What is the most important thing in the aquarium and the least understood? The water, most people look at their fish in the aquarium and hardly give the water a second thought as long as it looks clear then it must be okay. Wrong just because it looks okay you should never take it for granted. I check my tropical Aquariums water every fortnight for pH and Nitrate and in the Malawi Cichlid tank water hardness, none of these will show up as a visual look it the water.

What causes High readings of pH, nitrite and nitrate in the water?

The pH can be affected by many factors but mostly excess waste in the aquarium from over feeding (the most common) too many fish in the tank producing excess waste products or new tank syndrome when the Aquarium is going through The Nitrogen Cycle.

Another cause is the tap water the ph will vary depending on where you live and can be anywhere from pH 6 – 10 and the majority of community fish are happy in the pH 6.5 – 7.5 range.

Nitrite will become high as the aquarium goes through the Nitrogen Cycle (New Tank Syndrome)

Nitrate as the Nitrite but other causes are overfeeding and overcrowding. The bacteria cannot cope with the excess waste and rotting food. 

So ValueAquatics have the answer the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It comes with everything you need to test for pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate. You should get over 800 tests with this kit making it very economical and cheaper than buying individual tests.

What you get in the Kit is High range pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate testing solutions, Computer-calibrated laminated colour cards, 4 glass tubes, a holding tray for the test tubes,. There is an easy to follow none technical instruction booklet with added information on how to correct unsafe water conditions.

The API Freshwater Testing Kit comes in a durable, unique transparent dome allowing a clear view of the contents. 

Highly accurate and economical

Over 800 tests

Compact

Easy to use

None technical and informative booklet

John

Are you tired of the heavy metal AC/DC drummer in your aquarium cupboard then look no further The TetraTec APS air Pumps are what you need. These have been designed especially with noise, vibration and flow rate in mind. The APS range of air pumps is amongst the quietest of diaphragm air pumps on the market.

These pumps are especially effective when used with deeper aquariums where the back pressure often defeats other pumps of the same rating.

The innovative design and advanced sound reducing technology creates a better environment in the aquarium fore your fish, and you don’t have to turn the Television up to maximum to cover the sound of that old pump.

There are 5 sizes of The TetraTec air pumps available from ValueAquatics to suit the vast majority of aquariums.

John

The innovative Smart Heater/Thermostats by the highly respected Rena Company use an electric sensor that accurately checks the water temperature. The thermostat can be set from 20°c to 34°c. The heater has a warning light that will flash if the temperature goes 3° above or bellow the set temperature. This is good news for all those keepers of large robust fish like Oscars or Aquatic reptiles like terrapins/turtles, as they are said to be unbreakable as it is made from composite materials. The Smart Heater is insensitive to mechanical or thermal shocks.

Fish are less likely to get burnt on the smart heater as the water is drawn up through the centre of the heater, thus warming it up and passing the warmed water out of the top. It can be used with an external canister filter with the connection kit (not supplied) allowing it to be connected to the 16mm internal diameter hose inlet tube.

If the inlet tube of your filter is 12mm internal diameter simply use a step down adapter.  Both the heater and the external filter adapter are available from ValueAquatics.

Fully submersible
Works in any position
Unbreakable
Shock resistant
Switches itself off if not fully submerged in water
Available in 50w, 100w, 150w, 200w and 300watt

Jacqui