Ok, so when someones says "my water is fine" what parameters are "fine"? Also when someone says "normal ..?

whey i see someone way fine or normal i think they are a newbie ... fine says to me the person has looked at the tank water, it is clear, so it is "fine" ... or they had the water tested at the store and the employee told them the water was "fine" so they could sell them some fish ... to me fine is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and <10 nitrates tested using the drops not test strips ... normal fish tank size to me could be anything ... i have over ten tanks from 2.5 gallons to 30 gallons so that is normal for me ... but a person who would say normal, would be a newbie ...

I consider nitrate at 5 ppm to be perfect. many coral and anemone feed on some nitrate. Just like you. You like your food in small bites but if someone stuffed the whole plate in your mouth you would feel a little choked out. I strongly believe that the swell up to absorb nitrates from the water as well light.

Anemone are known to live longer in a tank that maintained a low level of nitrate under 10. Nitrates are a form of food for your filter feeders. Also, the fine green algae that forms on your glass becomes more good food for your filter feeders when you scrape it off.

Most people consider 0 PPM to be perfect because it means the minimum amount of algae popping up and less cleaning to do. This is an example of putting yourself before your fish. They don't care if the glass is green. That's how I see it.

If I said my parameters were "fine" it would be along the lines of "my parameters are fine. Calcium is only 380" This means that ammonia and nitrite don't even get a chance in my tank and nitrate never reaches the double digit mark. Perfect would need to have a 420-440 calcium level and nitrates bouncing between 0-3 PPM

I have found that when someone says "fine" or "OK" they didn't test at all and are attempting to brush off the obvious question "What are your water tests results?" To them the water looks clean, so must be, right? Most times they are looking for some answer that does not relate back to how they are improperly caring for the fish. They want you to say "It is old age, nothing you could do" or "It was the fish store's fault, not yours" or anything not making more work for them and removing the blame from themselves. They want a magic fix or someone else to blame, or both.

I've even seen fish stores give those "results" and often they didn't even test but pretend they did! Or they are sick of explaining what the different levels mean and are indicating you are below the "danger" reading on some tests. Always ask for exact results when having a fish store test for you!

I've run into the "normal" size tank issue before. My little cousin asked if I had a spare stand for his turtle tank. I asked "What size is the tank?". He came back with, "I don't know, normal size I guess." I got him to finally give me dimensions...it turned out to be a 10 gallon! Not only did I give him a stand I gave him a much larger tank too! (poor little turtle).

There is no "normal" tank, but most people that use that term are really talking about the smaller tanks.

And when there is a sick fish, the water parameters are almost never "fine" at all.

Fine water paremeters for me are:

0 ammonia

0 nitrite

< 20 nitrate

However I really don't want to hear that your water is clear because ammonia is clear and so is nitrite. I need the readings...

There is no such thing as a "normal size tank" for me. Every tank can be considered normal (besides those novelty PoS that are less than 5 gallons). I hate when people say **** like "decent size" or best yet "4 foot tank", well nice those range from 33 to 120 gallons how the hell do you expect me to help you? We do not live in a 1 dimensional world you know...

A normal size tank could mean anything as people on here have anything from a 5 gallon up to 150 gallons plus .

For me there is no normal size tank as so many people have different size tanks .

Regarding water parameters unless they put 0 Ammonia 0 nitrite nitrates under 20 then there water is not perfect i like to see what the readings are ,Fine and normal don't register with me if there is no numbers then there water is not perfect.

Water conditions you want

0 ammonia

0 nitrite

0-20 nitrate

6.7-7.0 ph (for most fish, a lot like slightly acidic water)

I worked at petsmart before and even when I tried to educate people on what their water parameters were and what it ment most would ignore me and just ask if it was ok or not. Thats why you find most people will say your water is ok when you get it checked.

To me a "normal" tank is 20 gallons and what most people should have before really considering getting into fish keeping.

55 is a good tank, and by no means huge.

And of course, no offense but I hope you educated your friend! 1 gallon is cruel!

Once we get into 6+ foot long tanks we are getting into the big boys.

Part of the problem when people say "Fine" is that we don't even know what they have measured.

Some test the pH, see that is reads 7.0 (which is "fine"), but what about the ammonia level?

Fine in my book would generally mean...

Ammonia of zero

Nitrite of zero

Nitrate of below 30ppm.

pH that suits the fish they are trying to keep, and that could vary from 5.5 to 8.5, but 6.0 to 8.0 for most common fish.

Hardness, again, suitable for the fish they are trying to keep. Usually it's not critical, but keeping Discus in very hard water is not so good. Keeping African cichlids in very soft water, again, not so good.

"Perfect" is another vague term. 30ppm nitrate is not perfect, but it's "good enough", and shouldn't be stressing the fish. Ph can be "within the fish's preferred range" rather than perfect.

Yes, tank size is another good one. Like when you find they have moved their common goldfish to a "Huge" 15gal tank, and want to know how many more they can buy....

Come On people - use some actual numbers, then you can receive some actual sensible answers.

Ian

Who knows what someone means by those words?

There's no such water measurement as "fine," there are temperatures, pH values, amounts of dissolved minerals, and so on. It's much more helpful when people give these measurements.

There's no "normal" tank size, either. I've seen tanks as small as a pint and as large as over a million gallons. So "normal" means nothing in this context.

It implies that they have no idea what they are talking about and don't want to be bothered to learn. They generally know or suspect its not fine but do not want that confirmed because then they might have to do something about it. Ignorance is bliss...until all your fish die.

here's a very short answer: it all depends on the fish you have, nothing else, some fish prefer smaller tanks, some larger, it really all depends on your fish