Can a tank be too big?

[SageTheKeeper]

I'm still on the fence regarding the white flakes yet. Without knowing exactly what they are or where they're from it's difficult to comment further on them.

Arowana and peacock bass prefer, though not essential, quite soft water. Yours is 8.0, which is far from soft. If your reputable supplier were housing these fish within their lower preferred PH range, and then they came to you and went into a very high PH in comparison, then maybe this had some bearing on their demise, who knows.

One thing's for sure though. When setting up a new tank and adding new fish, that setting is as far from a stable, settled environment as you'll get, and it's arguably the most critical time for new fish.

So I just tested my tap water and ph is 7.4. What could cause ph to rise in an aquarium with only pvc pipes, 55 gallon drum food grade and 45mil Firestone pond liner? And misc sponge from thepondguy

 

[esoxlucius]

I’ll ask about the PH, I’m not quite sure about how well it’s been cycled (used and new media with 12 guppies for cycling - 2 months it’s been running)

I never asked about the cycling because you said you'd tested the water, and that it was fine, as in cycled and good to go. Though thinking about it in that sized tank with that small of a bio load I'm amazed your cycle even got going, even after two months. 12 guppies in an 1100g tank!!!

Could it be that you only had a tiny colony of BB to cope with the meagre guppy bio load, and when you added the other fish, albeit small, they gave you an ammonia spike after a few days? Maybe. You also said you didn't change any water at all after adding the new fish, which may have allowed that ammonia to build up to levels that your fish couldn't tolerate?

It's all ifs, buts and maybes at the minute. Just throwing a few possibilities around.

 

[Cal Amari]

With that small a bioload, I'd be surprised if there was enough spike to hurt them, but testing is the only way to tell. And until you see nitrates in your tests then you're not truly cycled, but again I'd think with that small of a bioload per volume it'd would be awhile before enough waste built up to hurt them.

 

[duanes]

I never asked about the cycling because you said you'd tested the water, and that it was fine, as in cycled and good to go. Though thinking about it in that sized tank with that small of a bio load I'm amazed your cycle even got going, even after two months. 12 guppies in an 1100g tank!!!
Could it be that you only had a tiny colony of BB to cope with the meagre guppy bio load, and when you added the other fish, albeit small, they gave you an ammonia spike after a few days? Maybe. You also said you didn't change any water at all after adding the new fish, which may have allowed that ammonia to build up to levels that your fish couldn't tolerate?

This is a very reasonable theory, comparing the output of a dozen guppies, to a couple P-Bass, a cat and a couple arowana (even if only 3" each), is not apples and apples.
These fish could easily put out 3 to 4 times the ammonia.

 

[SageTheKeeper]

I never asked about the cycling because you said you'd tested the water, and that it was fine, as in cycled and good to go. Though thinking about it in that sized tank with that small of a bio load I'm amazed your cycle even got going, even after two months. 12 guppies in an 1100g tank!!!

Could it be that you only had a tiny colony of BB to cope with the meagre guppy bio load, and when you added the other fish, albeit small, they gave you an ammonia spike after a few days? Maybe. You also said you didn't change any water at all after adding the new fish, which may have allowed that ammonia to build up to levels that your fish couldn't tolerate?

It's all ifs, buts and maybes at the minute. Just throwing a few possibilities around.

With that small a bioload, I'd be surprised if there was enough spike to hurt them, but testing is the only way to tell. And until you see nitrates in your tests then you're not truly cycled, but again I'd think with that small of a bioload per volume it'd would be awhile before enough waste built up to hurt them.

just did another test to be sure, nitrites are at 0ppm, nitrates are around 5-10ppm and ammonia is 1.0 WTF it spiked the first test is at 0ppm. Looks like I have found my problem