an established tank, then your bio-load is far exceeding the capacity of the filter's biological filtration. According to my understanding based on the discussion I had with the professor in another thread about this issue, let me put it forward with this example:

Let's say for example your tank is 500litres, and your filter has the capacity to effectively filter the bio-load of 100 neon fish. Now let's say you have 40 Neon fish in there. Your tank is well cycled, settled in nicely, you are continuing to do your weekly waterchanges, and your ammonia and nitrite is settled at 0ppm. Let's say you throw in another 40 neons. EVERYONE will assume that you can expect a nitrite and ammonia spike because you are effectively doubling your bio-load. But this is not true. Your filter is capable of handling 100 fish, and the filter has in actual fact established itself to the maximum capactiy it will handle... so by increasing your bio-load, as long as it falls within the filter's capacity, WILL NOT cause ammonia or nitrite spikes.

So again, I say, if you are experiencing ammonia and nitrite spikes in an established tank, your filtration is either not suitable, or your bio-load exceeds the capacity of your filtration material.

I seriously doubt that the death of a fish (left unseen) will cause an ammonia or nitrite spike that will wipe out your entire tank.

I therefore go back to my belief in testing water perameters:

I know how often I need to change my particular water, because I have learnt the behaviour of my tank, and know that unless I do a 15%w/c once a week, my nitrites raise above 20ppm. (I also disagree with some people that say 50ppm is still safe!). I will test my nitrites and ammonia once a month to keep this in check, and also to make sure that the growth of the fish does not result in me exceeding the capabilities of my filter. I also do agree that pH is something that needs to be checked once in a while, as fish cannot handle major swings or drops in pH.

That being said... I also know the characters of my fish, and as soon as I notice something not right with their behaviour, I will check pH, Ammonia, Nitrite as well as Nitrate... and my temperature to ensure that everything is still in order.

I have had fish die on me, and I only discover them a week later... the fear of the ammonia and nitrite spike myth lead me to do a check on these perameters, and my results have always been 0ppm. Also bear in mind that my bio-load is very different to yours, and my filtration is very different to yours. No 2 tanks are the same. Therefore you need to find out what works best in your tank... but then again, if you are getting ammonia or nitrite spikes in an stablished tank... then you need to look at your filtering, bio-load, and tank size.

That's my 2c+ 5c free on the matter.

 

ya ya,so like what ,go test your water if you got an oscar ,like that matters ,and what bad edvice explain ...

 

Putting Neons in to "test" water. Can I chuck you into the Antarctic Ocean to test water temperature?

 

wre you getting your water from the drain ,if you get the water out the tap then dechlorinated and at least 24degrees and test your water its fine but if you gona put crapy water in your tank ,you can imagine....

 

My 2 cents worth.
Buy the best kit you can afford.
The more params you can test the better.
If you can do not buy the test strips(not that they are bad) because they are not so accurate as the drops.
I've got the API kit.
pH,Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate,GH,KH.
I would like to add the Fe,Cu,as well as the O2 kits as well.
They claim over 800 tests with the kit.I'm not nearly there.

 

wats a API KIT

 

How bout less sarcastic comments and actually learning something? Have you done any reading on the Nitrogen cycle?

Just because you dechlorinated your tap water and put it up to temp, does not mean its safe. Similarly, not changing water or things like filter floss can lead to high Nitrates and possibly growth of bacterial diseases that are harmful to your fish. If you running a planted tank, you want to target N,P and K levels.

Those are small amount of reasons for getting test kits

 

API is the brand name.
Very accurate kit and value for money.

 

ja ,the neon is a suggestion and so is every thing else what peolple tell you is suggestions on the forum ,i d rather use akit thats why i said it as a alternative

 

Zoom, i dont know about this, it just doent make sense to me. There is some guys on the marine forum that know their stuff and they seem to be familiar with an NH3 spike due to adding to much live stock in one goas the bio filtration simply cant keep up, now i dont know if the netrification bacteria in salt water differ alot from fresh water in their working ?

The other thing is that the bacteria will be as much as can be housed, so lets say you have 0.001ppm NH3 this will allow a filter the size of a decent bedroom filled with bio balls to be populated by the bacteria ? Does that sound logical ? So in theory tou can then take the filter, connect it to a 100 000L system and add a huge bio load all in one go that produces lets say 5ppm NH3 per day and it would be fine ?

 

zooms explanation was very brief im sure the conversation with the prof will provide some reference.

george I think you are taking what was said a bit out of context .
what was said is if you have a large biological filter and only a few fish , adding more fish won't create a ammonia spike as your filter would have the biological CAPACITY to handle the increased biological load .

I am however a bit lost myself as to what was said that the size of the media determines the bacteria colonies and not the bioload , I always thought the 2 go hand in hand as the bioload of fish feed the bacteria colonies ? then the bacteria will colonise if given the space to do so ?
im sure zoom will lead me to his discussion with the prof ? please?

zooms post was spot on in relation to this thread that had derailed !

perfect , cheers