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water test results

852 views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  geisterwald 
#1 ·
Hi!

New here, I have a two day old 5G planted aquarium and the water readings are as follow:
PH 7.4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate is 3.0.
I have no idea if I’m caring for my planted tank correctly, the water seems to be somewhat cloudy towards the white side not so white but not so clear, I don’t know can anyone please tell me if I’m in the right direction….thank you!!!1
 
#2 ·
Did you start the tank with dirty filter media or a bottled bacteria like Tetra Safe Start? What's your substrate? Do you have any livestock at the moment? What are the parameters of your water directly out of the tap (or whatever source you're getting your water from)?
 
#4 ·
Test your water directly out of the tap. My guess is that you have some nitrate in your water; the cloudiness is probably dust from the eco complete. The .25ppm ammonia is probably a misread from the test kit (I understand it happens pretty often). You need to cycle your tank--that is, to feed it ammonia and grow populations of beneficial, nitrifying bacteria so that ammonia won't accumulate and kill your fish once you add them. Here is a link on how to do a fishless cycle using pure ammonia (no surfactant, dyes or perfume!!): Fishless Cycling - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
 
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