Still Newbie here, did some water tests, whats; next?

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:

Ammonia - 0
general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
Carbonate hardness - 110
PH Low range - 7.6
PH high range - 8
Nitrites - 0

What does this mean?
What's my next step?

Btw what is the appropriate water temperature anyway?
My tank is currently at 24C, a friend with a tank said it should be
around 21-22C only??

[Richard Sexton]

In article . com>,
> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:
>
>Ammonia - 0
>general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
>Carbonate hardness - 110
>PH Low range - 7.6
>PH high range - 8
>Nitrites - 0
>
>What does this mean?

It means you have a test kit and found your water was average.
180 ppm is "very hard". Wonder what they'd call my 1200ppm
water or LA's 800ppm water... "liquid rock" ? I'd call
180 ppm water just slightly ther other side of "soft".


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[Elaine T]

Richard Sexton wrote:
> In article . com>,
> > wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:
>>
>>Ammonia - 0
>>general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
>>Carbonate hardness - 110
>>PH Low range - 7.6
>>PH high range - 8
>>Nitrites - 0
>>
>>What does this mean?
>
>
> It means you have a test kit and found your water was average.
> 180 ppm is "very hard". Wonder what they'd call my 1200ppm
> water or LA's 800ppm water... "liquid rock" ? I'd call
> 180 ppm water just slightly ther other side of "soft".
>
>
1200??? Ack! My 240 ppm GH water leaves the worst scale on my drinking
glasses and shower I've ever seen. Are you sure LA is up at 800? San
Diego and LA both have Colorado river water and my 240 ppm number is
from the water plant rather than a test kit so I know it's accurate.

Anyway, you should be able to keep most fish in that water. It's a
little high pH for REALLY sensitive fish like rams or discus.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Squeek]

Hi!
just letting you know that you dont need to use both PH test kits...

ONly use the high range PH if you are keeping fish that live in a high
PH....Other fish (like goldies and stuff) you can just use the low range ph
kit....
> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:
>
> Ammonia - 0
> general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
> Carbonate hardness - 110
> PH Low range - 7.6
> PH high range - 8
> Nitrites - 0
>
> What does this mean?
> What's my next step?
>
> Btw what is the appropriate water temperature anyway?
> My tank is currently at 24C, a friend with a tank said it should be
> around 21-22C only??
>

[Richard Sexton]

>> It means you have a test kit and found your water was average.
>> 180 ppm is "very hard". Wonder what they'd call my 1200ppm
>> water or LA's 800ppm water... "liquid rock" ? I'd call
>> 180 ppm water just slightly ther other side of "soft".
>>
>>
>1200??? Ack! My 240 ppm GH water leaves the worst scale on my drinking
>glasses and shower I've ever seen. Are you sure LA is up at 800? San
>Diego and LA both have Colorado river water and my 240 ppm number is
>from the water plant rather than a test kit so I know it's accurate.

Yup, that's what the LA water district report said it was when
I lived there. It picks up a lot of hardness from the concrete
pipelines. And some radiation, but it's in "acceptible limits".

I got an RO filter after I read that...

>Anyway, you should be able to keep most fish in that water. It's a
>little high pH for REALLY sensitive fish like rams or discus.

Doesn't seem to bother anything.

--
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1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[Elaine T]

Richard Sexton wrote:
>>>It means you have a test kit and found your water was average.
>>>180 ppm is "very hard". Wonder what they'd call my 1200ppm
>>>water or LA's 800ppm water... "liquid rock" ? I'd call
>>>180 ppm water just slightly ther other side of "soft".
>>>
>>>
>>
>>1200??? Ack! My 240 ppm GH water leaves the worst scale on my drinking
>>glasses and shower I've ever seen. Are you sure LA is up at 800? San
>>Diego and LA both have Colorado river water and my 240 ppm number is
>
>>from the water plant rather than a test kit so I know it's accurate.
>
> Yup, that's what the LA water district report said it was when
> I lived there. It picks up a lot of hardness from the concrete
> pipelines. And some radiation, but it's in "acceptible limits".
>
> I got an RO filter after I read that...
>
>
>>Anyway, you should be able to keep most fish in that water. It's a
>>little high pH for REALLY sensitive fish like rams or discus.
>
>
> Doesn't seem to bother anything.
>
I meant the original poster for rams or discus. When my ex-husband kept
discus here, they needed a minimum of 50% weekly water changes to handle
the higher pH and hardness, and twice weekly was better. Otherwise they
went dark and striped and hid in the corner. I think the high pH
stressed them so that DOC and nitrates had to be at an absolute minimum.
Since rams are similar, I'm adding enough RO water to my tank with the
ram to drop the pH to about 7.2 and that's working much better. (I'm
guessing 8 the correct measurement for OP's water since it's hard to
read above 7.4 with bromthymol blue.)

