Acceptable Conditions

Testing Water Quality

For someone to determine the overall quality of the aquarium water, several tests must be done and conditions changed appropriately based on those test results.

Included with all the fish gear here at KidSpirit are two testing kits. One is for pH to make sure the water is not too acidic or alkaline. The other kit is for measuring how concentrated the ammonia in the tank is.

Other conditions that may need adjusting include temperature, levels of Nitrite and Nitrate, and how much water is in the tank.

IMPORTANT: What conditions are safe for each test?

Each species of fish has a range that it is most comfortable in when considering any of the conditions. Since things such as Ammonia and Nitrite are just plain bad for all species, it's considered best to be as low as possible even if a fish has the ability to tolerate that environment. Once you know the acceptable ranges for all of your fish, the conditions you want to maintain in the tank environment are the ones that are within range for each fish. If two fish have ranges that do not overlap, remove all of one of those species from the tank so everyone can be happy. Also consider what the fish already in your tank want when you are looking for new fish, so you don't have to get rid of any fish once we get them.

Example:

We already have Diamond Tetras and a couple of the Orange Plecos. When looking for new fish, we definitely don't want to get an Axelrodi Rainbow because our aquarium has all the wrong conditions for them. The water is too hot and too acidic!

Here are some other fish that we have and their stats:

The temperature should be between 75 and 80 degrees.

The Ammonia should be as close to zero as possible. If there appears to be any reading on the test, do a water change just to be safe.

The pH really needs to be between 7.0 and 7.2, but because that may be difficult, 6.8 to 7.3 is acceptable.

Since we don't test Nitrite or Nitrate here at KidSpirit, a water sample from the tank needs to be taken to Animal House, a pet store on 4th street, once a month. Stay for the results of their tests and take their advice on how to adjust levels to normal if needed. Consider bringing them another sample in a week to see if things are changing.