# the value of a good test kit



## Den Socling (Sep 10, 2018)

I'm new here and I'm not sure where to start this thread. Also, I'm sure that many of you know that a good water testing kit is a good thing to have. After a 25 year lapse, I decided to set up an aquarium once again. My fish were dropping dead as fast as I was buying them. I thought our well water was fine for the aquarium but I bought an API freshwater master test kit. What I immediately found out was that our well water was extremely alkaline. I tried fish that could tolerate the high PH but was still losing fish. Just one or two a day. Now I get all of the aquarium from a spring that gushes water out at the foot of a mountain. It test 7.0 and has solved the dead fish problem. BTW I had tried natural drift wood but it wasn't bringing the PH down. I'm lucky to have the spring a couple miles from home.


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## ManyTankKeeper (Sep 5, 2018)

*Your Tank*



Den Socling said:


> I'm new here and I'm not sure where to start this thread. Also, I'm sure that many of you know that a good water testing kit is a good thing to have. After a 25 year lapse, I decided to set up an aquarium once again. My fish were dropping dead as fast as I was buying them. I thought our well water was fine for the aquarium but I bought an API freshwater master test kit. What I immediately found out was that our well water was extremely alkaline. I tried fish that could tolerate the high PH but was still losing fish. Just one or two a day. Now I get all of the aquarium from a spring that gushes water out at the foot of a mountain. It test 7.0 and has solved the dead fish problem. BTW I had tried natural drift wood but it wasn't bringing the PH down. I'm lucky to have the spring a couple miles from home.


 
Den...


Have you cycled the tank? The problem may not be the minerals. There may be traces of ammonia in the water. Starting up a tank really requires using a very hardy species of fish. Probably the toughest fish out there are Rosy Red Minnows. I used them in a 40 gallon plastic bucket while I sent up my 300 gallon tank and they thrive in very marginal water conditions. You might give them a try to cycle your tank.


MTK


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## Den Socling (Sep 10, 2018)

Thank you, MTK, ammonia was a problem in the beginning but has been zero for a long time.


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