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  1. AverageWhiteBloke

    New bit of kit - MP-AES

    Would be interesting to see some hobby test kit comparisons to see if that could be put to bed and sticky it. 😀
  2. AverageWhiteBloke

    Cambridge tap water ICP-MS results

    I think @dw1305 has a map in here showing the geology in the UK. There aren't many places where Mg is coming out the tap. It has only started coming out of my tap lately according to the latest water report since they started blending the local reservoir water with an underground aquifer.
  3. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    Do you use it at its recommended dose? It does say for high plant mass you can up the dose but considering there isn't much of a carbon effect there seems little point.
  4. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    I was just thinking about the anti fungal properties, my traces tend to do that now and again. I've started mixing up batches that are less concentrated so I use them quicker. Apparently the anti fungal properties are good for shrimp molting to prevent infections.
  5. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    Would there be any benefit from making up our Trace bottles up from water that's been made out of soaking leaves and cones etc in lieu of pot sorbate and citric acid?
  6. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    You'll be surprised where you find stuff, I've did the out in the woods bit foraging for a while then one night, Christmas eve if I remember I'd been to my brothers for some ale and walked home, came across Alder cones on the pavement. Turns out I had one at the end of my road all along. :D Same...
  7. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    No worries mate no offence taken. I think the crux of the thread is doesn't matter which way we get these beneficial substances @Tim Harrison mentions in our tank. Obviously picking leaves is the best option because it's free and you get a nice walk out into the bargain. I just bought some...
  8. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    I've always been of the impression that peat extracts etc and all these type of products have a mild sterilizing effect to help with fish health although that could be the snake oil people working their charm. Walsted has quite an extensive bit about it in her book. I guess what's in the bottle...
  9. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    A breakthrough in carbon source technology that provides cutting edge developments in micro-biology and biophysics! Contains high quality peat extract Contains humic and fulvic acids Contains a blend of naturally occurring vegetative and spore-forming microorganisms Helps make iron, nitrogen...
  10. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    They appear to be quite a large company over in the US with labs dealing with numerous products. There's a bit more info on their site but not a great deal more. Maybe worth emailing them and asking what exactly is in the bottle? Bio-Carbon | Microbe-Lift
  11. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    he's good at his job mate if he's blagged his way into MA
  12. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    It doesn't mate, just looking at it now. Mainly says what I've already posted other than "contains microbial carbon, friendly bacteria" as well the the fulvic and humic stuff, 100% natural in big letters and the usual one size fits all "prevents algae"
  13. AverageWhiteBloke

    Thoughts on Blackwater Extract products . . .

    I would say if you sniffed about under an Alder or Oak tree you would still be able to get some of last years drop albeit a bit damp, maybe you could just dry it out? I've been using Micro-lift Bio Co2 for about 3months now, I'm getting reasonable results although that could be pure coincidence...
  14. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    I'm guessing I use the 5 from here and here. Just not sure what the 16.84 grams bit means?
  15. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    You'll have to excuse my ignorance here, I have been trying to get to grips with the IFC calculator as I'm sure there isn't any question it can't answer regarding chemicals and dosing. I think it may be user error more than anything and the fact that I tend to revive old hardware with Linux OS...
  16. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    One of my biggest regrets mate. To be fair life's been pretty good to me. My teenage angst didn't decide the rest of my life, I've spent the last 25 years running my own business after doing a few jobs I wasn't too happy with. Given the chance I would probably have done that but running the...
  17. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    Was my point mate, she was a straight A student, got lots qualifications but her main motivation was getting a job at the best paying employer round these parts. Her interest in science began and ended with the paycheck. I would do her job for half the money and be a lot keener, I certainly...
  18. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    That's where they went wrong with me mate. They should have showed me the tank first then I might have been interested in what else they had to say. I often find myself working in schools refurbing during the holidays. Sometimes I look at all the equipment and think if I had my chance again...
  19. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    Cheers Darrell. School is really over rated mate, you just need to knock about in this forum for a bit. :D I was "asked to leave" school when I was 15 for being too cool for my teachers liking and left with nothing more than a swimming certificate and cycling proficiency. Now because of this...
  20. AverageWhiteBloke

    Does Magnesium add a secondary chemical?

