OK get ready for a long story as there is no way to tell it short and sweet.
I love to feed live foods. Any one that knows me can tell you that. I have probably the nicest most elaborate feeder set up in my area.
The problem i have is with fat head minnows. I have been trying to house these guys for about 5 yrs and many many different occasions with no luck.
The condition that they are breed and housed in at my local supply house is very large stock tanks with no filtration. They way they get away with this is a PH of around 5.5-5.8 and a temp of 56-60 degrees. So that 95% of the ammonia that is produced moves to ammonium which is non toxic and provides very little risk tot he fish.
Now the problem starts when I bring these guys home to my aquarium. they are in large containers with the cold water and very low Ph. My Ph at the tap is 8.0 and my unheated feeder system is around 75 degree's.
When I set up my drip system to start the acclimation process as the Ph and temp rises in there container the ammonium gets converted back to ammonia and the fish get a sever shock and ammonia burn and soon die with in 24hrs.
i am able to keep them in my basement in unfiltered stock tanks with just air stones for weeks with no problems. But I need to figure out a way that I can acclimate these fish with out causing PH shock. I am pretty sure I can change 100% of there water with a buffer to mtch PH to get all the ammonium out so that I do not have to worry about the conversion from nh4 to nh3 when the temp and Ph rise.
I have done alot of research on these fish and my tap water is OK for these fish. They can handle my Ph with no problems. It is the swing from low to high that is getting them.
So my question is what is a good method to acclimate a fish and move its current PH from 6 to 8?
I love to feed live foods. Any one that knows me can tell you that. I have probably the nicest most elaborate feeder set up in my area.
The problem i have is with fat head minnows. I have been trying to house these guys for about 5 yrs and many many different occasions with no luck.
The condition that they are breed and housed in at my local supply house is very large stock tanks with no filtration. They way they get away with this is a PH of around 5.5-5.8 and a temp of 56-60 degrees. So that 95% of the ammonia that is produced moves to ammonium which is non toxic and provides very little risk tot he fish.
Now the problem starts when I bring these guys home to my aquarium. they are in large containers with the cold water and very low Ph. My Ph at the tap is 8.0 and my unheated feeder system is around 75 degree's.
When I set up my drip system to start the acclimation process as the Ph and temp rises in there container the ammonium gets converted back to ammonia and the fish get a sever shock and ammonia burn and soon die with in 24hrs.
i am able to keep them in my basement in unfiltered stock tanks with just air stones for weeks with no problems. But I need to figure out a way that I can acclimate these fish with out causing PH shock. I am pretty sure I can change 100% of there water with a buffer to mtch PH to get all the ammonium out so that I do not have to worry about the conversion from nh4 to nh3 when the temp and Ph rise.
I have done alot of research on these fish and my tap water is OK for these fish. They can handle my Ph with no problems. It is the swing from low to high that is getting them.
So my question is what is a good method to acclimate a fish and move its current PH from 6 to 8?
