How to Test Your Aquarium Water

While it is easy to keep your fish tank in working order if you don’t pay attention to your aquarium chemicals things can go south fast without you ever seeing it coming. Thankfully, it is super easy to check important chemicals like pH, Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite in just a few minutes. The test that I use and am showing how to use in this tutorial is a very popular testing kit that you can buy using the link below the article.

I recommend filling a glass with water from your tank so that you can sit down and test all chemicals in one sitting. It just makes it a whole lot easier.

Before every test remember to vigorously shake the test bottle!

1. How to Test pH

In this specific instance, I am using the High Range PH because I am testing a Cichlid tank, but a normal range PH tester is also included in the kit.

1. Fill test tube with five mL of tank water

2. Add five drops of High Range pH test solution to the test tube

3. Cap test tube and shake for a few seconds

4. Compare contents of the test tube with the color chart on the back of the instruction packet that comes with the test kit

2. How to Test Ammonia

1. Add eight drops of Ammonia Test Solution Bottle #1 to test tube with 5 mL water

2. Add eight drops of Ammonia Test Solution Bottle #2 to test tube

3. Shake vigorously for five seconds

4. Wait five minutes for color to develop

5. Compare contents of the test tube with the color chart on the back of the instruction packet that comes with the test kit

3. How to Test Nitrite

1. Add five drops of Nitrite Test Solution to five mL of water in test tube

2. Shake test tube for five seconds

3. Wait five minutes for the color to develop

4. Compare contents of the test tube with the color chart on the back of the instruction packet that comes with the test kit

4. How to Test Nitrate

1. Add ten drops of Nitrate Test Solution Bottle #1 to five mL water in test tube

2. Add ten drops of Nitrate Test Solution Bottle #2

3. Vigorously shake test tube for one minute

4. Wait five minutes for the color to develop

5. Compare contents of the test tube with the color chart on the back of the instruction packet that comes with the test kit

The common ideal levels for pH are 7.0 – 7.8. For ammonia, the ideal is 0, or as low as you can get. For nitrite, you also want it as close to 0 as possible. Finally, for nitrate, anything under 50ppm is ideal.

As a final note, remember to log your results to keep an eye on what your tank’s normal levels are and be able to keep tabs on progress/changes.

Test kit used in this tutorial