    Talking Epsom salts here. Can't help but notice that you have to add a fair amount of Epsom to yield a relatively small ppm of Mg. Is there something else being added to the tank or is it purely about the size of the crystals? What exactly is the sulphate?
  21. AverageWhiteBloke

    High Nitrates (>120ppm)

    Having said that, the only problem here is the colour of the test kit result. The main aim is the plants and they're doing fine so just ride it out mate knowing what you know now.
  22. AverageWhiteBloke

    High Nitrates (>120ppm)

    With what's coming out of the tap and depending on where the OP lives (away from main roads) a couple of buckets of rainwater would speed up the process for now.
  23. AverageWhiteBloke

    High Nitrates (>120ppm)

    I've used the API Nitrate for some time on and off just when I'm checking for build ups or if I'm trying to dial in a new tank regime. The best way to look at them is either not really getting a reading or redishh. Forget all the other shades of brown in between they don't mean much. I'm not...
  24. AverageWhiteBloke

    New fertiliser calculator!

    I wish I could get @zeus calculator working. Looks proper tasty.
  25. AverageWhiteBloke

    High Nitrates (>120ppm)

    Can you reduce dosing by either changing the output of the doser so it only does 15ml per day which would be more inline with 35ml x 3 times per week or set it to dose every other day? Now there's something to ponder for the next person who is worrying nitrates cause Algae. Tank looks great as...
  26. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    Bizarrely right at the very start I had the 12/50 ltrs 0.24 which if I had just x 4 would have also gave the same result! Either way we do it I think we can all agree that the amount of tds raise caused by topping off with rain water is the net total of f all. So topping off explains none of...
  27. AverageWhiteBloke

    New tank readings

    One good thing about having a low ph while starting up a tank is it pre vents the ammonia becoming toxic. Probably another reason the substrate is designed that way. You sound like you have very similar tap water to mine. Once the substrate has done its thing it will be perfect for softwater...
  28. AverageWhiteBloke

    New tank readings

    No not temp dependant mate however visual test kits are in the eye of the beholder right lighting from a certain angle sort of thing. Either way a ph of 6 is fine. I think these types of substrate are designed for people with hard alkaline water in mind. Soft and acidic is generally seen has...
  29. AverageWhiteBloke

    New tank readings

    Yeah mate if it is Dennerle scapers soil it is designed to lower the PH. Plants and fish will be fine at this level as is your hardness. If you want to bring it up a little change some water with the tap water. The PH lowering action will wear off after a while with the substrate.
  30. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    There's been a huge change in the tank already, I found myself getting a bit of shopping a couple of doors down from P@H and this post had my juices flowing. Decided to treat myself to two portions of S. Repens and a Portion of Bacopa compact. Ripped out what was left of the hair grass which was...
  31. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    Sounds about right mate, my last three weeks stats go along the lines of... Yeah probably getting bogged down in detail mate. Plants are growing I just like correlating the figures to see roughly where I need to be with this tank. OFC as plants grow in more all this will change again :)
  32. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    To be fair when it comes to rain water it says TDS 12 but it's a very cheap meter I can't calibrate. usually I find when I put it in the water it drops over time but in the rain water it just says 12 end of. It's good enough for what I'm trying to achieve though. When I add my first dose after...
  33. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    Which would account for the extra 10ppm I am finding? Hmm so maybe I am using all the ferts!
  34. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    Yeah mate I guess I could just cut a bit of extra tap in there if needs be, it's currently coming out around 70 although this is up and down like a yoyo. We're currently in the middle of a major line switch between reservoirs and a lot of work going on on the line which is why I avoid it...
  35. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    Yeah that bit was the one giving me the bad head. I was thinking it won't be 127 because it was 127 when there was 50 ltrs of water so now 4 ltrs of that has gone and left the salts so that would leave a higher TDS plus what I add in the top offs. :banghead: Maybe not haha. Yeah for sure I'm...
  36. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS Rise from topping off.

