Test Strip

Gypsy RN

Hi I have a tank that's about a month old, I have the test strip that checks Nitrate, Nitrite, Hardness, Alkalinity, and PH. The side of the box has the "ideal range" but it doesn't tell you what to do if it doesn't match the color exactly, I'm not sure if these ranges are too high, to low, or within okay range, I have a 30 gallon tank with silver dollars in it, one cat fish, and a pleco. I hate to sound stupid but I want to keep my fish healthy, right now they are active and don't appear stressed, the ammonia level was a little high but a water change improved that, how do I determine which way I need to go with my other levels?

BMueller777

Well what aer your other levels? About?

Gypsy RN

That's what I don't understand, the Nitrate, Hardness, PH match the normals on the box but the Nitrite is dark pink and the normal on the box is light purple, I don't know if that means high or low, Alkalinity is much darker than on the box, is this high or low and how do I fix it?

Gypsy RN

Okay, Now I really feel stupid, I just checked my bottle of strips again and discovered that if you pull open the lable the color chart is there, sorry, I got it now, but my nitrite is 10.0 hardness is 25, nitrate about 30, alkalinity just below 120, PH 6.8, I did a 25% water change because the ammonia was elevated two days ago, how often can I do a water change without it being to stressful on the fish? I know I have to get the nitrite down but the fish don't appear stressed, they are active and eating well, any suggestions??

BJP

The important ones are ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You said the ammonia was high and you've done a water change trying to help that. The nitrite can't be low. It either has to be none or it's present. If it's present as your kit suggests it means that in conjunction with the ammonia reading, the tank is beginning to establish a cycle. Nitrate will eventually start to rise also once the other bacteria start to develop to convert the nitrite into nitrate. Once the tank has established itself you should never get another ammonia or nitrite reading but the nitrate will rise steadily all the time telling you how often the tank should be cleaned. I would pick up a dedicatted nitrate kit that only tests that. API makes a nice one that gives you actual numbers to go by. Your current strip will probably work alright for the remainder of the cycle.

Alkalinity, ph and hardness I wouldn't worry about other than just knowing what they are one time. It's better not to fiddle with those if you don't have to.

BJP

You can change water as often as you like as long as you aren't throwing the temperature or PH into major flucutations. I've done 50% daily changes trying to keep the nitrite level down and it wasn't enough if I continued to feed the fish. If you're showing a nitrate reading then that's usually a sign the bacteria are in place. All you need now is a little more time for them to reproduce to quantities sufficient to keep up with the amount of food you're feeding.

Gypsy RN

Thanks for your help, I'll get those other strips and do a water change, can you explain to me what a "cycle" is?

dlee9707

The "cycle" of a tank, is its ablility to take fish waste/decaying matter (ammonia) and turn it into less harmful things (nitrate) This is done by "raising" colonies of bacteria in your filter. Once a tank is cycled it will stay cycled forever. Adding a bacteria supplement or gravel/filter media from another tank will speed it up.

There are two sets of bacteria in a tank, one goes from ammonia -> nitrite, other from nitrite->nitrate. So if you have nitrite and nitrate levels your almost done your cycle, just wait for nitrite to hit 0, should be under a week (as nitrite goes down, nitrate goes up)

If you want mroe detail, theres a sticky hanging around somewhere with a more indepth look at this.

Gypsy RN

Thanks a lot you all have been a great help, as a beginner I really needed some experienced help, I'm so bad if you read the other postings I couldn't even find the color charts on my test strip bottle anyway I appreciate you guys availablity to dummies like me.

BMueller777

Did you get the "quick dip 5 in 1" test strips? I had no idea where the color chart was either when I got mine untill my little brother found it. Made me feel dumb lol