Help Sexing Atabapo II

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thing is, you don't want to drop the pH fast. You want to do it gradually so you don't stress the fish or put them in pH shock. When I say gradually, I mean over a period of several weeks. There are so many factors you have to keep in mind when you are messing with the pH.

Best ways to drop it are with peat, almond leaves, and RO water. I'm sure there are a few other tricks, but those are the most common ones used that I know of.
 
caribemob;3947292; said:
thanks I actually dont have any fish in the tank so I was going to get the ph right first around 6.5. Oh and to the OP nice fish:)
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I use RO water in the summer time I use rain water, there is a lot, it’s low in ph, and its free lol. If you don’t have any fish in the tank now you could use an acidic buffer to quickly lower the ph. I personally don't mess with that stuff, I just use driftwood and almond leafs like Peanut said. Once you get it to the lower ph you want it’s important to make sure your ph doesn’t fluctuate to high between water changes.
 
Well some hobbyist succeed very will in keeping their tanks water ph around 6-6.5 and then do water changes using tap water. Well most of the time tap water is coming out at a ph of 7.2 and up. In some case this quick ph increase well cause a lot of stress on you soft/black water fish. I use an RO DI unit or rain water so it’s easy for me to keep the ph consistently low.

I set up a 125g SA/Crenicichla tank for a tank service client, and he does not own an RO unit. I had him purchase two 55g trash bins with wheels on them, and some drift wood. I put the wood inside the two trash bins, filled them up with tap water, added Prime, put an air stone in it and returned in 4-5 days to do the water change. The ph in the buckets was perfect to do the water change when I returned. I eventually had him get a Phosphate reactor to replace the drift wood that was placed in the buckets. I filled the reactor with Fluval Peat Granules to help drop the ph and I have him run it on the two buckets a few days before I come to do the water change the water change.

I am not saying that this is a must method to use but I think it may help if you are attempting to breed your crini. I have seen a few Creni sp. do very well in higher ph levels, a good friend in my local fish club has a few Xingu I and his water comes out of the tap at 8.0. Also I have come across a great DIY black water extract on this forum; I have a few links on the bottom so people to check some of the items I was talking about for them selves.

Phosphate Reactor
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&source=hp&q=phosphate+reactor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=14637939581644005745&ei=jNGTS86cFYiy8Qb5pMn2BA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

Fluval Peat Granules
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200405017312

DYI blackwater extract
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277207&highlight=DIY+blackwater


Hope this helps :)!
 
Yeah, I was thinking about doing 90% RO water, then 10% tap. You're suggesting this is a bad idea though. I think I could just go 100% RO, but how do you keep it from fluctuating between water changes? In a 300gal tank, thats a lot of RO water. :eek:

Those Fluval Peat Granules are awesome! I'll have to get some and try them out in my FX5!!! That would definitely help with dropping the pH! Too cool!
 
To prevent fluctuations I make sure the ph of the water I am using for the water changes matches the ph in the water of my tank. My tanks ph is 5.3-5.6 usually I never let it get higher than 6, my reverse osmosis Di water generally has a pH of 6-6.2, which is ok for me to use for my water changes. I leave the RO water in rain bins with a lid (no air stones or power heads) for a few days, and the ph in the buckets comes out to 5.3-5.7.
 
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