Test readings high

Starryeyes · 08-26-2006, 10:49 AM

I have a 55 gal tank with angel fish, bala sharks, red tail sharks and tiger barbs. The angels recently started fighting for no apparent reason so I did a water test. Upon doing a test ,the nitrates, ph and alkalinity are off the charts on the test strips! We have always had issues with the PH being high..not sure what causes that but none of the PH chemicals I have added have ever brought it down. So I did a 40% water change with new gravel which did not help one bit with the readings being so high.

What can I do? I don't want to lose anymore fish and I hear these high readings can cause aggressiveness if they are stressed. Any ideas?

Jay · 08-26-2006, 12:35 PM

Hi Starryeyes.

You have a tank full of aggressive, territorial fish. Even Angles establish a pecking order of dominance.

There is no way to help you unless you can tell us what the water parameters are.

pH, KH, GH, Nitrite, Ammonia, Nitrate and the basics. Test strips IMHO are the worst for accuracy.

What is your water source and does it have the same parameters as the tank water?

What is your substrate?

What chemicals do you add?

Check out this sticky
http://www.fishtankforums.com/fish-t...solutions.html

Regards,
Jay

Starryeyes · 08-26-2006, 04:03 PM

Thank you Jay. OK let me see if I can answer some of these.

My tank is a 55 gallon that has been established for maybe 6-8 months. The tests I took today showed: PH above 8.8 (tester wouldn't go any higher), amonia 0, nitrate 200+, nitrites .5, TH 25, and alkalinity 300+. Our water is well water from a company called Aqua Source TX that is awful! I have a pool and the readings on it are always really high on everything as well.

The only chemicals I use are Aqua Safe when I add water or do a water change and I did the Prime when I did the 40% water change a few days ago as well. That's all that has been or is ever added. I've tried most of the PH lower chemicals and none have ever worked but that's been years ago. Will aquarium salt help with the PH?
I feed the fish twice a day.. about a pinch of flakes both times. I have 10 fish and don't do water changes very often at all, which could be part of my problem.

Jay · 08-26-2006, 04:35 PM

My advice for now is the numbers are a little wacky. Perhaps the local fish store can test for you. In any event I would invest in a liquid reagent kit for the basic tests.

I don't trust the readings you are getting. They are not critically bad, I just am suspicious of them.

Worst case here is you may have to start doing more frequent water changes with filtered or bottled water, say 20% a week to give you a better level of comfort.

Lets get comfortable with a little more reliable test method.

Regards,
Jay

ahill3780 · 08-26-2006, 04:37 PM

To me those test results indicate poor and extreme levels in a couple of readings. Although I doubt much of them are accurate (especially the pH) if you are using the dip-strips.

Here is a post I just finished for my saltwater thread on test kits. Most of the information in the article holds true for freshwater test kits as well.

http://www.fishtankforums.com/saltwa....html#post1526

See section 3 - Test Kits.