Am I ready for Plecos???????

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A

Amazonlee

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 11, 2009
10
0
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Evansville Indiana
Hi!

first post on site,,,

First I'll give details on my tank.

120 gal Tall 60" x 18" x 26"
lot of river gravel and grit, no sand
one fairly large drift log about 20" long wedge shaped about 8" diam at large end
some silk plants
large clay tile 8" diam x 16" long
Custom wet/dry filter with siphon overflow (custom)

Fish
Green Terror about 10" (Grumpy)
Giraffe Nose Cat about 20" (Gup)
Couple Blue Wonder Snails

My question is on water quality
I just moved the tank kept maybe 1/4 of my old water and used some of my old media in the new filter (kept it alive as well) and kept all interior landscaping (just moved the tank that's all) And made a new wet dry filter slightly larger than my old one (both over sized).

tank has been running a couple weeks now so I imagine it's fairly stable at this point

Just took some readings (All AP test kits,,,, I hate those color charts) anyway round about numbers were;

PH 8
Ammonia as close to zero as you can get, looked clear to me
Nitrate 10 or less
Nitrite 0
Hardness 4-5 drops 8 drops is soft at 80 ppm

My Tap water

PH 7.2
Ammonia just a bit, wasn't clear but didn't meet first color square
Chlorine 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite didn't test
Hardness didn't test

My tap water for the whole house runs through a 1 micron filter then a water softener then a cubic foot of carbon then another 1 micron to catch any carbon. My drinking water then runs through a 200 GPD RO @ about 3-4 TDS

I do NOT use the RO in my tank.

My RO bypass/discharge water runs into my tank at the sump pump the excess (old) water hits an overflow then outside on the ground. So basically my water changes happen each morning at about 5 AM and are dependant on how much RO water runs (my system is batch system on a timer with 2 pumps one for the filter one for the tap) I haven't checked lately but I'm putting around 5-10 gallons of fresh water in the tank each morning. I just upped the bypass flow to increase my water changes.

So basically I'm happy with everything but the PH, I think it's too high.

I'm wanting L014 L018 L047 or L048 plecos would like 2 - 3 Plecos total

So in short,,,,,,,,,

What is the best STABLE way to fix my PH (I have increased water change as mentioned above and will continue to monitor to see if it's helping)

Is 2-3 Plecos too many?? I plan on buying smaller 3" and hoping they turn into 12" adults.
 
Oh My gravel and drift log would occupy maybe 20 - 25 gallons of my water volume so I guess I have 100 gallons or less in the tank and about 5 in the sump.
 
note: didn't have time to read whole post

If pH is your only concern I'd so go for it. Stable pH is more important than a certain specific number (my opinion). My pH is 7.6 and my plecos seem to be doing great *knock on driftwood*

But I would acclimate them slowly, don't just drop them in the tank when adding them.

On a side note, your catfish is 20" in an 18" wide tank? How does that work?
 
BPags52;3358374; said:
On a side note, your catfish is 20" in an 18" wide tank? How does that work?
Click to expand...

He manages, about one half the tank is bare only gravel, he lays there diagonally. If he gets much bigger he may need a new home. But at night he's usually straight up and down sucking and blowing gravel everywhere,,, saves having to clean the gravel HA HA!
 
If you rehouse the catfish you will be ready for plecos. I agree with the stable PH being more of a concern than a high PH. You could also add more driftwood to help lower the PH. For the sake of the catfish I really think you should try to find a bigger home for him. The tank set-up does look great though. That GT looks real nice(and grumpy lol).
 
wingate2581;3359302; said:
That GT looks real nice(and grumpy lol).
Click to expand...


Yes I LOVE that fish,, kept biting me and the test tubes getting water tests today,, like to play too if you stick your hand in you can hold him (not sure on sex, just call it a "him") when he gets tired of it he'll start nipping for a while then just swim away. Sleeps in that clay tile, probably because the Giraffe bulldozes the tank each night but can't move the tile. That's why I got the large rocks in there to keep things put.

What would be signs the Giraffe aint happy??

Pretty much lays around until lights go out and then like I said he's vertical all night long. Next morning tank looks totally different other than the large objects. He'll go eyeball deep in the gravel with a steady stream of gravel out his gills.

Not like he's in a shoe, I realize he's 2" longer than the tank is wide but don't seem to bother him. I know around here they catch the 50 lb cats in the river and creeks and they are usually in an old log or wash tunnel. I wouldn't be surprised if I put a large enough tile in there he wouldn't lay in it all day.
 
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