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Dick]

On 9 Mar 2005 21:01:10 -0800, "
> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:
>
>Ammonia - 0
>general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
>Carbonate hardness - 110
>PH Low range - 7.6
>PH high range - 8
>Nitrites - 0
>
>What does this mean?
>What's my next step?
>
>Btw what is the appropriate water temperature anyway?
>My tank is currently at 24C, a friend with a tank said it should be
>around 21-22C only??

24c is 75f, I run my tanks about 77 - 78 f. I don't think your friend
has good information. However, check your LFS or check web sites that
sell fish. They usually indicate water temperature ranges for each
species.

Now that you know your water parameters, you can quit testing and get
down to "fishing."

dick

[Geezer From The Freezer]

" wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I got ahold of one of those master ater tests and here are the results:
>
> Ammonia - 0
> general Hardness - 180 (moderatly hard, very hard)
> Carbonate hardness - 110
> PH Low range - 7.6
> PH high range - 8
> Nitrites - 0
>
> What does this mean?
> What's my next step?
>
> Btw what is the appropriate water temperature anyway?
> My tank is currently at 24C, a friend with a tank said it should be
> around 21-22C only??

I'd consider doing nitrAte test too!!

[Bill]

On 2005-03-10, > wrote:
> PH Low range - 7.6
> PH high range - 8

Just a note, if you go off the scale on one pH test (like you did with
the first one you listed), that means that the pH can't be measured with
that test as it's out of its range. In other words, your pH is 8.0 --
the first kit couldn't accurately measure it, but the second one could.
FWIW, my pH is around 8.3.

[Angrie.Woman]

"Squeek" > wrote in message
...
> Hi!
> just letting you know that you dont need to use both PH test kits...
>
> ONly use the high range PH if you are keeping fish that live in a high
> PH....Other fish (like goldies and stuff) you can just use the low range
> ph kit....

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I thought that if your PH ended up at the high
end of the low range, you needed to use the next kit. I think that the low
end kit only goes so high, so if your water has a higher PH you need to use
the high end. But only the high end...

A

[[email protected]]

Visited the pet store and got a PH Adjust from Nutrafin to bring the Ph
down.

Which means no fish for me :(

Btw a friend of mine that also has a tank, told me before pouring this
chemical in the water to bring it down to remove the charcoal bag out
of the filter otherwise it will require more chemical poured in the
water.
According to him the charcoal absorves that chemical leaving it no time
to change ph.

Any truth in this?


Also what is the correct temperature in Celsius that I should have for
the water?

[spiral_72]

Let us know what kind of fish you are keeping. Live plants? How many
fish? Judging from you ammonia level, I'd bet you are not keeping
goldfish.

The water parameters look good to me such as they are. I agree with 180
being on the soft side. It also looks like your tank has cycled (IMO).
Depending on the kind of fish you are keeping, your parameters are
probably O.K. The pH is a little high for some fish but in my (limited)
experience most fish don't mind as long as it stays right there over
the long term. Given that, I would be concerned with keeping those
water parameters right where they are. Use those numbers as a baseline.
Make about 30% water changes once a month or better yet, two 20%
changes in a month. Make sure you condition your tap water too.

Water temp is a matter of opinion. IN GENERAL (again IMO) cooler
water=fish have less appetite and warmer=fish are more active, more
appetite. Fish live in a range of temps and 24C is perfectly ok if kept
fairly constant. I would say 21-22C is a little on the cool side
(assuming you hae tropical fish or similar) with 28C a little on the
warm side. (for tropicals) I had a power failure one winter for 4 days.
My water temp got down to about 45F (7C). The poor little guys just
kinda bobbed around and didn't eat a thing. When the power come back on
I didn't lose one fish!

