xander13;1562360; said:
that being said why can't i mantain the pH at a lower level? there wont be fluctuations and since the filtration is up to par, it seems the gar should recover, so why would it eventually crash?
the pH is still at 7, just as it was before i added the substrate, and when it was with the previous owner. the tap water here is also at 7.
these questions (most of them) again come down to basic aquarium care knowledge. pH of the water decreases as fish waste/by-products/toxins accumulate, so starting at a lower pH is just asking for trouble with big predatory fishes that are very sensitive to pH fluctuations. if you start at a higher pH you have more working room.
the substrate you added won't buffer the pH...it MIGHT help keep it at a lower level for a little bit, but you will have very little room for error, and frankly i think you'll need all the room for error that you can get. again, aquarium basics regarding pH.
as for the water chem being the same, i don't know. you may have to measure a few times over a 24 hour period to see if it changes. if its the same now as it was before the substrate, then the substrate may not be doing anything...which, regardless, is not what you want/or is supposed to be done with the tank.
look up pH basics.
look up nitrogen cycle basics including cycling, bacteria, and toxic levels.
and then look at the majority of gar information on AP (there are volumes of information there that you won't find anywhere else).
the first of those 3 things should have been done before you got most of your fish, and definitely before the Cuban. this may all sound terse, but understand that these are things that will help you in keeping the fish/fishes alive, as well as things you've been "instructing" others about quite a bit as of late--
--solomon