    May be a stupid question which I'm over complicating but why not. Am I right in thinking that if I have a 50 ltr tank with a TDS of 127 which loses about 4 ltrs of water per week and I top this water off with rain water with a TDS of 12 that I've raised the TDS by 12 divided by the 50 ltrs 0.24...
  37. AverageWhiteBloke

    Success with tap water

    With planted aquariums running out of nitrates as well as all the other elements is avoided at all costs with it being detrimental to plants. If you look in certain parts of the forum you can see how many people with deficiency issues are searching for what's missing so in your case with your...
  38. AverageWhiteBloke

    Success with tap water

    I've moved solely to rain water in my tank. It's in abundance at the moment and where I live they are currently changing the source we get our water from so lots of blending from underground sources and a lot of work getting done on the pipeline which I would imagine means them flushing it with...
  39. AverageWhiteBloke

    Nitrate Levels

    Shrimp seem to go through stages when they breed like mad then slow down for a while. Mine seems to slow down in winter although I can't work out how that works considering they are artificially lit and heated. [emoji848] Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk
  40. AverageWhiteBloke

    Nitrate Levels

    Generally speaking mate if a fertiliser is called complete or all-in-one it contains Macros Nitrate Phosphate Potassium and Micros Trace elements. The aquascaper stuff is complete in so far as it contains all so you are adding nitrate with your dosing as well as in your tapwater and the nitrate...
  41. AverageWhiteBloke

    Nitrate Levels

    BTW AS complete also contains Nitrates so you could ease up on the dosing also with soil that leaches ammonia. Maybe switch to just a trace mix either using dry salts or Tropica premium which is nitrate free.
  42. AverageWhiteBloke

    Nitrate Levels

    +1 on what @Barbara Turner saying. Crystal shrimp are very sensitive IMO, never had any luck with them myself and I'm from a very softwater area. I think you need to keep them under 150ppm TDS. One shrimp dropping doesn't really signify an issue. I have a colony of RCS and one goes now and...
  43. AverageWhiteBloke

    Vacuuming alters chemistry?

    I guess debris is debris whether its sitting on the substrate, on the sponge or in the canister. It still adds to the biological/organic load, encourages algae and is an oxygen thief.
  44. AverageWhiteBloke

    Vacuuming alters chemistry?

    Have a look at the Dennerle Nano gravel syphon. Great little bit of kit for syphoning mulm and gubbins from the substrate and getting into tight spots. Could be that the plants are pearling again because you've removed a lot of waste from the substrate. I believe the process is called BOD...
  45. AverageWhiteBloke

    Sodium and plants

    Like DW says then, using sodium as a cheaper filler than potassium. Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk
  46. AverageWhiteBloke

    Sodium and plants

    I think I would be more concerned about the effects of sodium on fish especially Amazonian species than I would about Potassium for plants. In the EI article on UKAPS the recommendation for potassium is 30ppm per week. I knocked up a little chart just for my own use so whatever size tank I'm...
  47. AverageWhiteBloke

    Mixing glut and ferts with non 0 TDS ro

    I tend to use collected rain water to mix my traces as my tap water is pretty rich in po4, just plain old tap for macros and boiled, cooled tapwater for glute.
  48. AverageWhiteBloke

    bromley south london... water report

    Maybe <One of these> may help of hardness bother you that much.
  49. AverageWhiteBloke

    Zap the Tap

    forgot to mention rain water might be an option as well. In a small tank you don't need that much. I tend to just put a 5gall fermenting bin out in the garden in a good down pour after the initial rainfall has been going for an hour or so. If you get a few litres to mix with your tapwater it all...
  50. AverageWhiteBloke

    Zap the Tap

    IME Hydro Japan will just do whatever it wants, just let it go. Yes you can push the runners into the soil but I find it will grow along the substrate and drop some roots into it all by itself. if you let it go and breach the surface it can grow a bit quicker or clip a small portion off and let...
  51. AverageWhiteBloke

    Zap the Tap

    BTW nice tank! You have Hydrocotyle tripartita in there which is known for growing weedy already. Just let that go a bit nuts.
  52. AverageWhiteBloke

