10 ppm no 3 and 5m of phosphate from tap. Considering ro

[Cichlid_beast123]

African cichlids. I am aware that the fish can survive in these conditions but fry are sensitive and that explains why have lost a lot. And also why they have stopped breading.

Obtaining the RO water is not a problem for me. I just want everyone's opinion on remineralizing which product to use. In order that I don't get a KH crash
I think the fish will be extremely happy if I can provide them and Environment with extremely low no3. I will check the tap again today to see if it varies but wasn't really happy last night when I saw 10 ppm.

 

[twentyleagues]

10ppm isnt all that much. But if you are worried ro will be a cleaner way to go. Remineralize with crushed coral if you dont want to add salt or rift lake salt or coral pro salt if you dont care. There are plenty of formulas to mix a remineralization powder, usually consists of Epsom salt and baking soda. Seachem makes a product called equilibrium that will also do it. When I had my saltwater I used the waste water from my rodi unit for my mbuna tank they were fine and bred all the time. Nitrates were in the 20ppm range in the tank on water change day never tested the waste water. It was what alot of people did back in the day.

 

[BIG-G]

10 ppm nitrate isn’t terribly high. If you do get an RO system be sure to and ion exchange for phosphate as far as I know RO can only remove most but not all No3 and cannot remove PO4 without an ion exchange resin.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

10 ppm nitrate isn’t terribly high. If you do get an RO system be sure to and ion exchange for phosphate as far as I know RO can only remove most but not all No3 and cannot remove PO4 without an ion exchange resin.

Hi mate yes I have the ion exchange resin.
Right I have just been very busy today so I've been on to the water board I bought a brand new test kit and could you believe the no3 coming from my Tab is about 40. I purchased the tetra test kit which contains the spoon with resin. I now know what's been happening to my tank and my rare fish. There's a reason why all the rare fish died first there are four reason because they're more sensitive to N03. Which is toxic in high amounts if I did a 100% water change not only would I shock my fish with the water parameters but I would only ever be able to have 40 in my tank. If the bio load goes up to 100 and I do a 50% water change which again I do not personally recommend I replaced the other 50 with 40 essentially every week I'm climbing up and up in no3. I've reported this to the water board and they're going to come and do some testing. These levels are pretty dangerous there's been a safeguard I here which is up to a maximum of 50 because there has been some evidence of blue baby syndrome and also there some studies showing possible cancer basically there's a reason why the government have put these measures in not to mention the fact that my fish are suffering. Here's what I'm currently doing I'm using RO water and I'm using a product by JBL to remineralizer water and put the hardness back in it takes about 25 minutes per barrel to fully dissolve just to let everyone know you can't just chuck it in there. Make sure you test the KH before you put the barrel back in I get it to 10.
So currently I'm putting in good water and diluting that no3 really well.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

Watch "Cichlids don't underestimate nitrates!" on YouTube

Made a little video if anyone wants to see showing the tank and the fish are thriving again. Did a big water change in the end used RO water and got the no3 in double digits! Going to monitor it again on the third day and probably do 20% eventually I do think we may need to do a larger water change but this all depends on the bioload. I've been keeping fish awhile but I think lately everything is starting to click together now finally it's easy to give up and be disheartened just push through it!

 

[BichirKing]

it's easy to give up and be disheartened just push through it!

30 years in this hobby and I still have this battle! nice looking tank!!

 

[JAYBIRD1011]

I'm really glad you are finding your way through it. Also I hope they get your water situation resolved.
If it helps any, your tank looks nice!

 

[dan518]

do a 50% water change which again I do not personally recommend

Just wondering why you don't recommend 50% water change?

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

Hi mate basically the KH in the tank was crashing down to about 2 when you add a large amount of water being 50% the water parameters would jump.

I think this was causing issues with some of the fry randomly dying when I done a water change in fact I lost a lot of Fry 2 or 3 would just die randomly after the water change.
I'm being advised to make sure my filters are pristin. And only changed the water as to the bioload. So I could definitely wrong about that I have I have ever heard from other people not to change so much water I'm definitely not an expert at this but personally from my experience large water changes didn't seem to work for me!

 

[dan518]

Over time tank water loses its buffering capacity causing the pH to drop, if your doing too few water changes you end up with a big difference between the water in your aquarium and the water from the tap. This sounds like what happened to you, so when you did a large water change there was a big swing in the water parameters killing some of your stock.
If you do large regular water changes then your tank water will be almost the same as your tap water. A far better situation to be in, but you might have to do daily 20% changes to slowly raise your tank parameters, then start doing weekly 60%+.
Sounds like your obsessing about nitrates, there is very little evidence to suggest that the levels your talking about has health implications on fish, but there hasn't been many long term studies. Nitrates are a good indication of other pollutants that build up in a closed system which can not tested easily at home. My water change was based on nitrate never getting 10ppm more then my tap water. My tap water has 2ppm nitrate, I don't let my tank get over 10 ppm. In your case with 40ppm tap water I would aim for my tank to be no more then 50ppm.