Water Test Kit

George, If this discussion was had a few months back, I would have agreed with you 100%. I'm not too sure if I follow your example... but what I was trying to explain is that in an established tank... where you reached equilibrium... i.e pH constant, Ammonia at 0ppm, Nitrites at 0ppm and nitrates climbing slowly (to about 20/30ppm by the end of the week) you can therefore assume that the filter is full colonized, and doing it's job. As long as you don't OVERLOAD the filter with bio-load, as in over stock the tank, no matter how many fish you add... your filter will continue to keep the ammonia and nitrites at 0ppm. The problem is knowing where that overload is because there is so much other factors to consider... excess food, plant matter etc.

Again, your logic makes 100% sense, and I honestly and truthfully believed it. Even a lot of books on starting aquariums explain it that way... but when I brought it up in another thread (here), the professor explained in detail why I was incorrect. I then did a bit more research online, and actually I lean more towards the professor's answer. I've actually personally experienced it.

A while ago I killed off 85% of my fish due to medicating with 2 types of medication at the same time, and the mix became poisonous to the fish. I then cleaned the tank out, replaced the water, did a reasonable filter clean (leaving the biofilter alone tho)... and let the tank settle down a bit before restocking. The tank stood for about 6 weeks with literally one lonely rummy nose, 4 tetras, 3 angels, and 4 black widow tetras. One saturday morning I was visiting a fish breeder, and I got a HUGE stock of fish at a great price. (15 pristella tetras, 10 guppies), and at the same time, my lps store received the 5 female betta's I had ordered, as well as 4 ancistrus I wanted. I put all these fish in over a period of 24 hours. I was really worried about the bio-load and the ammonia and nitrites... I tested every day for 10 days... everything stayed at 0ppm. I didn't believe it, and the following weekend took some water to my lps for testing... same result. The only way I could accept this is through the explaination of the colony of the filter as I explained earlier.

To save you time from having to read through that entire thread, here is an exerpt from the professor explaining it in detail:

 

So I quikly did a "catch-up" on this discussion that got "derailed ?" and suddenly members are testing for "stuff" that previously were unnecessary.But we'll put that aside,for now.
But the question still remains,what is the most essential test kit/kits an aquarist should have,wether you are novice or expert ?

 

Rudi, it just seems pointless to test for NO2 when you could have caught it earlier by testing for NH3 ?

 

Okay, I will admit defeat,I test for Nitrite and not Ammonia,and that is that.
I test my Ph regularly because I live in the Western Cape and the water out the tap is very soft and low in "buffers",therefore,unstable and prone to crashing.And that is that.
I don't think there is any point discussing my water keeping practises anymore,but I can say this in all onnesty,I have never lost any fish due to a Ammonia/Nitrite spike or had a Ph crash.
I only give my advice and what I learnd through experience to help others,and will never do so to mislead or to just "say" something.
Take it as you will.

 

pH,Nitrate,Nitrite,Ammonia.

I may be wrong but i think these four are essential.

 

Spot on Slojo!

API Master kit has those 4, plus a high pH test in case your water is higher pH than their normal pH.

I've also got a gH because I'm starting to focus on plants.

 

any one keep discus

 

Check the Prof's subforum on Discus. If your questions aren't answered there, you can start your own thread on Discus, he will be more than happy to help when he has the time. The Prof will also be the first to tell us that our test kits are horribly unreliable and we all need a lab like his for good results

I'm sorry if this doesn't answer your post, your statement/question was kind of ambiguous.

 

It also did not relate to the topic of the thread.

 

na .i wanted to know in detail wat ideal conds is required for them

 

i got the tetra 6 in 1 today

 

Is there a digital version to check these levels, like nitrite

 

NH3 -N yes, but not NO2 and NO3. So buy a decent NO3 kit at least. I use the Sera and it is not That expensive. About R140.

NO3 is a definite killer, as explained the other day in my ammonia discussions thread. I am currently heavily overstocked with Angel fry grow out in my main tank. I have no other space and they do not sell fast enough. The result is that my NO3 constantly above 20ppm and closer to 50ppm, even with 50% water changes every second day. NH4 and NO2 stay at zero, as I have ample bio filtration. My fish is definately suffering and I found that Panda corries is the most sensitive. I lost 7 of the 8 so far. Strange, as I would think Neons and Cardinals would go first. Not one has died so far, but I can see deterioration in their condition.

 

Hi all.

When my wife bought her marine tank she bought a very expensive test kit with it, Sera Marina, I think it set her back then about R1300.00, maybe more. I'm busy with a little project at home with 2x 240lt tanks and 1x 200lt tank. All tanks are bear bottomed, no gravel. One of the tanks contain fish the other's don't have any fish yet but are up and running.

I have used this kit to check the water in all three tanks and I have taken water samples to my LPS and had it tested which also showed my water to be at the desired levels.

My question being can marine test kits be used on fresh water aquariums or are they specifically designed for marine?