I started my tank about 2 weeks ago, let it run through everything for about 2 or 3 days before buying fish. I added 2 guppies in the tank to start with (I will be doing a tropical tank). I only have 3 tests because they are so spendy. Next time I will get Nitrate. If there is anything else that is very important to test, let me know!!!!

PH: 8 (slight spike from 7.6 last weekend but it dropped down a little after my water change today)

Ammonia: 0 (yay!)

Nitrite: 0.2 Is that okay? If not, how can I lower it without chemicals since I don't really have money LoL.

My tank is still cycling... I'll continue to do a test every week or two though through the end of summer before I consider getting other fish and then I will do the tests weekly before a water change.

If there are any other tests I should look for, aside for Nitrate, let me know! I'm not sure about the water hardness, but we have a softner and I'd imagine it wouldn't be very hard.

- Atryeu

Partial water changes will help lower nitrIte.
Salt will also help protect against nitrIte poisoning, but I don't know if guppies are salt tolerant.

Yeah, I agree. you'll just have to do partial water changes. Try to keep it above o.25ppms while its cycling and going thro the nitrite stage, but dont let it go above 1ppm. This is what I did with my goldies, but im not sure with guppies. ive never had them before. good luck!

Most proffesional guppy breeders in the US run their guppy tanks at .1% salt at all times. Guppies should not be placed in water with a greater salt concentration greater than or equal to .3% for any extended time.

Thanks for the info! I did read that salt is good for all livebearers, and I have some aquarium salt still. I have a ghost shrimp in with them though. Would the salt affect it? If not, any idea how many tsp/tbsp I should add in? And would it affect fry? My guppy is pregnant and I'm going to try and save some babies