Hi, New member Michael - Water testing

[miketimestwo]

Hello group, thanks, glad to be part of the group.
I have a question about the ApI freshwater master test kit. Is it a good reliable test kit?
I have followed all the instructions very carefully, but my results fluctuate week by week.
Just a little background, this tank is 30 gallons and a 3 week old set-up. I did do a 50% water change everyday for 2 weeks, then 25% everyday for the 3rd week.
I added plants 3 weeks ago and just added more 3 days ago to fill in some blank spots. I was as careful as I could be not to disturb the substrate.
There are still no fish in the tank.
I dose, 2ml - 1 pump, every day with Tropica Specialized nutrition plant food.
Today my test results are Ammonia .25ppm, PH 7ppm, Nitrite 10 ppm and Nitrate is 20 ppm.
I am still not confident this numbers are within a good range to add fish.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Michael

[Aiken Drum]

The test kit is good enough for the purposes you are using it for. Its a home test kit, not laboratory testing.

You havent really been clear on what fluctuations you are seeing. Have you kept a log of what water parameters you have been seeing?

What do you understand about the nitrogen cycle? Do you know how to cycle a tank? Nothing you are doing will establish the nitrogen cycle in the tank.

Edit: Your water parameters will almost certainly kill fish in short order. Your nitrite is 20x higher than i would recommend.

You need to cycle the tank.

[Colin_T]

Hi Michael and welcome to the forum

Fish need water with 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and less than 20ppm nitrate. Don't add any fish until the ammonia and nitrite have both come back down to 0ppm.

The fact your nitrite is going up, suggests the filter is developing and has the first group of beneficial bacteria that are converting ammonia into nitrite. Over the next few weeks more good bacteria should grow and convert the nitrite into nitrate. When the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come back down to 0ppm, then the filter will be cycled and you can add some fish.

If you have lots of live plants in the tank, they can use some of the ammonia and cause the levels to drop.

You can get a bucket of tap water and test that for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Test the pH on that same bucket of water each day for a week and record the results.

--------------------

What is the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

[miketimestwo]

Hi Colin, thank you for taking the time to explain and help. It means a lot.
I did test my tap water and the results were all perfect. I will wait for the filter to develope more beneficial bacteria. I will keep testing the water and recording the results.
Thanks again!
Michael

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by miketimestwo

Hi Colin, thank you for taking the time to explain and help. It means a lot.
I did test my tap water and the results were all perfect. I will wait for the filter to develope more beneficial bacteria. I will keep testing the water and recording the results.
Thanks again!
Michael

Just so you know, for some reason, the nitrate reagents from this kit really need to be shaken well in order to get a reliable result. Other than that, the API kits are one of the better ones for what we do with them.

[miketimestwo]

Thanks Andy!

[JJenna]

You've taken the easiest approach to cycling a tank by putting plants in. Now comes the waiting part because all you need to do now is keep up with the fertilizing using both water column fertilizers and root tabs for the plants that need them. I doubled the amount of fertilizer the first 2 weeks to help jump start their growth.

Just a warning, you will likely never see nitrites when you test using plant cycling because the plants are so efficient at consuming nitrogen wastes. Once you start to see the plants show new growth you may still show no nitrates but that's pretty typical as well. Then you can start adding a few shrimp or snails. They will start eating the biofilm on the glass or wood in the tank. You'll know what it is when you touch the wood and it's slippery.

No need to do water changes at this point, you want the ecosystem to develop.

Keep up with your weekly testing and write it down...or get the app Aquatic Log where you'll have graphs to look at to see the changes. This can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Just look for new plant growth and start adding stock slowly so you don't crash the tank.

[miketimestwo]

Thank Jjenna, great advice. I have been writing everything down. I have also introduced 3 algae cleaners. The plants are now showing some new growth. I will introduce more fish each week. The tank is now 5 weeks old and looking very clear. I will do a 25% water change each week. I think this is recommended, unless the reading spike. Thanks again for everyones help.

[Aiken Drum]

I should add that most commonly kept aquarium plants arent going to take up noticable amounts of ammonia or nitrate. Only a week ago OP was reporting nitrite at 10ppm and nitrate at 20ppm which would indicate the plants arent going to do very much towards keeping water parameters safe.

While nitrogen cycle will have established some more in the last week, its unlikely the tank is properly cycled.

[JJenna]

Originally Posted by miketimestwo

I will do a 25% water change each week. I think this is recommended, unless the reading spike.

Algae eaters are a great choice for first fish! What kind did you get? I applaud you for taking the time to establish an ecosystem.

Water changes...everyone has their own way and you'll see recommendations all over the place. I'd like to you to learn how to evaluate if your water needs changing because every tank has a different schedule. Right now, you have a very low bio-load. The more fish you have, the more food you will be eating which will increase fish waste.

This is where testing regularly when you are first establishing a tank is helpful. When you test for nitrates, you can see if they are raising, and at that point you can start to regulate them through water changes. Keep your nitrates below 40ppm.

I'll give an example: You test your water and see that you have 10ppm nitrates. If you don't change anything (amount of fish or food or plants). It will take 4 weeks to get to 40ppm. You want to keep nitrates below 40ppm so you would do a 30% water change. That will reduce nitrates by 30%. As you start to add more fish you will see changes. In my newest tank, I did not do any water changes for the first 3 months as there were no nitrates due to my tank being lightly stocked and heavily planted.

[miketimestwo]

Originally Posted by JJenna

Algae eaters are a great choice for first fish! What kind did you get? I applaud you for taking the time to establish an ecosystem.

Water changes...everyone has their own way and you'll see recommendations all over the place. I'd like to you to learn how to evaluate if your water needs changing because every tank has a different schedule. Right now, you have a very low bio-load. The more fish you have, the more food you will be eating which will increase fish waste.

This is where testing regularly when you are first establishing a tank is helpful. When you test for nitrates, you can see if they are raising, and at that point you can start to regulate them through water changes. Keep your nitrates below 40ppm.

I'll give an example: You test your water and see that you have 10ppm nitrates. If you don't change anything (amount of fish or food or plants). It will take 4 weeks to get to 40ppm. You want to keep nitrates below 40ppm so you would do a 30% water change. That will reduce nitrates by 30%. As you start to add more fish you will see changes. In my newest tank, I did not do any water changes for the first 3 months as there were no nitrates due to my tank being lightly stocked and heavily planted.