Water Chemistry

[hardparts2]

I filled my new aquarium and treated the water for clorine and cloramines and let it run all night.Then tested this morning this is what I got
nitrate=30
nitrites=0
gh=300
kh=300
ph = it was pink not on the chart
ammonia1.5
Does anyone know whats up with ph or whats goin on where would nitrate and ammonia come from

 

[urville]

wow you drink that water?
not sure, my kit has high range and low range ph test, depending on who amde your kit your either off the chart acid or off the chart alk from the sound of it.
gh and kh 300? i'm used to seeing these in degrees. who made your kit?
it's a fact some municipalties have terrible tap water conditions like much of so.cal. from what i hear.

but you'll be cycling for the nest 20-30 days unless you bio-spira - if available, or fishless cycle

 

[hardparts2]

Its jungle test strips its all I could get around here. I plan on doing a fish less cycle but I wanted the water adjusted for lake Malawi cichlids before I started the cycle

 

[Todd2]

So you have 30 ppm nitrate and 1.5 ppm ammonia out of the tap? Did you add anything to raise the ph or increase the hardness? That could be the reason your water chemistry is out of wack. A stable ph is better than a fluctuating ph. The test kit could be bad. Take your water to the lfs and have them test it.

 

[urville]

yeah i hate to tell you but dip tests are poo.
look at www.thatfishplace.com you should find a good liquid kit for around 15.00

 

[Menagerie]

A lot of people like www.bigalsonline.com too.

 

[hardparts2]

I found a liquid ph test kit and tested it it came out 8

 

[hardparts2]

and No I didnt add a thing

 

[urville]

ouch..., call your local water muncilipality and question them about that, you should be able to get a report on local water too. you may want to go and try grocery store spring water but even there it's kind of gamble. you could tring buying some RO water maybe at the lfs, but then you'll need to reconstitute it.
ro is okay but it wastes water to make the highly purified water, and you have to dose reconstitution additives.
thats a real bummer. try asking the lfs how they deal with the water
are you even city water or well?

 

[TankGirl]

Forget about your pH for now - it is great for Africans and is not a real issue. Ammonia and nitrate from tap water certainly are, and that is where attention needs to be directed. Definitely look into being certain about these values before you do anything else. A little nitrate in a municipal water system is not terribly rare, but ammonia is BAD and is contaminated, and there would be a public notice about such a thing.

 

[hardparts2]

I think I got the ammonia reading because of the chemicals I used to get rid of cloramines

 

[TankGirl]

Allright - that makes perfect sense. So you basically have alkaline water with some nitrate off the bat. You can still fishless cycle the tank and keep fish, as once the bacterial colonies are established they can handle the ammonia leftover from the chloramine removal by your dechlor no problem.

You can also mix RO water but you will need to be religious about doing this with every water change. It might be something to consider getting for your whole house, especially if you have high GH/KH as well, which means lots of deposits in faucets and washing machines, showerheads, etc.

 

[hardparts2]

Thanks for the help. I started my cycle lastnight I put in 7 teaspoons of ammonia and it tested at 6ppm.