🐠🧪 💧Did you know we now offer water tests? They are 50p each, or free with any purchase.💧 🧪🐟
Ensuring your water quality is tip-top and free from any nasty pollutants, or chemical spikes is important for the health of your fish!
We can test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, and both General and Carbonate Hardness.
💧🧪Ammonia (NH3) is the most common toxic waste by-product found in an aquarium and can easily cause disease or death. There are many reasons it can appear in your tank - such as overfeeding, or a decline in bacteria. Ammonia is usually broken down into Nitrite by biological filtration and beneficial bacteria.
💧🧪Nitrite (NO2) that has been broken down from ammonia is still toxic to most fish, but a step in the right direction. It can build up if there's too much pollution for the bacteria in your filter to handle it, and is particularly a problem in newer tanks. If there's enough of the right bacteria in your tank Nitrite is broken down into Nitrate.
💧🧪Nitrate (NO3) is the least toxic of the bunch, but can still be deadly to your fish in high doses, and can encourage the growth of algae. Regular weekly water changes of about 20 - 25% can help keep Nitrate levels manageable and safe.
💧🧪The pH of your tank is how acidic or alkaline your tank is. It can go from 0 (Extremely acidic) to 14 (Extremely alkaline). For perspective vinegar typically has a pH of 2 - 3, and bleach typically has a pH of 13. Although most fish are tolerant of a base level of around 7, higher or lower pHs can particularly affect fish like discus, or rams.
💧🧪General Hardness (GH) is how hard of soft your water is, and if there are salts and minerals present. All fish need some minerals present in the water, but some fish - cichlids, livebearers, and goldfish - all prefer higher GH levels.
💧🧪The Carbonate Hardness (KH) can affect the stability of your pH levels. Low hardness can mean the pH can change rapidly and often. The higher the KH is, the harder it will be to change your pH level.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of 'Science With Mabel!'
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