Wednesday, February 25, 2009

4 mini tanks

I have four mini aquariums going at the same time, all of which are at various stages of nitrogen cycling (new aquarium syndrome). To help me keep track of water changes along with the daily Ammonia level and Nitrite level, I created a mini chart based on the great charts available at freshaquarium.about.com. I made my version of the charts in a spreadsheet program. The chart is wide, so I do print it out in landscape and have 35 daily readings available for 5 weeks worth of tests and water changes.

My charts look something like this:

Daily Ammonia Levels
> 4.0













> 2.0













> 1.0













> .50













> .25













> .00
Day #
012345678910111213
Daily Nitrite Levels
> 2.0






> 1.0






> .50






> .25[N/A][N/A][N/A][N/A][N/A][N/A]






> .00
Day #
012345678910111213
WC%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Today is:Feb 1Feb 2Feb 3Feb 4Feb 5Feb 6Feb 7Feb 8Feb 9Feb 10Feb 11Feb 12Feb 13Feb 14




Water Change 10% - 20% (WC) and cut back on fishfoodWC up to 50% + less food + watch for signs of distressWC 50% as many times in a day as needed to drop the levels below the red levels.

Other tips:
To reduce very high levels of Ammonia, consider using an ammonia neutralizer and gradually lower the PH to 7.0 or lower (as appropriate for the type of fish in the tank).
To reduce very high levels of Nitrites, consider using ½ teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon of water in the tank and added aeration either with an air pump or lowering the water level of the fish tank to allow for a water cascade from the filter (with a back of the tank filter system).



These charts help me to stay organized with my various tank tasks and helps me to keep track of days when I have made water changes as a result of high readings after I check the ammonia and nitrite levels.

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