Read About Water Testing Kits

Water testing kits are widely available for any fish owner like you, but the question is, do you know which one to get? Water testing kits generally work by monitoring the water conditions in your aquarium. Water and some fish problems can be easily prevented by early detection of poor water quality.

Among the various water testing kits, the following are the ones worth having: ammonia and nitrite, nitrate, and pH kits. Ammonia and nitrite water testing kits lets you know if biological filtration is keeping up with the amount of waste present in your tank. High ammonia and nitrite levels result to cloudy water and fish fatalities, but an early detection using an ammonia and nitrite kit can reverse the problem. No need to do these tests regularly. You can use these kits when you have a new setup, after a filter failure, or after an increase in fish livestock.

On the other hand, you should make a habit of using nitrate water testing kits for your tank. Nitrate testing allows you to determine if your fish are keeping up with the waste build up. Excessive waste in water will cause unprecedented algae growth and you can keep it from happening by regularly using nitrate water testing kits. Use these kits every time your fish stock increases, as your fish grow, or you see cloudy water.

Unsuitable and rapid changes in pH levels can cause fish stress and disease outbreak. To prevent these from happening, you can monitor using pH water kits. These kits let you know how acidic or alkaline your water is. Normal pH range for most fish is 6.5 to 7.5. Though most fish can adjust to a pH outside of their optimal range, it is best to use these water testing kits to maintain you tank pH in the long run.

In relation to maintaining a stable pH, you will also want to keep a stable buffering capacity in your tank. For this, a KH water testing kit will be useful. Essentially, buffering capacity is you aquarium water's ability to maintain its pH while bases and acids are added to it. Well-buffered aquarium water helps in maintaining stable pH levels so a KH water testing kit for any fish keeper is definitely handy.

Further, general hardness (GH) levels, also referred to as water softness or hardness, needs to be monitored and is closely tied to pH and KH levels. GH pertains to the level of hardening ions and magnesium. A GH of 3-15 degrees is ideal, but if you have to adjust, take pH and KH levels into consideration as well, as they make up the Bermuda's triangle of aquarium water chemistry.

As you become more experienced in maintaining your tank, it will become easier for you to spot even the slightest water appearance and fish behavior as indicator of water quality. But while you're till getting to that point, using water testing kits is a good idea.