Since you mentioned that this is your first tank I wonder if you are thoroughly familiar with the nitrogen cycle that the tank must go through.
A fishtank has to have a good colony of beneficial bacteria to breakdown the ammonia and nitrites that will begin to appear and build up to dangerous levels.
In fact, a cycled tank will have ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 bcause the beneficial bacteria will be "eating up" those harmful byproducts of the fish poo and decaying food and debris. The cycling process can take weeks, six to eight, unless you are able to "seed" your tank with squeezings from the filter media of a healthy established tank.
There is a "sticky" at the top of the page when you click on "freshwater forum" that fully describes the cycling process.
Until your tank is cycled you need to do water changes as frequently as needed to bring the ammonia and nitrite levels down below .25 and, really, as close to 0 as possible, and in an uncycled tank that can mean every day, if necessary, but usually several times a week.
Care in not overfeeding can help reduce spikes of ammonia, but until the tank is fully cycled you have to monitor the parameters closely. Take readings every day, using a liquid test kit, not strips. Strips are notoriously unreliable.
You MUST know what your parameters are and react accordingly with water changes as needed to keep the ammonia and nitrites as close to 0 as possible..
As levels of ammonia appear and start to climb the beneficial bacteria that loves ammonia and eats it up will begin to flourish. As it does its job and starts to break down the ammonia, then that produces nitrites as a byproduct of that. Then, with nitrites in the tank a beneficial bacteria that loves nitrites will appear and flourish and start to eat up the nitrites and produce nitrates as a byproduct. Nitrates are less harmful and are like fertilizer for plants.
The beneficial bacteria will grow and flourish and will be in your biofilter media in your tank filtration system, and in the gravel and on decor. You want to never replace your biofilter, just rinse gently in tank water. Other pads, sponges and such, carbon filters, etc. you wil need to replace, but the biofilter is not replaced.
It is the resident beneficial bacteria in a fishtank that remove the harmful components and keep your tank in a balanced state.
Ammonia in the tank is bad, nitrites are even worse, and nitrates are not bad except when the numbers get about 40. You really want to keep nitrates at or below 20 and plants love nitrates and can help with that, but ultimately, water changes should be done to keep nitrates at 20 or less if you don't have plants.
You may already have a cycled tank, but you didn't say how long you've had this tank set up.
Can you tell us when you set it up?
Did you have squeezings from an established tank, or decor or gravel from an established tank?
What are your parameters? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates, ph, etc.
Testing for Gh and KH tells you about the hardness of the water and the buffering ability of the water to keep the ph faiirly stable, but those tests aren't included in the API Master liquid test kit. They can be bought seperately, though.
But, first things first. Ammonia and Nitrites are the two things to really worry about and keep a close eye on.
Prime, water conditioner, is a life saver, especially for noobies and new tanks. It not only removes chloriine and chloramine, but detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for about 24 hours giving you time to do big water changes when convenient and not as you're needing to rush out the door to work.
Prime can also be added to the tank as an emergency dose to detoxifiy ammonia and nitrites when you find a spike in those parameters. It can save your fish's lives and your sanity.
Can you give us the information I've mentioned? Welcome to AC, by the way. Glad to have you here!
