water quality

[cachocachocacho]

i have a 10 g with 17 lbs lr and 10lbs ls.... its been running for a 1.5 months now and all i have in there are 3 snails (1 turbo, and 2 astreas).... i have been testing my water regularly and the results puzzle me.... i am using aquarium pharmeceuticals test kits..

ph - 7.8

ammonia - 0.25

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 0

carbonate hardness - 9dKH

 

why is my ph still so low?? why do i still have amonia? and what should the ideal kh be? which test kits are better than the aquarium pharmaceuticals? and which other chemicals should i test for?

 

thanks

oh yeh, does anybody know of any reef clubs or anything like them in the philadelphia area?

[tdsounds]

I use the same kit and the reading for ammonia are not easily determined. It always looked like .25 to me and the ph test I can't really tell either. It also matters what kind of light you shine on it to see the color so hell I don't know either. But I think for the time period you got, I think you'll be alright. I started putting stuff in about 2 weeks later and on the 3rd week I had two clowns.

[Infiniti]

Originally posted by tdsounds

It also matters what kind of light you shine on it to see the color so hell I don't know either.

 

very true.

[cachocachocacho]

thanks.... i think im gonna go ahead and put in a small tank raised false percula.... again, muchas gracias

[sukeband]

Yeah, Ammonia test read wonkey too. You should do the test on water you're 100% sure of there no ammonia in. My 0 amoonia looks the same color as my .25 ammonia even though they're 2 different colors on the card.