Water testing levels

[Mogymog]

Can anyone give me what should be the right levels for Bettas, water hardness, ph, and alkalinity?

My Nitrite and Nitrate levels are in the low safe ends but, the rest I'm not too sure about

My PH is about 6.5-6.6, and my Alkalinty is pretty near the low end as well.

And while its not the exactly right area. Can anyone give me the same good levels for ghost shrimp as well?

[Lady Hobbs]

Tropical fish can live pretty well on about anything that comes from your tap water if the water is declorinated unless you have extremely low levels or high levels of pH. Betta's are said to do well in pH levels of 6.8 to 7.4

I see no reason to try to adjust your pH. The fish most of us get now are all farm raised and have become adaptable to different pH. We no longer have to try to match the conditions of the water they come from in the wild as they haven't come from the wild but are farm raised. Most of my fish prefer pH of 7 but are in 7.6 all year long.

Trying to raise the pH in the small amount of water a betta is in my be a disaster.

I wish I had your pH. You can easily raise it but very hard to lower. There is a pH stabilitizer that will keep your water at 7 but it would be difficult to use in that small amount of water.

[jeffs99dime]

you should be fine where your levels are at.

[kimmers318]

Please remember that really you should have 0 levels on your nitrites, not low levels. Although not immediately toxic it can affect your fish well being over the long run.

[Mogymog]

What I meant for low levels really meant low levels. My Nitrite levels are 0, my Nitrates are like 20. Which according to this tester I have, is perfectly safe.

[Lady Hobbs]

Ammonia 0 = Nitrites 0=Nitrates (any number) is a cycle tank. But too high on nitrates can cause them harm, as well. Perhaps a gravel cleaning and less food will control this.

Feed only a very small amount. What lays on the bottom causes the higher nitrates.

[f1oored]

If we are talking about a betta in a bowl you probably won't ever see nitrites because you will be doing water changes often enough that the good bacteria will never form. In a bowl the only levels you can really look at are the ammonia levels. Same thing with the ghost shrimp. It's the ammonia levels that are going to hurt him. If you are interested in adding tank mates for a betta you need to realize that most other aquatic creatures aren't as hardy as the betta and will likely require filtration. That being said, I had an apple snail that lived through a cycle with off the charts ammonia levels for weeks.

[Mogymog]

No, it's a betta/shrimp in a filtered 5.5 gal tank

[jeffs99dime]

If we are talking about a betta in a bowl you probably won't ever see nitrites because you will be doing water changes often enough that the good bacteria will never form. In a bowl the only levels you can really look at are the ammonia levels. Same thing with the ghost shrimp. It's the ammonia levels that are going to hurt him. If you are interested in adding tank mates for a betta you need to realize that most other aquatic creatures aren't as hardy as the betta and will likely require filtration. That being said, I had an apple snail that lived through a cycle with off the charts ammonia levels for weeks.

that all really depends whether or not you have nitrates in your source water. my nitrates in my source water are 5. with my r.o. they're zero