We run weekly water quality tests on all of our fish, alligator and turtle tanks in the Animal Department. We monitor the waters’ pH and the levels of Ammonia and Nitrates. This is important because aquatic animals are often very sensitive to chemical changes in the water they live in and drink; more so than their terrestrial relatives.
10 tanks plus 1 “control” tank (filtered water, to make sure the tests are working properly)
The end result: 33 test tubes of some very pretty colors!
eeek that some high nitrates you got there, may want to get those under control. Time for some water changes
Yes, Matt, the nitrates did test pretty high this week. This is normal for our turtle tanks at the end of the month. Because we do 100% water changes every 3 or 4 weeks and clean all of the decorations in the turtle tanks, the ammonia and nitrates are constantly in a state of cycling. So this week, the ammonia was testing very low and the nitrates are very high. This constant cycling doesn’t happen with our Bluegills, as we don’t do such dramatic water changes for them.