    Zap the Tap

    I wouldn't worry about it, just see it more of a benefit than a concern as you're getting free no3 possibly. Just omit any kno3 from you're fertilising regime and be done with it and see how that pans out. Looking on a quick graph on rotala butterflyand change 50% water weekly and if say you...
  53. AverageWhiteBloke

    How to find out GH and TDS

    The tds is the total of everything in there except the water not just kh and gh. If you were to boil and evaporate all the water away the tds would be the solids that were left over after all the water was gone. TDS are a handy little device to have in your arsenal and very cheap, they give you...
  54. AverageWhiteBloke

    How to find out GH and TDS

    You sound like you are in the same boat as me and probably getting the same water out the tap as I do in Cumbria. There was a discussion about it here. I've been using potassium bicarbonate to try and increase KH a little without raising the PH much combined with Epsom salts. Maybe there is an...
  55. AverageWhiteBloke

    Ammonia Spike

    I wouldn't overly worry about it too much. Fish deaths just happen, that's the way it is. Unless you see something up with all your fish. Every now and again someone will lose one fish and it isn't always down to water quality. Ottos are notoriously finicky as well so I wouldn't gauge what's...
  56. AverageWhiteBloke

    Biogenic Decalcification

    Thanks Darrel, looks like KH is something I need to keep an eye on in these no stone, leaf littered setups. The coral gravel looks a bit weird being white on a reddish brown substrate. I just dumped it in at the back where you don't see it. I might put the hammer through some of my Seiryu stone...
  57. AverageWhiteBloke

    Biogenic Decalcification

    https://ukaps.org/forum/threads/rcs-losses-after-filter-change.26463/ Found it.
  58. AverageWhiteBloke

    Biogenic Decalcification

    Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me Darrel, up to press any setup I've done has had a fair amount of seiryu stone in it so KH has never been an issue as I've always been aware of how soft my water is. Am I right in assuming that it will still raise KH though in soft acidic water...
  59. AverageWhiteBloke

    Biogenic Decalcification

    Still digesting that Darrel, I do have the Walsted book on ereader but I guess I haven't got to that bit yet. I find there's a lot to take in with that book so I tend to go over the same bit a few times until I understand it, I suffer from information over load haha. Are you saying that the...
  60. AverageWhiteBloke

    Biogenic Decalcification

    I could be wrong at the moment I would have to test more but if plants are co2 limited and extracting carbon via carbonates in the water, could they remove enough carbonates to lower PH through the lighting period? The reason I ask is my tank was running KH limited, only just realised it. I've...
  61. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    BTW mate, forgot to mention, your plants right now are looking healthy so you're definitely doing something right. Any pictures of the full tank?
  62. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    Yeah he did Ian, looked at that product and it is a dechlorinator.
  63. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    Oh mate, that's a bummer. Have you used nothing but RO up to now? I'm imagining your tapwater is very hard. If you intend to go down the route of just using tapwater you might have to do this gradually. Do you have a TDS pen? If you haven't they're a very handy piece of kit to have in your...
  64. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    How long did you have the fish? Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk
  65. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    Just had a look at TNC lite, I hadn't heard of it. Looks like it's nitrate and phosphate free. Maybe if you have high nitrate the phosphate is what you were missing if you have seen an improvement but then again you said you were using RO so basically taking Nitrate out then putting it back in...
  66. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    As you can probably tell by now Chris we don't tend to take much notice of test kits results because of their unreliability as the results can be off by the person reading it, other chemicals in the tank throwing it out plus we're dealing with small quantities so would you tell the difference on...
  67. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    No problem mate, good thing about living up here is we get decent soft water from nice lakes and reservoirs perfect for the majority of soft water fish not like our shandy drinking colleagues from darn sarf who have to deal with recycled p/ss. Test kits will just tell you whatever you want to...
  68. AverageWhiteBloke

    Water testing

    Hiya, if you want to go about a bit of testing I would suggest just getting a TDS meter and possibly a PH pen both very cheap on ebay and reliable enough for what we are doing. i have to assume based on your name that you're in Scotland although you may not live there, that being the case your...
  69. AverageWhiteBloke

    So what is organic wastes?

