.... but first it is useful to remind ourselves of the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium.
The 'cycle' in your aquarium, basically, means that organic material (i.e fish waste and uneated food)
degrades to eventually produce nitrIte in your tank.
Your filter acts by converting the NitrIte into NitrAte which is the basic aim of filtering- as NitrIte is dangerous to fish in even small quantities.
Once your aquarium is 'cycled' and this process becomes ongoing, it is up to us as responsible keepers to monitor the water 'parameters' or 'params'
as you may see them referred to on forums, which means the measurements of certain substances present.
A set of initials you may see are GH and KH, which refer to 'general hardness' and 'Carbonate hardness' respectively.
'General hardness' (GH)
refers to the concentration of calcium and magnesium salts in your water.
To a vast extent these figures will be decided for you by the area you live in and it is advisable to check your 'tap' GH prior to purchase of fish, particularly if they come from a different area.
You can alter your GH if its too high by adding distilled water, and if your GH is too low, add a form of calcium carbonate to your aquarium.
It is generally accepted that a reading of between 6 and 16dH is within tolerable levels.
'Carbonate hardness' (KH)
is the measurement of bicarbonate present in your water.
Bicarbonate acts as a natural water PH 'buffer' and a favourable range is between 3 and 10 kH.
If your KH measurement is significantly outside this you can adjust it using a number of products on the market.
