New to MFK, water parameters:

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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Spazatax

Feeder Fish
Jul 13, 2015
3
0
1
41
Australia
Hey guys, i have been watching this site for a while and finally joined. I have 7 tanks at present with plans to increase into a dedicated fish room. I tested the water in my tanks today and have some questions you may be able to answer. I used an API Master Test Kit and API GH and KH Tests.

Nitates 160ppm. My water changing schedule is non-existant and the missus has just chewed me out about it. She says that regular water changes will fix this problem.

KH & GH. I stopped counting at 40 drops of chemical because I don't have a chart that goes even close to that high. I had a read up and have figured that a high KH is not a bad thing since I want the tanks to have a high pH. Too high just means I will have trouble bring it back down if I ever need to. Is this correct?

The GH has me confused. The highest my chart goes up to is 12 drops and I stopped counting at 40, so waaaay over that! So over 214ppm! I can't figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing, and if I should go trying to correct it. I mostly stock plecos, clown loaches, African Cichlids. None of the fish appear stressed or unwell. No deaths of unknown causes.

Thanks heaps for the help!
 
What is your substrate consist of and what decorations are in the tank? How old is the test kit? Have you tested your tap water to establish a base line comparison? When was the last time you did a water change and cleaned your filters? If the test kit isn't expired which would give false readings test your tap water first and see what that is. We'll start there.

Welcome to MFK!
 
Welcome to MFK:) Did you test for nitrite, and ammonia also high nitrates will stunt the growth of fish. Please start doing wc's on a regular basis, this not only help the fish reach their potential size but will replenish the aquarium with minerals it needs. Some fish will perish quickly in aquarium with nitrates that high.
 
Just an added word of caution, don't do too much to quickly you'll kill the fish. You have to correct this slowly. Answer the questions I asked and we'll guide you trough this. One more question, is in all 7 tanks? Are they connected trough a common filtration system or are they independent of each other? OK that was two questions.
 
The tanks are all completely independent. I clean the filters fairly often (in a bucket of tank water). 3 of the tanks GH was 89.5ppm. The rest were all over 40drops and the nitrites were 160+.

The substrate is gravel in most of the tanks, decorations are aquarium decorations, driftwood, one tank has plants that my missus is establishing on driftwood.

The nitrites and ammonia in the tanks were all super low, essentially 0. The test kit is only about a year old, if that.

We use rain water for the tanks. The nitrates were 5, GH & KH were above 40 drops. All pH for tanks and water source were between 6.2 & 7.6...a bit lower than we like so we are working on upping that too.
 
OK so your source water is reasonably close to your tank water. Don't mess with the chemistry. You could put a small amount of crushed coral in the tank or filter to add some buffering and stabilize the pH other wise I'd leave it alone. Start by doing 25% water changes daily, use your test kit to monitor nitrates. Ideally you want to be below 20 ppm lower is better but if you can maintain 20 ppm you'll be fine. Once you have the nitrates under control, use your test kit to monitor the nitrate creep and establish how often and at what % your water change schedule should be. Don't forget to vacume the substrate while doing the water changes. Start slowly and once you have the nitrates back down to acceptable levels just stay on top of you're routine maintance.
 
Thanks for that! The missus is on a warpath so water changes are definitely going to be a regular thing now! No need to soften the water? The GH isn't gonna cause problems?
 
Don't mess with it. Just start with water changes and monitoring.
 
I agree with Tom, water changes are much more important than messing with chemistry.
And just curious as to what you mean by African cichlids?
Rift lake type prefer very hard water (high GH/KH)
 
Spazatax said:
Hey guys, i have been watching this site for a while and finally joined. I have 7 tanks at present wIth plans to increase into a dedicated fish room. I tested the water in my tanks today and have some questions you may be able to answer. I used an API Master Test Kit and API GH and KH Tests.

Nitates 160ppm. My water changing schedule is non-existant and the missus has just chewed me out about it. She says that regular water changes will fix this problem.

KH & GH. I stopped counting at 40 drops of chemical because I don't have a chart that goes even close to that high. I had a read up and have figured that a high KH is not a bad thing since I want the tanks to have a high pH. Too high just means I will have trouble bring it back down if I ever need to. Is this correct?

The GH has me confused. The highest my chart goes up to is 12 drops and I stopped counting at 40, so waaaay over that! So over 214ppm! I can't figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing, and if I should go trying to correct it. I mostly stock plecos, clown loaches, African Cichlids. None of the fish appear stressed or unwell. No deaths of unknown causes.

Thanks heaps for the help!
Click to expand...
When your test kit will not read high enough, dilute your water being tested with one part tank water and one part DISTILLED water, then double your results.
Best to mix at least 1 or 2 oz each tank water with distilled for better ratio accuracy.
 
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