    So true, space weekend was on TV this week. So many references to water being brought to earth riding on the back of Kuiper Belt comets, something that most scientists have stuck to for decades. Following the Rosetta mission it's now seen as highly unlikely as the water on these comets is of a...
  70. AverageWhiteBloke

    So what is organic wastes?

    V Interesting discussion, most people assume I guess that anything inside the aquarium will be at some point at one of the stages of the nitrogen cycle and eventually be turned into something else and ultimately degassed as nitrogen or consumed by the plants. Obviously there are further things...
  71. AverageWhiteBloke

    Recording Parameters

    I have hyplants on my phone that isn't a bad app but doesn't appear to be as extensive as Aquarimate which I didn't know existed. I also use a spread sheet for certain things like tds so I can easily convert to a graph and look how things change over long term. I believe there's seneye stuff...
  72. AverageWhiteBloke

    Seachem Pristine

    Yeah tank does look great :thumbup: Don't get me wrong here, I'm not being negative for negativity sake so please do report back. I hope the product does have some benefit, it's a bit like the Twinstar etc where people see good results without being 100% sure what's going on. However, with my...
  73. AverageWhiteBloke

    Seachem Pristine

    Basically you are putting something in there that should already be there in a mature tank. They are already cleaning the substrate. If there's solids on the substrate they can either be siphoned of or use shrimp or other bottom feeders to break it down further into something the bacteria can...
  74. AverageWhiteBloke

    Seachem Pristine

    That's the point, all Ammonia and nitrate will eventually be broken down into nitrate and be removed by plants, gassed off or removed with WC's. Doesn't matter whether it's a lump of un eaten food or the food has went through the fish first, same net result really. In low oxygen some bacteria...
  75. AverageWhiteBloke

    Seachem Pristine

    Hmm, feels a bit like snake oil to me. Should their claims be true which I don't doubt it would appear that the only benefit here is that they have developed a strain of bacteria which like low oxygen conditions. If you have fish in the tank you don't want low oxygen conditions anyway so why not...
  76. AverageWhiteBloke

    Should I mix with rainwater

    They should be fine, prefer soft water but a lot of these will be captive bred specimens and are fairly hardy. My TDS is a lot higher than yours and I keep all the species apart from the rummy nose that you've listed.
  77. AverageWhiteBloke

    Should I mix with rainwater

    Yeah would make life easier to keep species that are suited to your tapwater although with your tds there isn't many that wouldn't be perfectly happy in that water. Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk
  78. AverageWhiteBloke

    Should I mix with rainwater

    Hello bud, you'll probably find when your GH test kit comes that it will be higher than your KH as GH is the total of kh+ the rest of the hardness. With a kh of 9 and 30ppm of co2 your ph should only get down as low as 7 according the the PH/KH scale. Obviously that doesn't take into account...
  79. AverageWhiteBloke

    acrylic for dividing tanks

    Hi @Lindy, if you can I would get in touch with the supplier and ask if they can provide a data sheet for the product. I have a company that fits similar panels, not 100% sure about the bath panels as I generally use them in commercial situations, food prep, medical etc. My worry is that it says...
  80. AverageWhiteBloke

    GH too high

    Cheapest option would be using rain water if you can get some off a roof. Maybe filter it over activated carbon first. Some resins are available as well like the API water purifier but last I looked these had gone quite high in price. Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk
  81. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    So to work out how much ferts were required to be non-limiting there must have been a lighting duration as well was there?
  82. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    Yeah, I think we all have to just take what we know or assume to know and use that as a baseline. Planted aquarium has changed significantly in the last 20 years. There are many things we did then, now known not to have been the case. I guess EI at the moment can be seen as the defacto...
  83. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    Hmm, interesting. So now we've all come to terms with which nutrient might be lacking and the symptoms the plants would show there's an extra layer of complication where it might not be too little of something it may be too much of something else and still no accurate way of measuring it. Thanks...
  84. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    Could you link these please? Would be interested in reading up on it.
  85. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    Without knowing about your lighting general rule of thumb is to be dosing between 20 and 30ppm kno3 per week. When I was going through my test kit days I would try and maintain around 20 in the tank regardless of what I was dosing. So if it went lower than that I dosed more. Now I just dose the...
  86. AverageWhiteBloke

    Why is my PO4 sky high?

