Freshwater test kits

[MollyFan1]

I just recently bought a fresh water test kit to test for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and pH, etc. It does say for freshwater and my current water is brackish (have a little salt added) for my mollies. Does a bit of aquarium salt make a difference in the results? if this makes any sense...

Thanks!!

 

[amosf]

Not as far as I know and some test cover both SW and FW. I usually have salt in the tanks - like 1 to 2 grams per liter. It's not a lot compared to saltwater which is more like 35 grams per liter.

How much did you put?

 

[desertgoldhound]

Hmmmmmmmmm most master test kits that I know of only have one test for eather salt or fresh water. however my nitrate kit has one color slip for salt and one for freash howeve the reagents are the same. I would think that the kit would work but you may wont to log onto the manufatures site and e-mail the question to them. Post the responce here if you get one. Also what test kit did you buy?

 

[MollyFan1]

I put about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons but just recently added about 1 teaspoon per gallon. The test kit I have is called "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit". My Nitrate and Nitrite levels were very high and I had to do a 30-35 percent water change, which I'm doing everyday now to control the levels.

 

[amosf]

The freshwater tests will work fine for low salt levels like that. If you keep testing and water changing you should get the tank to stabilize nicely within a couple of weeks.

 

[MollyFan1]

Thanks so much for the help! I'm hoping to have it stabilized in a few weeks. I had to move my mollies to another tank because my other tank which was plastic was leaking. The ammonia and pH were prefectly fine except the nitrite and nitrate levels of which I've been trying to control for the last couple of days.

Thanks again!