[RML] Water quality and pH

Ed (erom at earthlink.net)
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 20:48:15 -0700

Bruce,

Regarding water quality testing, assuming that we are taking about
an established fish tank, with a good gravel bed, water flow,
in a location with slightly alkaline water supply,
as most are; imho I think that the best indicator for
the interval required for gravel vacuuming and water change is:
nitrate concentration.

Unfortunately the nitrate test does not seem to be available in
convenient "dip stick" or continuous monitoring sensor/probe.
Nevertheless there are practical and economical "manual" nitrate test kits
in aquarium stores.

After learning how to test for nitrate I have been amazed at how
far off my intuition regarding water quality has been. Let face it many
of us end up with tanks that are overloaded with fish. These tanks definitely
require more frequent water changes. There is also the wide misconception
of plants "removing nitrate". While it is true that in nature there are
definite examples of wetlands with aerobic-anerobic-carbon cycle nitrate removal,
I have not seen any fish tank that comes even close to nitrate closed
bio cycle, the only practical approach is the true and tried:
regular water chance and gravel vacuum.

Once the volume and time between water changes is established
continual water monitoring is no longer necessary, for years!

Regards
Ed

***
>>Most hobbyists would like to avoid water testing or at least reduce it to a
>>minimum so if we could design a dip stick test with several bands on it
>>(like I use at the surgery for urine tests) that only needed to be used once
>>a week for each tank and the results could be compared ona graph corrected
>>for say pH and temperature for example then we could watch out for the
>>appropriate potential disasters - we might even get a manufacturer to become
>>inerested.
>
**********