Nitrates 40 ppm and higher are dangerous to the fish. NitrAte is the least harmful form of ammonia in the tank, but in high amounts it is harmful. If your tank is cycled NitrAte is the only one you should test on a regular basis. That being said I do not test NitrAtes unless I have a reason to believe there is something wrong with the water. I have a routine for water changes, and I do them before they are required by testing results. I do weekly changes of 25-50 percent on all of my tanks. I do my 10 gallon guppy tank twice a week, as I have fry and want to ensure I have no mini cycles with the additional babies adding to the bioload. Keep in mind if you cant find the test, and cant afford to order it online, you should be able to take the water to your LFS for testing. Make sure you ask for the number results as this is how you will find out when to set you water change routine.
Nitrate test kit
- Thread starter captmicha
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the only thing i dont like about taking water to a store is that they sometimes find it a prime opportunity to sell you chemicals and buffers that you "need"
My tank is in a well lit window and the light (which I just started using) is a 15w All Glass Aquarium bulb. I'm guessing I need a brighter bulb? My plants are low light and medium light plants.
I was thinking about getting this: http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=77 or http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourish.html and http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html.
I was thinking about getting this: http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=77 or http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourish.html and http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html.
Are you using test strips or a liquid version for ammonia and nitrite? If you are using strips I recommend buying the API master kit in order to get all three, plus pH, in liquid test form.
flora pride only gives you K. if you look at the bottle it says 0-0-3 (n-p-k). flourish would be the one i recommend out of the two products you listed. it has your macro nutrients n-p-k (nitrate-phosphate-potassium) as well as micro nutrients like iron.
sunlight is generally not recommeded for fish tanks. do you have an algae prob?
what type of plants do you have?
sunlight is generally not recommeded for fish tanks. do you have an algae prob?
what type of plants do you have?
Liquid API is what I'm using. My version doesn't have nitrate.
What about the Seachem CO2 one? I only get algae problems once in a while. It's not really a problem. If I do get it, I do a good cleaning and dump some in my shrimp and snail tank. They really like it.
I have java moss (I hate it, it never grows on anything I want and clogs my filters), Anacharis, hair grass, crypt balansae, sagittaria, madagascar lace, aponogeton capuroni, bolbitis, and I think that's it.
i dont really know the reason, it just kills some plants. i melted my anacharis away when i first got them because i didnt know.
You bought the full kit and it didn't have nitrates?
You can buy them singly too...your store should have them.
