# quick dip jungle five question



## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

first of all let me start out by saying i know these are not great, nor very accurate. however i have to make do with what i have for right now.
these strips didnt come with any little chart to tell you what the diffrent colors mean. it only shows you what colors they should be. it doesnt tell you the number, or if its to high or even too low.
nitAte needed to be pink
nitrite should had been light brown
hardness needed to be green brown
alkalinity should had been yellow
and ph orange
well, i got something WAAY diff from usual.
my ph is bright bright pink, and alkalinity is bright blue!
the rest are right!
just wondering if anyone knew why my ph and alkalinity is getting all crazy!
my ammonia (i have the good test for that) is .5


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

pH and alkalinity are not super important. pH is simply how acidic or basic your water is. most fish will adapt redily to a range of pH levels, so long as the pH stays the SAME. that's the key, stability. i don't really know anything about alkalinity, but the whole time i was researching my tank and asking on forums i never heard anyone mention it as being anything i needed to worry about, so i would just ignore that one. and so long as your pH stays the same and doesn't go up and down a lot, it should be fine.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

according to my strip test i did a minute ago has changed... but i dont know if it went up or down...
these strips need to just be thrown in the darn trash!


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

those tests need to be read immediately, if you let a used test sit around it will change colors further, so if your comparing two tests taken at different times, that may be the problem.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

yeah i read them immediatley.
and i write down every time i test.


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1133632283063


follow that link above and print out the page. take it to your local petsmart and have them price match the Freshwater master test kit. its got the main 4 tests you will need. its $25 in store, so that will save you $10 there.


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## Magdelaine (Apr 9, 2005)

The chart is under the label--find the lower left hand corner, I think, and peel it back. I just bought some myself, recently.


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## equidae9854 (Jun 27, 2005)

You know where I think the chart might be?
Try peeling off the label on the bottle. It might say "Peel here" at the corner of the label somewhere. 
The one I have has a complete chart on the "peel apart" label on the bottle that opens up to show you the Freshwater and Salt water charts, but only has the simple chart on the box.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

i should slap myself....
YES it has a place for me to peel back.
omg, thanks guys.
i feel pretty dumb


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

and yes my ph has jumped up from 7.8 to about 8.4
i have some ph nuetralizer but i have heard not to use it because it can cause other problems


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

just do a water change, something is amiss here... pH should go lower over time, usually not up... unless you added some sea shells to the equation or some rock from outside?


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

no i havent added nothing
there for a bit i was doing daily 30 precent water changes due to my ammonia being at 3.0


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## Daniel (Feb 17, 2006)

buy liquid or dry tab tests, ph generally isn't a concern for most people unless you are breeding or specialising in difficult fish.
changing the ph is complicated and needs extreme care as until you overcome the kh buffer nothing happens then watch out. 

The only rapid ph changes most will experience is old tank syndrome 
(ph crash) when the water has not been changed and a build up of organic acids and drop in kh buffer = disaster!!!
basically you want
Ammonia test
nitrite test
nitrate test


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