Hardy Fish to put into aquarium.

[Zimmanski]

"Oh, then I do apologise. But either way - I can get a bigger tank when needed so this won't be a huge issue. Don't worry though, I am not one to put fish through any form of inhumane conditions. Thanks for your reply!"

Yay! I'm glad your not that kind of person, it makes me sad seeing big fish in tiny spaces, trust me if a BGK could be in a smaller tank I'd have one in my 55 already haha. Just be sure to research everything a great deal, remember that surviving and thriving are two completely different things

[BettaGal]

Low ammonia, or better yet tolerable ammonia, is below .25 ppm. If it gets to 1 ppm, it is toxic. The best test kits are liquid test kits. The strips, as I put it when I first learned this, lie to you. I did a 50% water change and the strips said it didn't go down at all.

[bud29]

Originally Posted by BettaGal

If it gets to 1 ppm, it is toxic.

Ammonia toxicity levels depend on other factors such as pH, there is no set level where ammonia becomes toxic.

[BettaGal]

Originally Posted by bud29

Ammonia toxicity levels depend on other factors such as pH, there is no set level where ammonia becomes toxic.

That's just what I was told. My apologies.

[jlk]

Originally Posted by bud29

Ammonia toxicity levels depend on other factors such as pH, there is no set level where ammonia becomes toxic.

Actually, there are fairly specific numbers in respect to ammonia toxicity, ph and temp but it is more complicated than most beginners that are trying to understand the basics of the nitrogen care to understand. So, it's generally recommended to keep ammonia at or below .25ppm. The api test measures free ammonia & combined ammonium together- it doesn't differentiate between the two. Also realize that while free ammonia has been scientifically documented to have detrimental effects on fish even in amounts as low as .1ppm, ammonium, while not anywhere as toxic, still is not healthy for fish either. So, simply, keep it as low as reasonably possible.

http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html

[bud29]

Originally Posted by jlk

Actually, there are fairly specific numbers in respect to ammonia toxicity, ph and temp but it is more complicated than most beginners that are trying to understand the basics of the nitrogen care to understand. So, it's generally recommended to keep ammonia at or below .25ppm. The api test measures free ammonia & combined ammonium together- it doesn't differentiate between the two. Also realize that while free ammonia has been scientifically documented to have detrimental effects on fish even in amounts as low as .1ppm, ammonium, while not anywhere as toxic, still is not healthy for fish either. So, simply, keep it as low as reasonably possible.

Ammonia Toxicity

Indeed. My point was that there is no set level where ammonia becomes toxic in all tanks of different pH and temperature, so nobody can say something like "ammonia becomes toxic at .4 ppm." That's all I was trying to point out.

[Autumnsky]

Changing the pH level is something to wait on. Adding Baking soda or even pH up or down should be avoided if possible. It is something to be done by very experienced fish keepers.

Many fish can adapt to conditions. It is very difficult to keep the levels the same by using chemical additives and in the long run it will harm the fish with the changes going up and down all of the time. Generally our tap water will be the same or similar over time.

It is better to select fish which live well in the type of water we already have available to us from the tap, especially at the beginning of fish keeping.

Also it is important to not add too many fish at a time.

One additional thing is not use tap water to rinse your filter pad, as that will kill the beneficial bacteria (BB) due to the chlorine, you can use old tank water and conditioned/dechlorinated water to rinse. Not change the pad until it is falling apart.

Never use soap to clean water buckets, tanks and things which will go into the tank, and always remember to have clean and rinsed hands, no soap, cologne, hand cream, etc. residue.

Happy fish keeping! Knowing this stuff ahead of time will help avoid soooo many problems and nightmares which can happen.

[marsh]

Boxing Day??? Lmao!! Hahahahaha, I'm sorry that's kills me. I put some Ammo-Lock in my filter last Flag Day, and some Root-Tabs in on Mardi-Gras. My fish are very influenced by esoteric forgettable days of the year

[Pipedreamer86]

Originally Posted by marsh

Boxing Day??? Lmao!! Hahahahaha, I'm sorry that's kills me. I put some Ammo-Lock in my filter last Flag Day, and some Root-Tabs in on Mardi-Gras. My fish are very influenced by esoteric forgettable days of the year

Hey flag day is my birthday!!

[marsh]

My Canadian mother informed me that in fact-- Boxing Day is a pretty big deal. I rarely made it up north in winter lol. (She's from Ontario)

Flag day is a cool day for BBQs-- and birthday parties I'm on the Gemini cusp- summer baby!

On topic-- Betta fish!! Gotta love em