Anyone who keeps rays can you please share some numbers?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
yep there are o2 tests but toss a bubbler in if your worried.
orp would kind of give you an idea if there was gill burn or the water is just nasty.
kh could just tell you how hard the water is but that would also be a ph thing
ph pens run $48 or so i would look at a salifert test kit for a few of these cause a big change in ph could be a major issue with the rays. going from a low ph system due to ro/di drip to a higher ph grow out could be the shocker that is stressing them out. also any uses of salts in the system that you would know the specific gravity could be diffrent in the systems?
 
Little clarification........ There is no RO water being used in any of the FW systems. I use it for the eels, but have not messed with mixing it in any of the ray tanks. The "drips" are just tap water ran through carbon filters. The water in the vats that's half the TDS of the drip water is just drip water aerated and heated till used.

I know the water is hard, and high in PH.

Considering the air pumps in the basement O2 shouldn't be an issue, but maybe it would be worth looking into monitoring?

Post 14 has an intresting link in it......... Sounds to me like too high of TDS isn't good. Sounds to me like lower is better, and over 1000 isn't good. Breading in some species dropping off after 350??? I know we don't know anything in regards to how rays are affected but maybe there's a relation? So 1200's pretty bad. Wouldn't it be a nasty shock jumping from 375 to 1200+? Back to PH shock vs TDS shock!?! :(
 
o2 readers cost alot and the bubblers help more then you would think.
when you start to get into testing a acid buffer would help with the hardness issues and drop the ph.
think the overall issue if full chemical change with the tds being the underlying way of reading it
maybe worth doing some small ro water changes weekly for the baby rays to drop the tds
 
as i said in your other thread, it would be helpful to know the ph levels in your tanks and water sources and tbh im suprised your checking tds before ph.

if you were close i would lend you my digital ph pen but they arnt so much on ebay buddy. i think it more likley that ph could be a problem for you than tds but we wont know until you check it

fingers crossed for you mate, i hope you find out whats going on and i hope your pups are doing well :)
 
Are you using dechlorinator in the pup tank?
Dechlorinators in your water will give you false tds readings.
Take some water from your vat or main tank add a drop of dechlorinator and retest the tds. You will see the results skyrocket.

I hope this was helpful.

DB junkie said:
1) water main (after drip filters)
2) Big system
3) Lil system
4) Grow-out/pup tank
5) Aeration vats (Aged drip water)
6) RO (after membrane)
Click to expand...
 
Tds is not an accurate reading.
Theirs many reasons why Tds gets so high in hard water aquariums. #1 reason is only water evoporates leaving behind the hardness. If your not physically draining any water and only mixing into it after a few months my Tds will skyrocket . Try and drain water out of the tank and let the drippers fill it back up.

If you want a deadly accurate reading use an electroconductivity meter ec meter . Aqua marine and Hanna makes nice units. Drip reverse osmosis is best solution along with physically removing water .

Unless your adding salt or meds to the water that's the only way your Tds goes up like that.
 
And it doesn't shock them if you start slowly. By adding ro water to the drip system and actually removing water will still take a few weeks to get it back down to tap water levels and consistently hold them.Tds meters are fine as long as you know what your doing . High Tds will guarantee your ph is stable and will not be an issue.

Tds also goes up when mechanical filtration is inadequate but not high like that .

This is something that's easily fixed you don't even need ro ,I wouldn't reccomend use of ro for most people on this site. Espcaiilly ones that are having issues with Tds
 
As promised here are my numbers from where I collected samples and checked on our conductivity meter here at the plant and our pH meter. I pulled 5 samples, tap water from home, water from 200 and 750 gallon tanks, and water from both drip systems. The drip systems are both set up with dual carbon filters. The conductivity on the 750 is so high because I had Nitrofurazone in that system treating an infection and have only been running the drip for a day. Gonna do a couple large water changes to get the meds out of the system. So looking at my numbers you pump tank is not an issue.

Tap water 334 pH 7.28

200 Tank 363 pH 7.36

200 Drip 367 pH 7.29

750 Tank 988 pH 7.7

750 Drip 361 pH 7.36
 
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