Water Conditioning

  Water conditioning, you need water conditioning to purify the water and rid it of ammonia and nitrite by testing the pH, after the water conditioning your new tropical fish tank will be ready to use.

   The most important factor in keeping healthy fish is the removal of harmful ammonia. In a newly setup tank the bacteria level is not high enough to cope with the amount of toxic waste from the fish but when a fish tank has matured, which can take up to several weeks, the ammonia turns into nitrite this then builds up to high levels and then turns in to less harmful nitrate which is removed by frequent water changes. There are various test kits available to monitor the amount of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite in the water. The ammonia and nitrite levels should always be 0. Do not put too many fish into the tank until it has matured this will lower the risk of fatalities.

  You then need to check the pH levels of the water. PH is the measurement of acid or alkaline that is present in the tank (0 being acidic and 14 being alkaline). Most tropical fish require the pH to be between 6-8. You can buy pH test kits from any aquarium suppliers. If the pH needs altering you can buy bottles of pH up or pH down, use as described on the bottles. If the pH is slightly up or down don't keep altering it, because tropical fish need it to be stable rather than going up and down too often.

  The other thing to check is the hardness of the water, that is the amount of minerals that are in the water (you can buy yet another testing kit to measure this. If it is too hard adding purified water will soften it down if it is too soft then adding hardening salts to the water will bring the hardness up.

Eureka now all this is now in proper working order, you can add your fish!