I was round my mates house today and didnt know until i got there that he had a fish tank (i was shocked)
anyway, it looks to me about a 75 uk gallon, he had 4 angels in there and 1 small pleco.
BUT... his tank looked very clean but the water was not crystal clear, it looked cloudy, like a greyish colour so i said to him have you tested your water, he only had a tetra test kit, the bottle with the little strips
so i told him to do 1 anyway, when he pulled the stick out i checked it and....
his nitrate was about 30-35
nitrite - 0
carbonate hardness - 10d
ph value - 7.6

so can anyone give me some advise on this which i can pass on to him, because im not used to these crap testers.
but from what i can see, his water is bad yeah?
he told me he has had the tank up and running for about 2 months and has had the fish in there for about 3 weeks.

The nitrate isn't too bad although you wouldn't want it getting much higher. Nitrite is zero which is good. PH is okay, but you haven't given us the ammonia reading. The fact that he's got a fairly high nitrate does indicate that he has got an established biological filter. I would suggest getting a liquid test and doing it again over a number of days just to make sure that everything is okay.


It's difficult to say what is causing the cloudy water. It could well be an algae bloom. However, it's more than likely a bacteria bloom. Problem is, how reliable are the tests that you did? Sometimes you get cloudy water after cleaning the tank, it goes away after a day. Cloudy water isn't always a sign of problems. But we need to know the exact water conditions before we can give him a clean bill of health. It would be helpful to know if he cleaned his filtration and how. A lot of people don't realise that cleaning your filtration system in tap water is the wrong thing to do. In many cases they do this and then wonder why the water has gone cloudy. The reason being is they have probably killed off most of the bacteria due to the chlorine.

My favourite testing kits are manufactured by aquarium pharmaceuticals. I have used various manufacturers before but I would highly recommend these as being the best value for money, as well as ease of use.

I didnt get a ammonia reading because these crap testing kits dont have ammonia on them, the readings i gave is all i had, he did tell me he done a water change 3 days ago but i didnt ask how he did it.
so if his reading dont look to bad, how can he get rid of this cloudy water?
he told me he aint using any carbon? do you think that could help?
he's just worried now because i have scared him abit.
anyone got a link i can give him so he can buy a proper water testing kit?
do you think if he used SEACHEM PURIGEN that could help?

i just called him and he also just told me that, before he put the fish in the water was really clear, but after 2-3 days of having fish in there it went cloudy.

It sounds to me as if this is a bacteria bloom. Not knowing if there's any ammonia present doesn't help us get to the bottom of this.

I think you're in the UK, if you go to Charterhouse Aquatics, they sell various test kits including ones by aquarium pharmaceuticals. There are various products on the market that claim to help with cycling. Have a look through Charterhouse Aquatics, I think they've got some.

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/c...t-kits-c-44_273.html

ok cheers mate, i'll tell him to have a look, in fact, i'll tell him to get his a**e on here
so from what you said, it dont seem like his tank is still cycling then?
also, how can he lower his nitrate?

first of all you need to go to your mates with your liquid test kit and test his water properly and post his parameters ...come on glen you know the form mate OH AND WHILE YOUR AT HIS HOUSE open his back door to the garden and THROW THE TEST STRIPS AS FAR AS YOU CAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nitrates are lowered by doing water changes. test your water and when the nitrates hit 30-40 cahnges 25-30% of the total tank water.