The Puffer Forum

I would check levels a couple times a week until you've had things stable for a few months, but...

YAY!!!!! That's GREAT!!!!!

Wow, that's great! Great work!

I went through a point where the lvls bounced but havent seen any ammonia or nitrate in about 5 days (counting today) I have little test strips that stick to the wall of the tank and if they ready any amount above 0.1 they turn red. Been testing with the drops once a week also. Incase one of the other ones is bad. Thought my drops whent bad when nitrates reading stop showing so I ran out and bought new ones.

Hes a real porker now too!

How would the glass show ammonia?

Its a meter thats made by Mardel that sticks to the glass. and shows your ammonia lvls live

How do you know when that thing is expired?

I saw in DFS that they lasted "3-6 months." I never figured out how you would know when they expired, so I didn't get one...

Youngsir wrote:Its a meter thats made by Mardel that sticks to the glass. and shows your ammonia lvls live

I would be careful of these live meters. I hear they often give highly inaccurate readings. For example, an ammonia reader might say that your ammonia levels have suddenly spiked to toxic levels--the meter will then remain unchanged even hours after doing significant water change and will sometimes maintain its reading in fresh R/O water. I would trust your master test kit a lot more.

when they expire they start to change slowly to dark ive noticed. 2-3 weeks I'd say.Its sold with 3 refills, i just change it every week. And test with the drop kit when i change the liveNH3 to make sure

I'm proud to report my puffer has been alive and in excellent health for almost 6 months now. Again greatly due to the amount of reliable information this site brings together.