Water quality

Hi guys,

For those of you who remember poor axie Wes and me having to empty out the tank, you will recall that I was/am in the process of cycling the tank again. However this doesn't seem to be going as it should be. I have been doing small daily water changes, I have three live plants and axies in there, and water checks every couple of days at least.

My readings have been as follows:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7 (as it comes out of the tap, lucky me)

However I thought that the nitrate was meant to be, well, above zero to indicate that the tank was on its way. There has been no increase at all. Please advise?

Also, I recently discovered that the water here on the Gold Coast is very soft. Is this as bad as I think it is and if so, how can I best rectify the situation?

I also got a new little addition to the family, a wild type (mostly black with some speckles) named Gertrude or Gertie. She looked a little sad and sorry at first (came from a pet store of course - I could rave for hours) but is looking much better, gills growing back, and eating heaps.

Thanking you in advance. :happy:

I would not worry about your water test results, they look pretty good. I suspect the actual sensitivity of the tests are in play here, especially if test strips are being used. If you are using strips, I highly recommend investing in a liquid reagent kit. They tend to be much more accurate.

As for water hardness, Axolotls do like their water hard. I am lucky enough to live in an area where we call our tap water "liquid rock", so I admit raising hardness is not something I am very experienced with. (ours is at about 450 ppm right out of the faucet!)

There is a good bit on John's Axolotl site concerning water hardness and how to adjust it.

http://www.axolotl.org/requirements.htm#hardness

We quite have a few of those Australian Veterinary types lurking about here, so I am sure they can provide you with even more insight as they know the water down there.

Hi axiewhisperer,

How long has your tank been cycling? it won't show nitrates if it is in an early stage but your water parametrs are fine and no cause for worry. a pH of 7 out of the tap is perfectly balanced 7 being neutral and doesn't indicate soft water.

Hi Elle,

You can bring a small sample of your water to a local aquarium to have the hardness tested. If necessary, you can gradually and safely raise the hardness by use of shell grit placed in a stocking inside your tank.

Cheers.

Thanks guys!

I had no idea that water hardness and ph were related! I guess I shouldn't have done so much napping in science I was just told that the water is soft as soft here so I freaked out.

And I don't use the strips because I had heard that they were less reliable, I have the liquid tests where you take some water and put in ten drops of this and ten drops of that etc haha. So from what you've said, I expect my tank is just not there yet.

The tank has been cycling for I guess a month now? Patience has never been one of my gifts. I will go away and shut up.

May take a sample in anyway, if and when I find a decent aquarium store. The last one I went to asked me what I feed my axies these days (mostly blood worm) and they spent about five minutes trying to convince me that I should only feed them beef heart. AHHHHHHHH. I nearly combusted. I ended up saying "well actually, I have been informed by a vet (that's you Rayson!) that beef heart is a sometimes food only!"

Thanks again.

Mine was like that too. I think it would have to do with the plants in the tank sucking up all the ammonia's and trites and trates.

Also, did you quarantine the pet shop axie? I don't really know how it works but I was told to quarantine with my African Dwarf frogs, and bringing home a new rat is a huge no-no as their diseases are mostly airborne. Anyone have any info on this?

I hate when I know I'm right and a **** pet store tries to tell me otherwise. I have printed out info before, and will do it again, haha.

axiewhisperer said:

Thanks guys!

I had no idea that water hardness and ph were related! I guess I shouldn't have done so much napping in science I was just told that the water is soft as soft here so I freaked out.

Click to expand...

Even more entertaining is that total dissolved oxygen in water is proportional to carbonate hardness and pH! ...and then you throw in the temperature and altitude and TDS and Turbidity and...

It is actually very interesting to learn how it all interconnects to support life. And to me, that is one of the joys of the hobby.

Ugh pet shops. They are just too reluctant to take advice, like I'm not here to be a smarta**, I am here to stop you from killing all your animals, you know? These guys were just kinda smirking at me thinking I was this lunatic. I'm hardly an 'axie whisperer' haha but I know what to feed them!!!!! But yeah I've had two 'new' pet store axies in my time and quarantined them. I got a new one a few weeks ago and she is still in quarantine and the poor thing, her gills are all chomped down and her skin was peeling and it was just so bad. She is looking SO much better which makes me happy. When I got her, petshopguy was like "this one's okay, but she has white stuff on her guts"... "that's her SKIN PEELING OFF because the WATER isnt okay..."

And sludgemunkey, I am very unsure as to what turbitity or TDS so please elaborate haha. I do NOT have a science brain but feel it can be very interesting when applied to something practical, like my little axie friends!

Turbidity and TDS really do not have much bearing on aquarium water chemistry, but they do affect tap water and the like.

TDS is Total Dissolved Solids, which pretty much explains itself, except that this may be stuff you cannot see with the naked eye and is in direct correlation with water hardness.

Turbidity is actually pretty much the same thing, however it is a visual measurement of the stuff floating about in the water. Most commonly it is a judgment of water quality based on how cloudy and murky the water is. Turbidity has a tendency to effect pH, but it can also influence hardness.

Both aspects of water quality can even cause very interesting results with aquarium water test kits. For a fun experiment, take a sample from a pond or lake near your home, and another from a drainage ditch, then test them as you would your tank water. You may be surprised by the results!


If you really want to get into the interesting aspects of water chemistry, the web is full of excellent resources. Just Google things like "Water Quality for Steam Plant Generation" and "Drinking Water Quality Tests". I think you will discover it is shocking how much hard science we caudate addicts are involved with every day, with out even knowing it.

Haha my poor little brain has melted to sludge. I will definitely do some more research. Thanks SludgeMunkey!