Water Testing

[Sregnar35]

Started my cycle friday, fishless with coctail shrimp. Hw often should I test, and what for? Do I need to waste my nitrite, nitrate, pH tests when all I need right now is ammonia?? Maybe just ammonia and nitrites, you tell me??

[frazin78]

There is no need to test for nitrites right now until your ammonia is at 0, once that happens then you can start testing your nitrites once they hit 0 then you have cycled your tank. PH should be checked before you introduce your fish and if you do not have the correct PH buy a PH buffer.. this will quickly bring your levels to the correct PH. IF you bring your PH up too quickly with fish in the tank you will stress them out and they will probably die. Make sure to test your tap water to see the PH level of it. If it is too low then you may need to add small amoutns of buffer to your water changes to keep the correct level.

Thank you

[Sregnar35]

Ok, so i'll just test my ammonia every few days til it comes back to zero, then do the same with nitrites.

[mogurnda]

For the moment, start with NH3 and specific gravity. If your specific gravity fluctuates too wildly, your bacteria will establish more slowly. As NH3 drops, start testing nitrite. As Frazin says, once NO2 is down, you are cycled. Then you can start worrying about pH, NO3 Ca etc.

I would not worry about pH at this point. I would keep an eye on it, but it's not really an issue until you get livestock. Once the tank is cycled, your approach to pH depends on your livestock. If you are doing a fish-only system, the buffers in your salt mix should be adequate to keep the pH stable if you do regular water changes. You shouldn't need additives.

If you are doing a reef (I just can't remember your previous posts), then keeping alkalinity and Ca balanced will take a little more effort, but we can deal with that once your tank is ready for livestock.

[Sregnar35]

Thanks, I used my test kit for the first time Sunday, and I wasn't sure if I should test everything evertime I test. I am doing a FO with eventual LR (cured rock after cycle), so I guess pH shouldn't be too critical for my setup. My SG has stayed constant at 1.023, so that's looking good, and my three rotting shrimp look like they are wearing fur coats, and smell like rotten socks boiled in a pot full of pee!! YUM!!