most important factor?

[Curt]

This might be a difficult to answer but....I just retired and am
setting up a 55 gal tank. With all the varing factors, PH, Temp,
Nitrate. etc Which is the most important to keep track of?
Thx much.....

[NetMax]

"Curt" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> This might be a difficult to answer but....I just retired and am
> setting up a 55 gal tank. With all the varing factors, PH, Temp,
> Nitrate. etc Which is the most important to keep track of?
> Thx much.....


Depends...
When setting up a new tank, your biggest problems will be ammonia &
nitrite poisoning (during cycling).

When stocking with fish, your biggest problem will be matching the fish
to your natural water supply, if your water supply is at an extreme (very
soft or very hard) and/or you want fish which prefer the opposite
extreme. This includes temperature and pH, avoid extremes or stock with
fish which like those extremes.

When the tank is operational and stabilized (cycled), then your interest
moves to keeping the water clean (gravel vacuum and partial water
changes), and stable (steady temperature, pH etc).

If you scroll down to Dec 2, Welcome to rec.aquaria.freshwater.*,
references and FAQ pointer by Elaine T, this post lists some very useful
FAQ sites which will answer most of your questions (ie: thekrib), and
there is always someone around if you get stuck or confused :o).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "Curt" > Spake Unto All:

>setting up a 55 gal tank. With all the varing factors, PH, Temp,
>Nitrate. etc Which is the most important to keep track of?

If the tank is in a heated/air conditioned room and you do weekly
water changes and don't overstock too heavily, the answer is 'none'. I
know that's not the impression you get from literature, but it's true.

If it ISN'T in a heated room etc, then temperature is the most
important (unless you have native coldwater fish it should be in the
range 20-30 degrees Celsius), followed by ammonia and nitrite (should
be zero - and once the tank is up and running it should be, unless you
do something silly like kill off the good bacteria by too thorough
cleaning of the sand and filters, so it's mainly an issue the first
month or so).

Then there is nothing, then there is nothing, then there is alkalinity
and pH. Both are mainly an issue if you have unusually soft tap water
and/or you're going to run a high-tech plant aquarium. Despite what it
says in the books & on the web, any freshwater fish on earth will
actually be 100% happy at any pH between 6.5 and 8.5, and you won't
get outside that pH range without active effort.

Then there is a whole slew of tests which might be useful under
special circumstances, like copper, nitrate, oxygen...

So... Temperature is by far the most important. Second most important
is ammonia/nitrite. Then there is a big jump to alkalinity and pH,
which under normal circumstances will be complete non-issues but which
may be important if you're going to set up a specialty aquarium
(high-tech plant aquarium, blackwater fish breeding tank, use RO
water...). Then there are all the rest.

[Fish2Keep]

Nitrate and Ammonia are very important to keep track off. If you use normal
tap water, try to keep the PH around 7.0 or slightly lower, unless you keep
fish that require a higher Ph value, as Ammonia is much more deadly in a
talk with a Ph above 7.0

--
http://www.fish2keep.com
Share your fish keeping skills!!!



"Curt" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> This might be a difficult to answer but....I just retired and am
> setting up a 55 gal tank. With all the varing factors, PH, Temp,
> Nitrate. etc Which is the most important to keep track of?
> Thx much.....
>

[Curt]

I
know that's not the impression you get from literature, but it's true.


Boy that is an under statement. There is so much written that I get
more confused as to what to do. No I don't have a speciality aquarium.
Thx for the advice and help.

[Eric]

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 22:31:57 -0600, Curt wrote
(in article om>):

> This might be a difficult to answer but....I just retired and am
> setting up a 55 gal tank. With all the varing factors, PH, Temp,
> Nitrate. etc Which is the most important to keep track of?
> Thx much.....
>

i know what I think is least important, pH. Except for a few kinds of fish it
makes no difference at all. And there's very little you can do about pH
that's not more hazardous than keeping your fish in marginally non-optimal pH
water.

Someone mentioned the increased reactivity of ammonia in high pH water. This
is almost an irrelevant concern since you should be building up your fish
population slowly enough that ammonia won't be a concern.

Ammonia and nitrite are the main menaces to fish health.

Nitrate can be a longer term problem, but I don't bother testing for it since
I figure if I do a partial water change 2 or 3 times a month it's taken care
of.

-E