    I would be looking more at your NO3 and maybe even iron. Let's say for arguments sake your test kits are right your NO3 looks quite low for a high lit tank which may account for some browning of the edges. If new leaves are yellow could be iron or magnesium if you have soft water. Do you add any...
  87. AverageWhiteBloke

    Soft alkaline water?

    I can vouch for that. I live in the most NW point in England and water comes out the tap with no hardness with a PH of 7.2
  88. AverageWhiteBloke

    Accumulation of heavy metals

    Am I right in thinking if the centre of that graph is 0.5ppm Iron then toxic levels in soft water would be 1ppm? I take it "Death" on the deficient side would mean death of flora and death on the toxicity side would be fauna or do plants also suffer at high concentrations?
  89. AverageWhiteBloke

    Accumulation of heavy metals

    Would the addition of Seachem Flourish Excel be of benefit at times like this? It claims to have properties that convert FE3 to FE2 which I'm assuming FE3 would be the toxic one. "Flourish Excel™ also has iron reducing properties which promote the ferrous state of iron (Fe+2), which is more...
  90. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS plotting

    It's no worry really. I keep fish that are comfortable at those parameters and the stone only raises the KH by about half a degree weekly. It's probably more a build up of other things than the actual stone. That's on a week by week basis with normal dosing and 50% weekly changes. When I do a...
  91. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS plotting

    I deliberately used the Seiryu stone in my scape because of its hardening qualities. As I said my tap water is pretty much devoid of any minerals so it helps to buffer it up a bit. I change 50% water weekly in a 100 ltr tank and dissolve 1tsp epsom salts to each 25ltr bucket prior to it going...
  92. AverageWhiteBloke

    TDS plotting

    Surely other things like hard scape will make a difference. My tapwater is about 18ppm with nothing worth measuring regarding KH/GH with test kits but my tank sits at around 250ppm and the KH around 4dg. I can only assume that the three bits of stone in there gradually raise the KH and TDS as...
  93. AverageWhiteBloke

    Ph Meters

    I think I know which one you mean, I have my eye on the same one. Something I'll probably treat myself to one day when I'm feeling flush. I got a combination TDS ph pen off ebay for around £25 but unfortunately the TDS side wouldn't calibrate down to the levels I'm dealing with, it seemed to be...
  94. AverageWhiteBloke

    Ph Meters

    It's a dilemma I often find myself facing. For sure PH pens are going to be more accurate than liquid test kits because it will tell you what the ph is as oppose to what you think it is if that makes sense? Liquid tests depend on the lighting and I would say confirmation bias. As in if you feel...
  95. AverageWhiteBloke

    Which NO3 Testing Kit is best??

    For sure the fish and plants will be the first to let you know when something is amiss. Its quite a hard thing to do is giving up on test kits, we are dealing with a transparent liquid which in the main is odourless as well. Sometimes we just want some reassurance that everything is ok, I don't...
  96. AverageWhiteBloke

    Which NO3 Testing Kit is best??

    Now you can see why Clive gets so frustrated with them :D A lot of the problem is the perception of colour. Depends on what mood you're in on what the reading is.
  97. AverageWhiteBloke

    Which NO3 Testing Kit is best??

    Apologies if I'm stating the obvious but could there be no3 in the tap water?
  98. AverageWhiteBloke

    90% weekly water changes

    Ultimately fish are sensitive to sudden changes in water chemistry and temp. In a half filled tank each jug of water added (if that's how you do your changes) will make a very small change to the make up of the water. In a tank with just 10% original water remaining each jug of water will make a...
  99. AverageWhiteBloke

    Which NO3 Testing Kit is best??

    I'll get in and out quick before Clive spots this thread :D I think you may have answered your own questions Steve especially when you mention that two different tests give two different results. It's admirable that if there's any chance that your Discus may be sensitive to nitrate that you...
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