The Puffer Forum

Today i did the first tank test, after starting up the aquarium a few days ago (no fish in it jet). I have a 60 gal tank and want to GSP's in it.

here are the results:

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-20 --> test says this is good
Gh 2 --> to low,how do i get it up? and what is a good number for it?
KH 17-40 --> to high
Ph 8-8,5 --> to high, need to go do 7-8.3

i will do some water changes today and then will test it again. But im happy that the nitrate and nitrite is going well.

is there anything else i can do to get the numbers better next to water changes?

Are you using Ammonia to cycle the tank?

uhmz.. no. Is that necessary? ( fish newbie here)

We bough some bacterias and put them in the tank. a small amount a day. For the rest we are just cycling it with a water-pomp. And we are now rdy for the first water change.

if im doing it wrong pls tell me. I though i was doing ok:)

At the moment you're tank isn't cycling at all that's why you're not getting any real readings. The bacteria products on the market are nigh on useless apart from Bio-Spira which kept at a cool temperature and added to the tank as the fish go in, sort of an instant fich cycle. What bacteria product are you currently using?

Whereabouts in the world are you?

The purpose of cycling is to get a colony of bacteria to cope with the waste your fish produce. At the moment you're not getting any readings as there is nothing in the tank producing waste.

Not to worry though have a read of this article, it explains how to do fishless cycling.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... hless.html

Another question, what are you using to dechlorinate the water you are adding to the tank?

Hi there,

Thanks for your quick reaction.

I live in Holland. There is no (to extremely little), chloride in our drinking water.

At the moment i use Dennerle FB7 bacterias.

I will read the article you linked. Thanks for posting it.

Chlorine dissipates if the water is aerated prior to putting it in the tank it's the tougher stuff to get rid of like chloramines, flourine and other toxins.

I have no knowledge of your water in Holland though but it might be worth checking out just to be sure you know exactly what is added to the drinking water.