Freshwater Aquarium Water Testing Kits and results

Although many ignore these water tests sooner or later will consider them necessary. Even the most experienced aquarists need to check the water parameters and this can be done only with water tests.

The most important parameters for freshwater aquarium which must be measured

• PH
PH shows as if water is acidic or alkaline, the difference is made by hydrogen and hydroxyl ions. Acidic water has more hydrogen ions and alkaline water has more hydroxyl ions. Water is called neutral when the ratio of hydrogen ions and alkaline ions is equal.
The scale for PH measurement it is from 1 to 14, the neutral value is represented by 7.
• Under PH 7, water is considered to be acidic
• PH 7, water is neutral
• Above PH7, water is considered to be alkaline
Normally the optimal PH value for a freshwater aquarium is between 6.5 and 7.5. The pH value is influenced by the Carbon Dioxide which is acidic and when it is injected in aquarium water it will lower the PH, so in your aquarium the PH value will depend by the amount of CO2 you dissolve in water.
Because suddenly ph changes are damaging to fish you must do ph changes only in time, for example if I have water with PH=6.90 and I want to have PH=6.70 I will change every day only 0.05 (on PH Controller).
• Day 0 – PH 6.90
• Day 1 – PH 6.85
• Day 2 – PH 6.80
• Day 3 – PH 6.75
• Day 4 – PH 6.70
You must make small steps when you are changing PH of the water because PH scale is logarithmic which means a unit change is a ten times change, for example a unit change from 6 to 7 is a ten time change, two units change from 6 to 8 is a hundred times change and so on.

• KH - Carbonate Hardness
According to this we calculate the optimal amount of CO2 to be introduced to lower the PH of the water.
For a freshwater aquarium with fish the KH required value is between 5 to 12 (°dKH).
For a freshwater aquarium without fish or with few fish the KH required value is between 3 to 8 (°dKH).

CO2 Concentrations

To increase the value of KH (carbonate hardness) you have to add some freshwater additives like Dennerle KH+, Aqua Medic aqua +KH.

• GH - Total hardness (°dGH)
GH shows the type of water that we have in aquarium and required value for freshwater aquarium with fish is between 8 and 25, for freshwater aquarium without fish or few the recommended value is between 3 and 10.
Water hardness classification:
• 0 – 4 = very soft water
• 4 – 8 = soft water
• 8 – 12 = medium hard water
• 12 – 18 = fairly hard water
• 18 – 30 = hard water

• Ammonia (NH3/NH4)
This is the most toxic product that appears in your aquarium and the required value for a freshwater aquarium is under 0.25 mg/l.

• Nitrite (NO2)
NO2 are the results of the intervention of bacteria and oxygen on ammonia, also it is very dangerous for fish and the ideal value for a freshwater aquarium is 0 mg/l.

• Nitrate (NO3)
Nitrates are less toxic to fish than Ammonia and Nitrite and are used as fertilizers by the plants. In a planted aquarium the required value for NO3 is between 10 and 30 mg/l.

• Iron (FE)
Required value for a freshwater aquarium with plants is between 0.1 and 0.5 mg/l.

• Phosphate (PO4)
Required value is between 0.1 and 1.5 mg/l.

• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Required value for a planted aquarium is between 20 and 35 mg/l.

• Copper (Cu)
Required value is 0 mg/l, when you apply some treatment the Cu value can increase.

• Oxygen (O2)
Required value is between 5 and 10 mg/l.

• Potassium (K)
Required value is between 10 and 30 mg/l.

On the market you find many water tests and the cheapest and best is the one from Dennerle “ Dennerle Mini-Lab Water Test”, also on the market you find Test Box containing all tests needed for a freshwater aquarium, i recommend JBL TestLab.