Water Chemistry Basics
Why are temperature and water chemistry important for my aquarium?
Temperature and water chemistry are probably the two most important parameters that you have to control for your fish. You have to look at your aquarium as not only a place for your pets but as it's own ecosystem that you have to control. It's an environment for these animals. Unlike your cat or your dog in your world, they have to have their world, and their world is so small compared to a lake or an ocean or a big river. You have to control the waste levels, the temperature, and all the different chemistry parameters to give your fish the best chance of being healthy and staying alive for a long period of time.
What is a 'nitrogen cycle' in an aquarium?
How do I manage the water chemistry in my aquarium?
When you are dealing with water chemistry, there might be things that are bad, good and microscopic. The major factor that concerns an aquarium are the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the water. The basics things that should be considered to maintain water chemistry are keeping the ammonia and nitrate level to 0, nitrate level should be 0-60/70/80 (part per million), having proper biological filtration, confirming that you have the right size and amount of fish in the aquarium, better maintenance of the aquarium, and feeding the right amount of food.
Why do I need to check the water pH of my aquarium?
PH is critical, namely stable pH is critical. All of the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all acidic-based toxins and they're constantly try to drive your pH down. Natural tap water is anywhere from neutral 70 on up to about 78 in most areas. Fish adapt to that pH. If you've got acids and waste constantly trying to drive that down, that's really going to irritate your fish. PH is log rhythmic so to move from 70 to 69 is 10 times basically, over simplified 10 times more shocking that you could seem to be because of the value of pH. It's critical on aquarium, testing is very simple and you get a test kit at any fish store.
What pH levels are normal for my aquarium?
Typically fresh water is neutral or slightly alkaline. Soft water with all the different alkaline components, be it calcium and minor or major traces, is a lot more alkaline. Fresh water typically is between 7.0 and 7.8 and saltwater between 8.1 and 8.3.
Why do I need to check the water 'alkalinity' or 'hardness' in my aquarium?
Alkalinity or water hardness which are sometimes the same thing, for this discussion we'll call it the same thing, are really important to keeping pH stable. They are basically measuring the amount of mineral content or trace elements that are in the water. Those trace elements act as a buffer of your pH again, fighting the bad guys which is acidic amonia nitrate, nitrite and some other things like phosphate that we haven't talked about, kind of fighting them from driving your pH down. They're the stabilizers of the pH, which is critical to any type of system be it fresh water or salt water. When you're testing for alkalinity, KH or DKH, alkalinity or water hardness there are simple kits like there are for almost anything you're going to test for that you can get in any reputable aquarium store. They're very simple and easy to read. They will tell you basically what you're levels are and what you want them to be. It's not nearly as critical typically in fresh water as in salt water and again when you're talking the salt water fish only versus saltwater invert coral and fish they have different requirements as well, so you have to kind of know specifically what you're testing for based on what you have. But they are very easy to use, the test kits are very easy to use and they are very easy to read.
Why do I need to check the 'salinity level' or 'gravity' of water of my saltwater aquarium?
When you're dealing with the specific gravity of a saltwater aquarium, keep in mind that saltwater fish almost exclusively come out of the ocean. The ocean runs a specific gravity of 1.023 to 1.024 almost in every tropical sea on the planet. That's what the fish are used to. If you change that dramatically, its like pH, they just have very little time to adapt to it. Changes in the ocean happen very slowly and if a fish doesn't like a particular area for whatever reason it can leave. It can't do that in your aquarium, it is totally stuck with whatever chemistry and ecosystem you create. Therefore, it's paramount that you get the specific gravity where you want it to be, 1.020, 1.021, 1.022, somewhere in that range and then you keep it there as consistently as you can. There are tricks and ways to manipulate that for parasite control and other things, but for our discussion and all intents and purposes you really want to keep it at a certain level, and you want to control it as much as you possibly can.
How do I create the right level of oxygen in my aquarium?
Oxygen in a fish tank is just like oxygen for us; it's paramount. Fish will die without it. The way to do that is through water movement. You can use air pumps to bubble the water, and when they break on the surface, the agitation of the surface allows O2 molecules to get in and CO2 molecules to get out. Also, you want to move currents throughout the aquarium - the top, the middle, and the bottom - so carbon dioxide that's in solution will have a chance to get up and out of the top of the aquarium, basically the only place it can escape, and oxygen molecules will be able to get in so your fish can breathe.
What is an 'air stone'?
An air stone is a little, porous, literally like a little stone that attaches to air line tubing, which is then attached to an air pump. A vibrating pump will force a lot of air through that air tubing, and then through the air stone and you'll get anywhere from fine to coarse bubbles that will come out of that air stone and again, oxygenate the water mostly as they break on the surface
