Large water changes

[SimonL]

Missing an important aspect of receiving shipments though. Many importers match the Ph of the fish in the bags by reducing the tank's ph with acid. Every direct shipper I worked for has done this, unless their systems were already low ph.

Most fish don't drop a "significant" amount. For example, our marine shipments come in pretty regularly at 6.5ish, down from 8. So the ph in the systems gets dropped. I find the freshwater stuff around 6.0 usually.

 

[creepyoldguy]

Question-jcardona, if you're saying that Tds is the biggest concern, then ph or hardness etc is not? Or is that wrong? My understanding of Tds is anything inorganic or organic in the water that is dissolved or basicAlly nothing that can be visibly filtered. So does Tds effect other aspects o the water or no?

 

[jcardona1]

Question-jcardona, if you're saying that Tds is the biggest concern, then ph or hardness etc is not? Or is that wrong? My understanding of Tds is anything inorganic or organic in the water that is dissolved or basicAlly nothing that can be visibly filtered. So does Tds effect other aspects o the water or no?

Me personally, I view them as the same thing (TDS and hardness are closely related). I don't have a TDS meter, so I test for hardness (GH). I also believe the term 'ph shock' is a myth like RD says. Ph-Kh-Gh are all closely related and dependent on each other. So what I worry about is Gh, general hardness.

The term ph shock is from way back in the day before test kits for kh and gh were available to hobbyists. Since all they could test for was ph, they blamed these types of deaths on ph, hence the term 'ph shock' came to be. It's total BS. Kh and Gh are what's more important. When you add acids and buffers to "change" your ph, you're actually affecting the kh/gh.

 

[jcardona1]

Me personally, I view them as the same thing (TDS and hardness are closely related). I don't have a TDS meter, so I test for hardness (GH). I also believe the term 'ph shock' is a myth like RD says. Ph-Kh-Gh are all closely related and dependent on each other. So what I worry about is Gh, general hardness.

The term ph shock is from way back in the day before test kits for kh and gh were available to hobbyists. Since all they could test for was ph, they blamed these types of deaths on ph, hence the term 'ph shock' came to be. It's total BS. Kh and Gh are what's more important. When you add acids and buffers to "change" your ph, you're actually affecting the kh/gh.

And to add, GH (or hardness) is a measure of calcium and magnesium ions in the water.

TDS is a measure of all dissolved solids and minerals in the water, like sodium.

 

[SimonL]

TDS can be different from hardness though. Like creepyoldguy said, it can be organic as well. I tested a koi pond once with practically off the scale TDS, Ph of 4 and virtually no Gh.

EDIT: Although it did have salt in it, which I suppose would raise the reading. Sorry, in-depth chemistry is not my thing.

 

[jcardona1]

TDS can be different from hardness though. Like creepyoldguy said, it can be organic as well. I tested a koi pond once with practically off the scale TDS, Ph of 4 and virtually no Gh.

EDIT: Although it did have salt in it, which I suppose would raise the reading. Sorry, in-depth chemistry is not my thing.

Yeah, ideally we'd test for both. But I think looking at one or the other is good enough, for knowing how it can affect fish.

And yes, salts will definitely affect the TDS readings.

 

[Joe M]

Wow I voted wrong. I meant for it to be 50% or more with NO ill effects.

Usually between 50 and 70% a week depending on necessity.