Your water parameters look similar to mine. I keep tropical community
fish (neons, swordtails ect.)

my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

[Richard Sexton]

>I meant the original poster for rams or discus. When my ex-husband kept
>discus here, they needed a minimum of 50% weekly water changes to handle
>the higher pH and hardness, and twice weekly was better. Otherwise they
>went dark and striped and hid in the corner. I think the high pH
>stressed them so that DOC and nitrates had to be at an absolute minimum.
> Since rams are similar, I'm adding enough RO water to my tank with the
>ram to drop the pH to about 7.2 and that's working much better. (I'm
>guessing 8 the correct measurement for OP's water since it's hard to
>read above 7.4 with bromthymol blue.)

I can't see how discus would be bothers by that ph and hardness
or how water changes would fix that. The water you're adding is
still hard and alkaline right? Sounds more like ammonia to me.

Despite the water here being hard Ihave no problem keeping
fish from 0ppm acid water like killies and apistogrammas,
here's a pic of red agassii eggs laid here in this water;
the fish were raised in soft acid water.

http://images.aquaria.net/fish/cichlids/Apistogramma/agassizi/red/

Now, they didn't hatch, and I suspect were infertile; Ron
Harlan told me calcium ions attach to the unfertilized egg
and block the entry of spermatozoa.

Water hardness is not fixed. Last fall in southern ontario
a bunch of people teste their hardness. Lake Ontario
watr is supposed tobe hard (375ppm) but people found
anwhere from 30 - 175 ppm depending on where they lived,
even though the water all came from the same source. Very
odd.


--
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http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[Richard Sexton]

>>My tank is currently at 24C, a friend with a tank said it should be
>>around 21-22C only??
>
>24c is 75f, I run my tanks about 77 - 78 f. I don't think your friend
>has good information. However, check your LFS or check web sites that

Depends on the fish. My tanks range from 65-59 degrees (18-21C).

If the fish are fine and happy at the current temperature it's fine.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[Gill Passman]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Visited the pet store and got a PH Adjust from Nutrafin to bring the Ph
> down.
>
> Which means no fish for me :(
>
> Btw a friend of mine that also has a tank, told me before pouring this
> chemical in the water to bring it down to remove the charcoal bag out
> of the filter otherwise it will require more chemical poured in the
> water.
> According to him the charcoal absorves that chemical leaving it no time
> to change ph.
>
> Any truth in this?
>
>
> Also what is the correct temperature in Celsius that I should have for
> the water?
>
Hi,
I'm not quite clear why you feel you have to lower the pH. My local pH is
around 8. The pH in my tanks is 7.5 - this is the same level as my lfs have
meaning that there is unlikely to be too much shock when adding fish. Surely
by adding chemicals and altering the pH you run the risk of pH shock when
adding the new fish? (JMO)

We keep a range of fish quite happily in our tanks without any probs - IMHO
you should match the fish to your local conditions unless you are looking to
keep specific fish that would not tolerate a high pH rather than attempting
to change it artificially. And also try and find out the pH of the water at
your local stockists.

Just my thoughts...
Gill

[[email protected]]

What kind of fish do you have?

[Elaine T]

Richard Sexton wrote:
>>I meant the original poster for rams or discus. When my ex-husband kept
>>discus here, they needed a minimum of 50% weekly water changes to handle
>>the higher pH and hardness, and twice weekly was better. Otherwise they
>>went dark and striped and hid in the corner. I think the high pH
>>stressed them so that DOC and nitrates had to be at an absolute minimum.
>> Since rams are similar, I'm adding enough RO water to my tank with the
>>ram to drop the pH to about 7.2 and that's working much better. (I'm
>>guessing 8 the correct measurement for OP's water since it's hard to
>>read above 7.4 with bromthymol blue.)
>
>
> I can't see how discus would be bothers by that ph and hardness
> or how water changes would fix that. The water you're adding is
> still hard and alkaline right? Sounds more like ammonia to me.
>
Never found any measurable ammonia or nitrite in those tanks. We had
biowheels on them so biofiltration was quite good and constant and at
that time there was only chlorine in the tapwater rather than
chloramines. I think it was probably a TDS issue, with the higher kH
plus GH plus DOC plus nitrates being too much. The water changes would
have dropped TDS since the tank only had a few plants. I've never had a
conductivity meter to test my hypothesis.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[steve]

Spot on. I think that's why the original poster gave us both results.
Tested with low, gave us number which happened to be max or close to
it. Tested with high and gave a more accurate number. Excellent
process if you ask me.

steve

[[email protected]]

Thanaks,

That was what I did actually.

This master kit comes with tests for nitrites, amonia, hardness GH and
KH and PH low and high.