All the important chemicals to test for...

[ocean4freedom]

Hi all,

I'm sure that this post has been answered in part in a number of other posts but to help the new addicts of this great art , here it is anyway, all in one useful spot:

In a pretty standard community tank, what is the cause, hazard level and method of reducing/protecting for the following:

Ammonia

Nitrates

Nitrites

Phosphate

Iron

Calcium

Cheers and good luck to those starting out in this great hobby. Hope you have lots of space (for the 1 ... 2 ... 4 ... 8 ... 12 tanks you'll get) :roll: , time (more time equals healthier fishies!), patience (to treat sick fish, grow out fry, get the parents to breed) ... oh and money (for everything!!)

[sharn]

i personally never test for calcium, phosphate or iron, it isnt needed unless you are running into problems (phosphate is often a cause for algae).

i find it useful to get a base test of your tap water done for kh to see what you are working with at your LFS, there is generally no need to test for it if you tap water is above 4DGH or so, therefore you dont really need to buy the kit if you dont have problems. gh isnt normally a problem unless you have picky species (africans, rams etc). a kh above 3 is classed as stable enough but i think you want it at least 5? if you are using co2. in te puke we have no buffering so our water is very prone to pH crashes so i have to put shell grit in all my filters to get the kh up.

ammonia and nitrite i only ever used for cycling but it is helpful to the newer people to have these on hand just incase you have problems with sick fish as the water is the first thing you want to rule out problems with.

i use my nitrate kit to tell me when i need to do water changes, i try to keep all my tanks under 30ppm, except the discus tank which is never allowed to get above 10ppm. once you work out how often you need to do water changes to eliminate high nitrates then you dont often need to use it unless you have sick fish. i beleive up to 80ppm is acceptable for short periods of time (like if you go on holiday for 2-3 weeks and cant do water changes) but anything under 40ppm is classed as 'in the safe and healthy range' from what ive read???

i prefer to keep it as simple as possible help newbies, if you tell them a million things they need to test for, a whole bunch of things they should be doing etc they are gonna start thinking its more hassle than its worth, you wana keep it simple and fun until they REALLY get hooked :lol: