How to control the water?

[Zodiac007]

I know that you should use a test kit to test the water weekly. But what do you do? Like if the water is too acidic, how do you make it less acidic?

And if the water is too hard, how do you make it less hard?

And if theres suddenly nitrate or nitrite in a established tank, how do you fix that?

And if the water is too basic, how do you make it more acidic?

And if the water is not hard enough, how do you make it harder?

Thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

Once I finish a cycle, I seldom ever test. Only if I have a doubt or a problem and need to know what's going on.

[korith]

You can get ph modifiers, but many suggest avoid using them. And instead get fish suited for the ph of your water. Limestone, crushed coral, peat, co2 injection, use softened water, can change your ph up or down.

Best to avoid messing with pH too much, it just causes more headaches in the long run and harder to maintain.

[Wild Turkey]

Going up in hardness and ph is easier than lower them usually. But 95% of the time you wont need to do either. Ammonia nitrite and nitrate and all be reduce via water changes.

With ph, stable is better and most people are going to opt not to mess with it unless its absolutely needed.

Really answers to these kind of questions can be found by browsing the forum and the net.

Do research, then come back with specific questions/problems you may have. Most people dont wanna answer a list of questions for someone just for knowledge sake, that is to say, for someone who doesnt already have a tank and a problem, which to the fish could be dangerous/time sensitive..unless its stuff you really cant find the answer to using google ;)

I suggest starting with the e-book in my sig. It will answer a lot of questions upfront, and then go from there. Its not a very intense read and is stuffed with helpful info.

[Gemini]

I know that you should use a test kit to test the water weekly. But what do you do? Like if the water is too acidic, how do you make it less acidic?
You don't. Stability is key!!! You find out the PH and KH of your tank. Then you find fish that like that sort of environment. Otherwise if you want the PH higher you are in for a battle trying to balance the hardness to buffer the PH. In a nutshell - much easier if you just find out what it is and work with that!!

And if the water is too hard, how do you make it less hard?
Ditto as above

And if theres suddenly nitrate or nitrite in a established tank, how do you fix that?
There shouldn't suddenly be nitrite in a cycled tank. If you suddenly get nitrite you have either thrown in too many fish and are overstocked, or your cycle has been messed up. Cycles are usually messed up by people cleaning their filter in tap water and killing all the good bacteria.
Nitrates - you change these out with your weekly water changes. I never let my tank get above 20ppm for nitrates.
If the nitrates suddenly are spiking something is going on. For me - I had spikes when I had a floating breeding net that was holding lots of poo.

And if the water is too basic, how do you make it more acidic?
See above

And if the water is not hard enough, how do you make it harder?
See above. Kinda easy with bicarb - or is it baking soda...
Thank you.

I answered in Blue...