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Hi mrtank, you have made a very striking post! I dont think I have ever read about anyone having such high concentrations of C02 in their home tank, most post are about folk struggling to achieve 30ppm. I am guessing you have a close fitting tank lid ?

Eminor, where exactly do you live in France ?

Hi Nathan, I think that would depend on what you want to test for and why? Many planted tank carers dont test at all and some restrict their testing to just measuring the PH. Of course lots of folk consider testing the water as part of the hobby and enjoy the experience but it is very easy to be...

RO units waste so much water like 80-90%, that for me means I am not a fan but, it is possible to save the waste water for other uses! Rain water might be an option for you?

Wow that will be a spectacular tank, a water filled window in the wall. Those big slabs of glass with catch a lot of ambient light, you may get algae on the glass and the narrow perspective will be a big challenge to aquascape without the plants touching the glass. Great project though and...

That sounds like an interesting aquarium, what are the other dimensions ?

Is there a good reason you can’t use plain tap water and just add prime?

My shortest cycle was to the corner shop and back but it did not help to stabilise my tank.

Well you asked and we told you but there are no planted tank police on this forum so you can do what ever you like. :) However I do wonder what your definition of cycling is? We have lots of very knowable members on the board, scientists, biologists and even a vet (Ed who first answered is a...

As Ed says, perhaps add more plants, floating plants are very good at this stage too.

Some people like to test thier tank water but the readily available test kits are notoriously difficult to read and unreliable in thier results. As soon as you start testing and believing the results you could just be chasing your tail.

Yes been asked many times before but you might be surprised at the answers! You don’t say anything about your tank though, will it be injected with additional C02, will you be adding daily fertilisers, will you be carrying out large regular water changes? Thing is... most test kits won’t show...

I agree with Zeus, unless you have a really good reason not to use tap water? Useing tap water makes things so much more simple!

In short, reliable fresh water test kits are too expensive for the average hobbiest.

This might help....

I think most of what you say is true but..... there is the issue of how the water change is done and how long it takes. For instance - if Fred carried out a 90% water change in his 300lt tank, after around 80% of the water change, his discus would by lying on their side ..... & for how long...

If you want to do a 90% water change then you do that. I don't think we a have a planted tank police force.... Personally I would never do that as part of a regular routine because I feel it would put far to much unnecessary stress on my fish! Even a 50% water change is going to stress the fish...

Home test kits are notoriously unreliable, water companies have legal obligations to maintain all parameters at a safe level! Please don't test you tank with live creatures. Perhaps do some Yoga & relax for a few weeks :) Try to establish a nice clean looking tank with good algae free plant...

I would start water changing straight away! Most folk (on this forum anyway) would of been doing up to 50% a day from day one & only gradually reduce this regime over a 3-4 week period. Personally I prefer 20% a day for the first week then around 20% every other day for the next two weeks then...

Have you done any water changing?

Hi Tim, we see lots of reefers or retired reefers on the this forum, perhaps one a week! Most guys want to carry across some of their equipment and methods but the whole concept is different in our world. Test kits are mostly redundant apart from a good PH pen and we add all the thngs you try...

What would you like to test? PH is easy with a little digital pen but it is generally excepted amongst forum members that a lot of liquid test kits don't work very well and are very likly to give false reading. It seems that most test kits can be influenced by other factors or chemical within...

Is fishkeeping and planted tank addiction a recognised condition in the diagnostic manuals? :D You might want another tank to dry start as well :)

Just have a little patience, you don't need to add anything, just let your filter do the work. Some folk recommend adding ammonia but to me that is just crazy!!! Do exactly as Martin says and you fish will thank you in a few weeks.

Umm you will have to calibrate it mate, it wont tell you much if you don't! Cheap pens like, £10, work fine but if it did not come with any calibration fluid you will have to get some...

I would like to establish what shop bought test kits give a reasonably accurate result? PH we know can be accurately tested especially with a probe. And we know Darrel & Clive don't trust Nitrate or Nitrite but are the kits completely useless or can they be trusted as a guide? What about Ammonia...

Exactly .. your tap water will contain Co2 so after a water change you can expect a lower PH reading & your pre-set reg will lower the PH even more during water change day.

