Amonnia and Nitrates continue nominal, but two of my fish are still spending a lot of time at the top of the tank gasping for air. Should I do water changes, get an air pump? Other than that things seem to be doing good!
Dead Mollies
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Lupin
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Will do that tomorrow for sure thanks. pH took a big dip today from last night,, it went from the 7.2 to 6.0! Both are in the range for the fish I have though, how concerned should I be?
Lupin
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...I don't have a test kit for that! Argh. I bought the kit everyone told me to, the API one, it doesn't have those! This is getting very frustrating. According to the test strips that do measure that, the kh is low, under 80ppm, and the hardness is around 80ppm. Everyone I've talked to says they matter less than the other readings, especially since they are very sucesptible to water changes.
Also, the test strips reading for my nitrates, nitrites and pH is nearly identical to the readings from the API kit.
Also, the test strips reading for my nitrates, nitrites and pH is nearly identical to the readings from the API kit.
About the strips looking like a match to the API results, well, the strips are a crapshoot. It just depends how you swiped them in the water... their mood... etc.... Sometimes you'll get a close result, sometimes way off. It just depends.
It sounds like you're doing a great job getting back on track though. Good luck
It sounds like you're doing a great job getting back on track though. Good luck
I don't know. After reading everything here and on other sites I'm more confused than I've ever been. If kH and hardness are so important, how come no test kits I saw had them, should I worry about THAT now? Why is this so hard? This is the first tank I've had where I've even bothered measuring anything and its the first tank I've had any problems with.
Lupin
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You mentioned your pH dropped by a wide margin. Your water must be soft or the test kit is expired which is why you need the KH and GH test kit to be sure.
GH and KH are more important than pH, although less important than ammonia and nitrite. I think we can take it as red that your KH is very low, to be honest, which is why your KH is dropping. You can do something about that, but you do need the GH and KH test kits before you start messing with the water chemistry.
