High PH

[DB junkie]

My water used to top out test kits (8.6+). Everyone says it "doesn't matter" and your rays will adjust.... I played that game for almost 10 years. Pretty regular losses - usually twice a year. Was accused of everything from inadequate filtration, poor maint, to overthinking stuff.

When we moved to the current house after loosing 16 rays and countless gut wrenching losses (ATF close to 2', wolves close to a foot and a half raised from a few inches, a Lince) I decided before tossing in the towel I was going to quit listening to advice and follow the hunch I had for many years - the water.

Got a big RO system and vertical storage containers. Began transitioning to an RO/tap mix. Conductivity/TDS was now lower in my tanks prior to water changes then I EVER had coming straight out of the tap. Losses slowed immensely almost stopped.

The silver lining - with water being stored I was able to keep my fish once the kids started coming - Still have the time to maintain almost 4K gallons since incorporating sand filters on the 4 big systems and getting some monster pumps to put on the vertical storage containers. Can change almost 400 gallons of water in about 25min. Water is aerated and heated so there's little fluctuation during changes. 4 systems, half hour per (3-400 gallon water changes, backflush sand filters, swap socks). I actually spend about the same time now doing all 4 systems as it used to take to do a single water change.

Can't honestly tell you what the PH is cause without any issues I haven't bothered checking. I just know I'll never go back. With waterchanges being done by flipping valves and turning pumps on and off - most filters are hardlined to sewer - I'm guessing by the time my oldest daughter HENLEI turns 6-7 She'll probably be doing the water changes herself.

Do I credit softer water for the change??? Not really. I suspect our groundwater is contaminated by the chemicals used on some of "the richest farm land in the world". By using RO/tap mix I may just be experiencing the solution to pollution - dilution. May also explain the coincidence of the losses coming around the same times every year - planting and harvest.

 

[suckerfish]

Now that’s dedication and love—- to name your daughter Henlei! I’ve always admired your struggles, but I now have a new level of respect! ?

 

[Jimr]

Thanks for your input DB. Man we go way back when you first started with your Marbles. I do miss the town well water when we lived in Natick Ma. All I had to do is use pond conditioner for chlorine. Hardly ever lost a ray. They bred all the time and was able to keep all species except maybe flowers. Sucks right now. Just trying different things.

 

[DB junkie]

Thanks for your input DB. Man we go way back when you first started with your Marbles. I do miss the town well water when we lived in Natick Ma. All I had to do is use pond conditioner for chlorine. Hardly ever lost a ray. They bred all the time and was able to keep all species except maybe flowers. Sucks right now. Just trying different things.

This is a somewhat touchy subject for me cause NO hobbyists ever back RO. They all say its un necessary - too many variables - pain in the butt - whatever. End of the day its frowned upon. SO I sought out advice from an expert on this board...... Good ol Mr David Webber. He assured me based on the numbers I had that I shouldn't be mad about rays not breeding, I should be doing back flips that I can even keep any alive. He gave me some base line numbers to shoot for and assured me that I was in the right line of thinking that in my case I needed to intervene and change the water. I had a rough time starting out - its not easy to make the amount of RO I needed - that was the first battle. Second is finding a stable balance. My only regret is NOT following my gut feeling years ago.....

Ive always admired you for your work with marbles Jim. You helped me get to where I'm at - finally happy about the results of many years of trial and error due to me being too scared to think for myself. Without people like you, David Webber, and especially Richard over seas I wouldn't have the motivation to get to where I am now, so a big thank YOU for putting some of your marbles into my hands - shipping when you didn't want to. It meant/means sooo much to me.

Keep us posted with whatever route you decide to take!!!! Wishing you the best kind sir!

 

[Jimr]

Thanks DB. You got some of the nicest Marbles out there now due to not giving up!! I do have an RO for my reef tank so need to figure out if it’s big enough to try (probably not). Might see if my trickle will help first. I’ll keep you updated.

 

[DB junkie]

Hydro-Logic Evolution RO1000 High Flow System – Horticulture Source

www.horticulturesource.com

This is what I've been running..... Only problem is the prefilter is a joke. After the water softener here crapped out I did some upgrading - There's a big boy (4"x20") sediment before the oversized water softener then a carbon big boy before the RO. Definitely doesn't make the advertised 1K/day but it does enough to keep up with waterchanges here consistently after putting a decent prefilter in front of it.

 

[Jimr]

Cool. Thanks

 

[05spurky]

My numbers out of the well are identical to yours. 7.2-7.4 out of the tap (7.2 winter, 7.4 summer). Once the CO2 dissipates out the water sits at a stable ph of 8.2. My rays are healthy, fat and breeding in a ph of 8.2. They love the “liquid rock” water, it helps stabilize the ph better in my opinion. Some advice I can give though and I noticed a big difference with the amount they ate when I started doing so is.. Rays don’t like ph fluctuations, so every time you’re changing the water the ph is going to fluctuate until the CO2 dissipates out (since you have a whole 1.0 ph difference between tap and stabilized water). There’s 2 solutions to this, what I do is when I do water changes I spray the water out of a shower head type fitting from 5ft above the aquarium water level. This allows the water to be exposed to more air, increasing O2 and decreasing CO2 before it hits the water in the aquarium. Another solution would be to age your water in a big barrel/vat to allow to ph to come up to 8.2 before doing a water change. Either way I can guarantee a ph of 8.2 is excellent for rays! Cheers!

I couldn't keep rays thriving until I got a RO system to lower PH to lower 7s. Regardless, good to hear that you can raise them with higher PHs though.

 

[05spurky]

I couldn't keep rays thriving until I got a RO system to lower PH to lower 7s. Took me years to figure out the problem (because many said it shouldn't matter, they will adjust......but they never did).