water levels.

macey_19

macey_19

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Oct 20, 2006
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Bath, England
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just been down to my local aquatics centre, got a 5 in1 testing kit, all my levels are norm, NO3 was 10, NO2 was 0 pH is 7.2-7.6, kh 6 degrees. but my genral hardness was above 10 degrees, how do i get this back down to an acceptable level? input would be highly appreciated :dance:
 
macey_19 said:
just been down to my local aquatics centre, got a 5 in1 testing kit, all my levels are norm, NO3 was 10, NO2 was 0 pH is 7.2-7.6, kh 6 degrees. but my genral hardness was above 10 degrees, how do i get this back down to an acceptable level? input would be highly appreciated :dance:
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What's wrong? What isn't acceptable? I don't see anything wrong with any of your numbers. Fish need a stable pH and Hardness far more than they need the "correct" numbers. Unless they are swinging wildly, I wouldn't lose sleep.

BTW, did these numbers come from "dip strips"? They are notoriously inaccurate/inconsistent. Also, you didn't list your Ammonia content. If your kit doesn't test Ammonia, you need one that does. Most folks here use the Aquarium Pharm. Freshwater Master Test Kit.

SirWired
 
ahh, ok,yah, i am using dip tests, i am usig tetratest, and unfortunately it doesn'y test for ammonia, the genral hardnes 1 was the conern, because it said in the leaflet that came with the strips that a 'normal' level was 10 degrees, but mine is slightly above that. so what your saying is that there's nothing to worry about?
 
Are your fish living in it now? If so then great, just keep up the work. If they are new fish coming from the store I like to acclimate them to the new water slowly (keep them in a clean bucket and slowly add a little bit of tank water every 10 minutes until they are in almost complete tank water). Fish will adjust very easily if given time to the minor amount of dissolved stuff in slightly harder water.

Plus as was mentioned stable is the most important thing adn if you do large water changes or ever have to do emergency water changes and you have altered the water cemistry through chemicals you will be in trouble trying to adjust larger amounts (most petstore chemicals work slowly in changing the water chemistry).
 
ok then, thats cool, as long as my fish are fit and healthy, and thier environment is all hunky dory how it is, then i'm happy. going a wee bit of subject here, but, can bubble walls stress fish out?
 
macey_19 said:
ok then, thats cool, as long as my fish are fit and healthy, and thier environment is all hunky dory how it is, then i'm happy. going a wee bit of subject here, but, can bubble walls stress fish out?
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Unless you go crazy, bubble wallks won't bother fish. They can always just swim away from them.

And you still need to pick up an Ammonia kit of some kind. If you don't want to purchase a whole kit set, just the Ammonia test itself is available. While most folks here use the Aquarium Pharm. 2-regent kit, just about any regent-based test should do the trick.

If your fish EVER get sick, the very first thing you need to do is test Ammonia and NitrIte, (and most treatments kill the biofilter, so you need to perform once or twice a day tests during treatment) so you MUST have test kits for those chemicals on-hand.

SirWired
 
In the beginning , yes, this is entirely possible. They will get used to it though. Anything different tends to add stress to the fish. You can slow down or adjust the flow of the bubbles with a gang valve. Make it slow at first and then slowly over the course of a few days open it more for more and faster bublbes until you get it the way you want and the fish are happy.

Marinemom
 
thanks for the advice guys, i'm not sure, but, i don't think that we have the same products over here in england as you do in america, because i have never come across the two testing products that you have mentioned. when i add new fish, i always put he bag on top of the water for the water they are in (in the bag of course) to aclimatise, for at least 15 min, then, gradualy, of the course of an hour, i introduce the established water of my tank to the bag, then of course remove the bag once the acclimatisation process has finished
 
macey_19 said:
can bubble walls stress fish out?
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Some of my fish actually like to LAY on the bubble wand! I think the bubbles give them a nice massage :D A few of my fishies also like to swim in and out of the bubbles and ride them up to the surface! So unless there's something wrong with your water chemistry, or the fish are sick or stressed for any other reason, the bubble wall might actually be fun for them.
 
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