looks to me that my ammonia and nitrate is high but i suck at comparing colors lol...what do you guys think?


PH,Nitrate,Ammonia,Nitrite...thats the order

I just ordered my API Master Kit s few days ago. Have never done it before and it looks a bit complicated. Will have to get the hang of it on my 2' tank before i progress to the 5 footer lol

jamesmillar wrote:


its not hard at all just add the water and however many drops each one takes shake and wait...im just not good at judging the different shades of colors..wish i had one that was electronic

PH looks 7.4
nitrate looks very dark and for me if it don't look orange or light red I would do a water change. so yours looks over due ).
ammonia and nitrites both look 0.25 to me. so it possible either your filter needs a clean or isn't large enough for your stock? for the best way to colour match, take the card and tube to a window, place your finger between the tube and card so light can enter the tube and give the true colour.

marcus wrote:


i did a 25% water change last night...how long should i wait to check the water again?

You can check it again Now...

your nitrate is high, keep doing water changes until the nitrate is lower. test your tap water for nitrate, this is your base lone level and you wont get nitrates below this

Your Ph is the bottom level of your tester, your Ph may be lower than thisd but you will have to buy a low level tester for an accurate result!!!!

you have some low levels of ammonia and nitrite, as marcus said you may need to clean your filter or you may need more filtration, what filters do you have?

delboybully wrote:


i only have a 30 gallon tank with a whisper 30...i use to have just small tropical fish so that filter was fine but i know with oscar you should double up on the filtration so i guess ill have to upgrade...i just did the low level ph test and im right at 7.0...my tap water has bewtween 0/5.0 nitrate

If you are planning on keeping an oscar you need 55g minimum and you need to get it ASAP

Keep doing the water changes until your nitrates are less than 40

delboybully wrote:


yeah i plan on upgrading as soon as i find a good deal on craigslist or ebay...gonna go with a 75 gallon