When is my water safe?

[sivic]

Wondering what i need to find out if the water is safe here is what ive done so far.

1. Filled up tank with plain tap water
2. Added dechlor to the water
3. Installed filter and placed sponge+decoartions from established aquarium in the filter
4. I let it run for a day or 2 then i added a product called Bio Spira that someone recommended me to use
5. Bio Spira is supposed to be added with fish so i bought 3 small danios which are supposed pretty hardy fish


Im using some cheap 5-in-1 test and here are my levels (these numbers arent very accurate at all, sort of hard to decypher the colors)

Ph: 7.6-8.0
Total Alkalinity/Buffering Capacity: 120-180
Total hardness: 50-120 range
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-20 ppm

Now these tests dont include ammonia but i found my mom had a pond water test kit. I dont see why this test couldnt work on a freshwater aquarium since water is water. But using that test i found the ammonia to be 0 mg/l. Doesnt seem right does it? Or is it just because these 3 small fish in a big 55 gallon aquarium dont register enough ammonia. I need to know how i will know for sure when my water is safe for adding the fish in.

This post was orginally in the brackish forum until i realized i dont even have brackish water setup (never believe LFS people). Original post was located at here

 

[Vitaliy]

Well Amonia is suppose to be 0, its toxic to fish, so that is very good. Your pH on the other hand seems a little too high for freshwater fish, check your tap water pH and if your tap water simply has high pH I suggest adding some driftwood to your tank as decor or some peat to your filter.

 

[daveedka]

Don't mess with Ph !!!!!!!!!!

Staedy ph is better than any specific target Ph. Keep it at a level that matches your tap and you will have no trouble.
The ammonia is still 0 for a couple of possible reasons.
#1 Bio-spira
#2. small bio-load for a short period.

With three small fish and bio-spira you should never see readable ammonia or nitrite. But if for some reason the bio-spira wasn't good, you will see these numbers slowly climb. Keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 ppm. To protect your fish. Give it a week since you are already at this point, and then slowly add a couple of fish at a time with at least a week in between. You will be fine.
The strips are largely innacurate and un dependable. So have some water verified by your LFS now and then to compare numbers. The ond kit for ammonia is fine as you suspect, Freshwater is Freshwater and ammonia is ammonia.
HTH
Dave

 

[sivic]

Don't mess with Ph !!!!!!!!!!

The pond kit for ammonia is fine as you suspect, Freshwater is Freshwater and ammonia is ammonia.

Will the pond testing kit be alright for testing the nitrate, nitrite, ph also?

Also when you say to add fish slowly should i just stick with adding a couple of danios? or can i start to slowly add some of my fish from my other tank. The fish in my other tank are 3 mollys, a red sepra tetra, pictus cat, and a ropefish.

 

[daveedka]

Pond kits and freshwater aquarium kits will work for either one, so yes the pond kits are fine.

Basically, the bacteria you introduced with bio-spira will die to some extent under the small bio-load you have. You will first want to make sure the bio-spira did work, by testing frequently for a week or so. Then you will want to add fish very slowly (1 or 2 at a time) to allow the bacteria to reproduce, and adjust to the larger load. By doing this you will eliminate spikes, and let your tank estabilish itself at a workable pace. I would not buy any fish you don't plan to keep, so I would suggest adding the fish you plan to have in the tank when it is done.

Now, If you already have an estabilished tank, then you have an available source of bacteria, and hove no need whatsoever of bio-spira. You just bought exactly the same bacteria you have living in your other tank. All you need to do is transfer some media from the filter on your estabilished tank to the new tank, and you will have a starter colony of bacteria working in your favor.
dave