Test your tap water!

There is already a thread on this subject on the forum (good luck with the search button!!) & the answer was a most definite "no"

LOL OH well I hope I am an approved contractor!

Wow that is interesting!! I am not sure if that applies where I live though - hope not as I must of fitted well over 20 & never registered any of them!

That is the problem when you get on a bit mate!

I used to use rain water as it was considered necessary at one time! (probably mid 80s) I collected it directly from the house roof into a water butt, but I would filter it with activated carbon on occasions. If there had not been rain for a few weeks then I felt it was sensible to place an...

Hi Christian, what sort of fish do you want to keep - breed?

It depends on what you want to achieve...are you planning on breeding the discus? If not then then fish are no so fussy as a lot of folk would have you believe.

Very east to install most units without interfering with the pipework just as Rob says.... although I only get 12-14% pure water from mine!

Why don't you just buy a under sink unit?

I would not worry about any of that mate, lots of folk just keep shrimp in tap water anyway! A small amount of tap water left in the substrate wont matter. Just go ahead with your plan :)

Henry are you promoting animal experiments!

If you dose carbon they you are classified as high tech, 50% is the recommended.

How much excel have you been dosing?

How are you injecting the co2?

If you are using EI then one assumes you are injecting co2 .... Water changes won't kill fish but excess gas will

When are we going to see a picture of your tank? How is it working at the moment?

Bert, the min recommended is 50% a week but you could do 50% a day if you wanted to. Your method is fantastic & can only help keep the tanks environment in the best possible condition, if your routine is not to much trouble then keep it up:)

I guess acid rain is a thing of the past! I used to use rain water & still would if i could be bothered!

I wonder why your rain water has such a high PH?

Great idea, unfortunately we hardly ever get snow where I live but if we did I would love to give some to my shrimps & corys, I bet that would see them breeding like mad!

It is a shame this forum does not have a like button .... Hygrophila -"Fear of Fast Growing Plants" :lol:

Darren, I think it is widely excepted that hobbyist test kits are not very accurate & possibly very misleading! I have posted on numerous forums asking for opinions on this subject, most average fish keepers do indeed rely on test kit results but this does not make them accurate or reliable.

You must try to avoid the ammonia spike if possible that is one of the reasons for mutable, regular large water changes especially in the first few weeks. Starting off with a mature filter & partly using mature substrate is very helpful. One over way that is quite popular is the dry start method...

Generally speaking most folk just fill the tank & avoid the effects of ammonia by carrying out water changes. I guesse you could fill the tank, start the filter, cover the tank with a blanket & stare at it for two months or you could fill it with plants & enjoy the tank!

Hmmm there seems to differing opinions here! So the kits are not accurate but, use them all the same so you can obtain a ball park figure. Once you have a ball park figure, if you keep using the same make of test kit, then you should be able to see a change :? I am still confused :crazy...

Thanks for the answers & discussion. I wonder how this debate would fair on a more fished based forum like PFK, no doubt many thousands of folk rely on test kits as part of the hobby!

Thanks guys but is it not amazing how virtually every fish keeper relies on shop bought test kits! :?

I have read quite a few post on this forum stating that standard test kits are not to be relied on! However it seems that the vast majority of forums still quote their tank parameters based on using commercial, readily available test kits? So are they any good or not? What can we test for &...

There does seem to be various methods of achieving a safe, large water change but I have been using water straight from the tap via a shower head mixer & adding a dechlorinator. I have been doing this for about 30 years now :? seems to work OK...

You might want to read this but be warned different folk have different opinions :? viewtopic.php?f=11&t=18937

I am a 'straight in the tank in the tank' type of guy! I guesse a lot depends on how long the transit time from tank to tank will take. There are three shops in my area & all of them are within a 15 minute drive, my method is to place the fish bag into a bucket lined with a T shirt that I then...

Maybe your filter is not working properly or are there a lot of fallen leaves in the pond?

Straight from the tap for me too, at one time I used rain water only, then RO water but, for the last 5-6 years I use straight from the tap & my tank looks better than ever! Of course this might not work for you?