I just tested my goldfish tank water…?

Posted by on . 6 comments.


I've never tested the water before. Its a 20 gallon tank with one 4 inch oranda goldfish. It has a major algea problem and im trying to fix it.



I don't know whether this stuff is good or bad so please read and tell me whether the chemicals are right:

(I used spa test strips...its all I had and my dad said it wouldn't hurt the tank)

Total Bromide-low to none
Chlorine-None of course
Total Alkalinithy-between 120 and 180
PH-very high, 8.4
Total Hardness-very high, 1000

Are these numbers right....if not, how do I fix them?

Comments

  1. Ghapy says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    The first poster is right, do yourself a favour and don’t worry too much about all those fancy numbers – in reality fish are highly tolerant and the parameters are rarely the cause of issues, and certainly not algae. Use those PH drops and you are going to run into worse problems then before.

    Algae is caused by an excess of nutrients and light.

    1. Makes sure you keep up a weekly cleaning routine. This should be done for any fish, but especially goldfish because they are exceedingly messy fish. You should be replacing about 1/4-1/3 of your water each week, while vacuuming the gravel at the same time. This routine keeps the water fresh, c clean, and stable for your fish while keeping the tank clean overall for a long time to come.

    2. Make sure you are not overfeeding. Only once per day is needed, and feed gradually, don’t just dump it all into the tank – we want it all in the fish, not the gravel! Always keep in mind we don’t need to stuff the fish to the gills, and you can skip a day now and then too – feeding lightly will also help your fish last longer in your tank size.

    3. Leave the aquarium lights off most of the time, and just turn them on a few hours per day when you are home to view the tank. During the day when you are not around the fish can see without a problem with ambient room lighting. Fish don’t ‘need’ a certain amount of light, like the 10-12 typically recommended. Light control will make a big difference for you.

  2. Mokey41 says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    Those aren’t the numbers that are important to maintaining a tank. You need a test kit for fish tanks that measures ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Algae can be from high nitrates or too much light.

    **

  3. Brandon says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    Take some water from your tank in a cup to your local pet store. THey should do a free test for you and tell you whats wrong with your fish tank.
    Fish tanks and spas are two diffrent things :)

    If you cant get around to the pets store you should just probably clean out your tank

  4. ugly_artwork says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    The only important one listed is chlorine. The water tests you really need is ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. The fish produce ammonia which is toxic. You should have good guy bacteria to convert that to nitrite, and more bacteria to convert that to nitrate.

    Get those tests. The readings you want are: ammonia = 0. nitrite = 0. nitrate must stay less than 40 ppm.

    For these tests, the dip strips really are notoriously unreliable. Liquid tests are only a little more money and much more acurate.

    You can take your water to a pet store if you have no other choice, but those people aren’t trained, and nine times out of ten they’re using dip strips. If that’s what you have to do, don’t let them tell you "it’s within range" or "it looks okay". Tell them you want exact numbers.

    Dedicated fish keepers pretty much agree that pet store employees are useless. I personally never ask them questions, but I belong to an excellent fish forum.
    http://aquamaniacs.net/forum/index.php

    I want to tell you it’s heartening to see someone giving their goldy a big enough home. Good for you.

  5. rajha says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    do a water change and change filters and also get stuff for ph there are drops u can put in tank by doing water change should do u some good because u only have one fish test after water change leave alittle bit of diry water in the tank so it stills has some of that bacteria u dont want the water to clean take the fish out while u do this

  6. Flowers insolita says:
    August 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    Spa kit isn’t accurate, especially for pH. In fact pH8.4, if it’s correct, is too high for most fresh-water fishes to be survivable (except for chiclids). Alkalinity is good if it’s accurate; it’s high, meaning that your tank has a good pH buffering capacity. Total hardness doesn’t mean anything for aquarium (your number, 1000, doesn’t make sense either to me; it’s usually at 50-100 ppm :) ). Your water is like a well water, which is good for your fish.

    Good for algae, too.

    Once you got a "major" Algae problem, please don’t expect to "fix" it right away. Realistically, any "fix" could take at least several months (or up to a year), because you would be changing the Eco-system of your tank and the effect would only show gradually.

    Any aquarium hobbyist forum offers a "solution" for algae problem, so I’m not going to repeat it. Personally, I consider algae a part of the Eco system. Unless it’s growing so vigorously that you can’t see the fish :) , I would scrub it occasionally but won’t do anything otherwise.

    The most successful "remedy" for algae in aquarium is to introduce competitors for algae: other plants. Take a look at "Amano" aquarium site in the reference below. They are called "Aquascaping". In this design, all these plants are out-competing algae. They have algae-eating shrimps, too.

    Aren’t they beautiful?

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