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Can test-strips be used on a collected sample? And if so, how should it be handled?

1 year, 10 months ago

RUSerious

Santa Clara

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My personal opinion is that the "test Strips" are not accurate .. i personally recommend the liquid test kits. I keep shrimp and several community tanks and always had High Ammonia and nitrate readings on test strips, but liquid test kits showed other wise

Age: 35-44

Gender: male

1 year, 3 months ago

MrPat

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Test strips are not at all advisible for any testing of anything... humidity attacks the paper when its manufactured and readings aren't accurate therefore.

1 year, 9 months ago

oldsalt63

New Jersey

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What checmical testing is appropriate for me to perform on my 55 gallon fresh water tank?

I understand that ammonia buildup is not a fish friendly environment. Once I test for ammonia and find the levels higher than acceptable, what do I have to do to compensate for this. Also, what simple testing should I do and again, how to compensate and with what chemicals will I need?

Age: Over 65

Gender: male

1 year, 5 months ago

Bob46

Meriden, CT 06450

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The best thing you can do is a water change. do a 20 -30% water change. Reduce how much food you are giving your fish. a very good possibility your over feeding and the extra food is causing your ammonia spikes. what size filter are you using? I personally double the amount of filtration on my tanks, aka 40 gallon tank has 2 X 40 gallon rated filters. If you have sufficient lighting for it I'd recommend live plants in your tank as well. I also found a lot of useful information on an aquarium forums.

As far as "Chemicals" I wouldn't add much of anything except maybe the beneficial bacteria you can buy bottled like start right and what not .. i hope this is helpful

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Gender: male

1 year, 3 months ago

MrPat

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Thank you for your question. The best way to lower high ammonia levels is to perform a partial water change. If you do weekly water changes a 10% water change would be sufficient. Otherwise, if you do bi-weekly water changes a 20% water change would be sufficient as well. Using a chemical filtration media, such as the White Diamond Ammonia-Neutralizer, would also help control ammonia levels. If you have high nitrite and nitrate levels as well you should also perform water changes. Usually, if these levels are high it is due to overfeeding and overcrowding. To avoid this, ensure that you are feeding no more than once every other day, and only feed as much as your fish can consume within 2-3 minutes. Also, ensure that you have no more than 1” of fish per gallon of water. High pH can be caused by a variety of reasons. If you encounter high or low pH levels we ask that you please contact us at customerservice@drsfostersmith.com so we can help determine the cause of the high level and assist you with correcting it.

For testing water we highly recommend the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit, as this will include liquid test kits for the main parameters you need to frequently test. Please refer to the links below for additional information on these products. – mar

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...

1 year, 5 months ago

DRS1

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Will red eared sliders bite kois fins?

Can I put red eared sliders in an outdoor koi pond. I live in the northeast so the pond is dormant in winter.

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Gender: female

1 year, 4 months ago

vira

New York

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I actually have a PLeco in the tank with our turtles . and they seem to leave him alone. typically turtles will scavenge around for dead fish, plants, and any left over food < although you may see them come running when you come out to feed your Koi>, or the turtles may wander off if you don't have the pond enclosed

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Gender: male

1 year, 3 months ago

MrPat

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Thank you for your question. The Red Eared Sliders may have a tendency to show aggression toward Koi. This would depend on the amount of space provided for the specimens in the pond and access to food. We would not recommend to over feed the specimens as this may lead to unwanted algae. -acs

1 year, 3 months ago

DRS1

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