It rained for a few days here. Not heavy rains just long soaking rain for about 4 days. I was curious to see how the water parameters changed after rain so went to measure it yesterday afternoon.
Parameters taken 3 days after rain ended
Time: 17:55
TDS: 325
Temp: 24°C
pH: 8.04
NO2: 0.5ppm
NO3: 10ppm
Cl2: 0
KH: 14
GH: 10
NOTES: It was a clear day with no breeze. The stream had, at least, tripled in flow with crystal clear water.
My thoughts on parameters:
TDS: I am assuming the high TDS (compared to tap water which in my house is 140-160ppm) is due to percolation as rainwater seeped through the surrounding mountains and into the stream.
pH: this is identical to my tap water which I am happy about.
NO2 and NO3: There are quite a few farms lining the banks of the stream using its water for irrigation. I think with there being no rain for a long time (that's about 5-6 weeks in Taiwan) fertilizers for crops and other additives used by the farmers entered the stream through runoff and that was flushed out of shallow soil areas. There is also a lot less algal mats and I wonder if the swifter current, less algae and less sunshine combined with lower temps did not slow the rate at which the "plants" and vegetation absorbs these to a degree.
pH, KH and GH: Again I think the percolation through the hills picked up a lot of dissolved ,minerals raising them all.
The TDS reading. No pics of the rest as my Jack Russell got himself stuck in a thicket of reeds and grass and it took some coaxing to get him to push his way out.
The new lights on the tank. One of the 13K fixtures will go onto the panda loach breeding rack. I like the 13000K and 6500K lights together. It gives a nice color and effect as well as helping with algae growth.
I also moved the filter outlet to get more rippling on the surface and getting the flowing water shimmer on the rocks.
Some tank shots
The glass was cleaned the day after this pic as it was getting a nice algae coat.
The best thing i discovered was the 5 smaller Taiwan Horse Mouths have in fact turned out to be 5 pale chubs, Zacco platypus. This is why they took so long to color up compared to the other fish. It is remarkable how similar the fry were but in hindsight, the chubs were a lot more reflective or shiny as fingerlings.
