# test water



## bradjenny (Sep 21, 2009)

ok i have these test strips to test like ammonia and all that. are the strips the way to go i know it is easy but are the drops better......we have had a scare that the ammonia went way up went to 3 stores and 2 out of the 3 said water was fine the third said we had a problem......came back home did a water change and tested it again this morning same color.....so i call the guy at the pet place talk to him had talked to him about all the fish i have he even showed up what to buy and all that so i trust the guy... he tested it for us and came up fine........i dont know it just seems like we look at the strips wrong we go crazy cause we dont want to loose expensive fish.....



fish only tank


----------



## rynox77 (Aug 11, 2009)

bradjenny said:


> ok i have these test strips to test like ammonia and all that. are the strips the way to go i know it is easy but are the drops better......we have had a scare that the ammonia went way up went to 3 stores and 2 out of the 3 said water was fine the third said we had a problem......came back home did a water change and tested it again this morning same color.....so i call the guy at the pet place talk to him had talked to him about all the fish i have he even showed up what to buy and all that so i trust the guy... he tested it for us and came up fine........i dont know it just seems like we look at the strips wrong we go crazy cause we dont want to loose expensive fish.....
> 
> 
> 
> fish only tank


The thing is, if you get moisture in your strips they might go bad and you might not even know. I use the drops because 1. I feel they are a little more accurate (not sure if it this is really true or not, but personally I trust them better), and 2. they are a lot cheaper in the long run.

The only problem is it takes more like 5-6 minutes to test the water instead of the 1-2 minutes with the strips.


----------



## aquaman (Feb 16, 2009)

Go invest in the API master kit. If you buy it online you may be able to save a few bucks.


----------



## MOK (Jul 25, 2009)

I used to test the ammonia level using the liquid test and most of the time, my 3 feet bare tank is acidic (6.0) while my 4ft planted tank is alkaline (7.5). The fishes are both doing well though... Now I don't really care that much. Just do a monthly 30% water change and top daily when the water evaporates away about 20mm lower. I have blower fans to lower the water temp to around 28 degrees C. Hope this helps ; )


----------



## MOK (Jul 25, 2009)

Hi,

Sorry, please ignore my last message. I was atlking about pH levels not ammonia levels.

Anyway, when the ammonia level shot up in my tanks, I just do a 50% water change to get rid of the excess ammonia for a quick drastic move. I add more plants to lower the ammonia level too.

I noticed the ammonia level is well managed in a heavily planted tank. : )

Sorry for theprevious confusion caused.


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

I have a 55g salt tank that always tests .25ppm ammonia and the fish and corals are doing fine. It is the API liguid test and the lowest reading. 

My .02


----------



## bradjenny (Sep 21, 2009)

how would i keep it to 0 with a fish only tank i have some live rock then sand live sand.....72 gallon bowfront corner tank fluval 405 filter


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

bradjenny said:


> how would i keep it to 0 with a fish only tank i have some live rock then sand live sand.....72 gallon bowfront corner tank fluval 405 filter


ammonia will be unmeasureable with aerobic bacteria. In my tank the .25ppm to me appears to be a limitation of the api test kit. And therefore probably a testing error.

The really hard thing to do is keep nitrates and phosphates unmeasureable. Which I do with macro algaes.


my .02


----------

