# Water Parameter Help Please!!!!!



## Gunreaper (Sep 13, 2008)

Hello all, I recently set my tank up about a month ago. I have a 200 gallon Freshwater tank with a couple gouramies and some danios. I checked the water with the 5 test in 1 strip.

Below is the parameters according to the Jungle test strips

Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 3.0 ppm
Hardness: 150 ppm
Alkalinity: 180 ppm
PH: 7.8 

I just did a 20% water change and still pretty close to the same readings. I know my Nitrate and Nitrites are a high. All fish are still ok. Any idea's?


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## gunnie (Nov 16, 2008)

I am new to this forum and saw no one responded. How's your tank doing now? Have you thought about getting a master test kit like the one AP sells? It's a lot cheaper than the strips, and much more accurate. The test strips are notoriously inaccurate. You also need to be able to test your ammonia.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

What is your water change schedule? How much do you change each time? Have the fish been in there the entire time? It sounds like your tank hasn't quite finished cycling. And your bacteria isn't quite up to par for the amount of fish in the tank.


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

One thing I would do is check the readings on your tap water before you add anything to it. While I thoroughly agree with both the posts above, I also know that sometimes we need to know that there are no issues with the tap water especially where nitrates are concerned. I would definitely do another water change and do daily testing as I do not think either that your cycle is complete. Your nitrites should be at 0 for the complete cycle. Either that or the cycle was complete and the bioload was too much for it. When a cycle is new the tank cannot handle a full bioload.


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## sfame (Nov 5, 2008)

how are your ammonia levels


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