Guess I'll drop the PH alittle over the next two days, 6.6 or so. I'll do another water change tonight after my son's hockey game, it's going to be a cold night outside.
Pbass Water Chemistry
- Thread starter jimmie1974
- Start date
jimmie1974;4702598; said:
This is targeting towards me so here is a brief answers for each in the order you have listed them. The search button will answer the rest.
I recommend you do a bit of research on water chemistry since it is probably the most important part of fish keeping.Just because you have been keeping cichla for 10 years does not mean that you have been doing everything right for ten years. No offense but I'm yet to see you keep a cichla with no problems or without hith. Sorry bradda. Second, I don't know why you would ever listen to your LFS since most of them know absolutely nothing. Take a little initiative and use the knowledge, facts and experience that you have collected over the last 10 years instead of listening to people who don't even target keeping cichla. You don't even need to leave your house, all of your answers are a computer away. Third, you need to stop adding chemicals to your water, PERIOD!
Cichla are extremely soft water fish and depending on the collection areas, some like softer water then others. Do you think that most of us experienced cichla keepers keep driftwood and bogwood in our tanks for our health? Do you know what adding driftwood to you water does? It lets out tannins that are great for a number of reasons but the number one use is to soften water and lower ph.
If you want to get rid of your nitrates since you shouldn't have any ammonia or nitrites in your tank then I recommend that you do water changes and do not adding chemicals to do so. If you you can't get them any lower then do more frequent water changes and/or larger water changes.
Have you ever tested your tap water? Maybe you should and if your water quality out of the tap isn't great then maybe invest in an RODI system so that when you are doing water changes, it is pure and clean water.
I personally think any "strip" water quality test kits are crap. Spend some money on a decent kit and take the time out to do it the right way. I bet your nitrates are higher then what those test strips are telling you but this is just an assumption due to past experience.
Bacteria lives in/on everything; water, glass, substrate, filter, anything that has surface area, on and on. Yes, you may be taking some out when doing water changes but this is why many of use has over filtrated system. If your going to be keeping big sloppy fish, then you need to have a system adequate that can support them. I recommend a large tower with scrubbies and/or bio balls in a wet/dry. I would run your carbon in a fx5 along with ceramic ring to help aid your biological bacteria. This is usually how all my setups work. Also, by keeping your tank at such high temps it will speed up the life cycle of your beneficial bacteria which will cause them to be produced at faster speeds.
You don't need to add anything to your tank. The bacteria will produce itself as long as your filtration is sufficient. Stay away from all chemicals! You want to add a chemical!? then add prime and that is only with water changes. I really recommend a RO or RODI system and tank ran chemical free.
You would role over if you saw how low the ph decreases in certain areas of the amazon specific times of the years.
I apologize to you mister Rapps but 40 ppm is not acceptable to me and i would consider that to rich for my blood. When it come to smaller fish, they don't easily accept these toxins.
jimmie1974;4702650; said:
This is just a theory. I have always ran carbon in my tanks and have never had an signs of hith.
N.Y.Jetsfan;4702656; said:
I hate to say it buddy but if you have nitrites then you tank isn't finished cycling yet.
First of all, the guy at the LFS saying that water changes removes your bacteria, and then directs you to a $22 bottle of live bacteria is FULL OF CRAP. I could do 100% water changes everyday if I wanted to and the bacteria would be just fine (provided you do the water change the right way, that's a different topic). The bacteria is in your filters, not in the water column. So as long as the water is treated for chlorine/chloramine and if you have enough bio media, it WILL NOT disrupt your bacteria colony.
PH: your PH is fine. For god's sake stop messing with it, I said this in your last thread. Leave it alone. A tank that's been established for a while will slowly drop in PH. Doing large regular water changes will ensure your tank's buffering capacity stays where it needs to be. If it gets too low (like < 5) then you can add some crushed coral to raise it, the natural way. But for now, LEAVE IT ALONE.
Nitrates: Nitrates of 40ppm is widely said to be ok for fish. I wouldn't consider this to be at a critical level. Again, stop adding chemicals to get rid of nitrates. The way to get rid of nitrates is to start doing more and bigger water changes.
Get a good test kit. Those strip test kits are not accurate. Get the API kit, as accurate as you can get w/o spending $200+ on lab-grade equipment.
And lastly, I think you're freaking out for no reason.
PH: your PH is fine. For god's sake stop messing with it, I said this in your last thread. Leave it alone. A tank that's been established for a while will slowly drop in PH. Doing large regular water changes will ensure your tank's buffering capacity stays where it needs to be. If it gets too low (like < 5) then you can add some crushed coral to raise it, the natural way. But for now, LEAVE IT ALONE.
Nitrates: Nitrates of 40ppm is widely said to be ok for fish. I wouldn't consider this to be at a critical level. Again, stop adding chemicals to get rid of nitrates. The way to get rid of nitrates is to start doing more and bigger water changes.
Get a good test kit. Those strip test kits are not accurate. Get the API kit, as accurate as you can get w/o spending $200+ on lab-grade equipment.
And lastly, I think you're freaking out for no reason.
Yup, ANY nitrites is bad. Something is wrong with your tank. Ammonia and nitrites should ALWAYS be at zero. If not, you screwed something up.bOOsteN aUdI;4702985;4702985 said:
I read everything posted above by boosted audi.
I did not screw anything up. My tank set up has been running since thanksgiving day.
My biological cycle is obviously not complete as boosted said.
Now that my temp is at 86 hopefully my ich will disapperar as good bacteria increase quicker with these temps.
I'm using aquarisol copper salt solution to treat instead of malachite green/formalin ich cure so I don't kill the good bacteria.
I just finished a 32 gallon water change with a thorough gravel vac. Nitrites 2.0 and nitrate 10 did not move on their readings.
Only other small possibility is my gravel could be giving off nitrites...I don't think thats possible but who knows.
The fish are all doing great. I have a big airstone working my tank and kept the waterline lower for more splash from the filter to get as much O2 as possible.
I did not screw anything up. My tank set up has been running since thanksgiving day.
My biological cycle is obviously not complete as boosted said.
Now that my temp is at 86 hopefully my ich will disapperar as good bacteria increase quicker with these temps.
I'm using aquarisol copper salt solution to treat instead of malachite green/formalin ich cure so I don't kill the good bacteria.
I just finished a 32 gallon water change with a thorough gravel vac. Nitrites 2.0 and nitrate 10 did not move on their readings.
Only other small possibility is my gravel could be giving off nitrites...I don't think thats possible but who knows.
The fish are all doing great. I have a big airstone working my tank and kept the waterline lower for more splash from the filter to get as much O2 as possible.
Boosten, thank you for the responses. Yes, lol, it was targeted at you but I didnt want to call you out like that, I have too much respect for many of you, I just wanted the right members to respond.
Jcardona1, I believe your absolutely right. I freaked out watching $180 worth of fish go within aweek. I have a 125, I probably only change about 25-30 gallons twice aweek. Too much, or not enough? So roughly 50-60 gallons per week. I guess now I have to assume that LFS are like tackle shops, they give off false reports to get the fisherman in, as in the LFS will lead you to things that aren't neccessary to gain income? Thanks to both of you.
Boosten, I will do the search as you said. Thanks bro !!!
Jcardona1, I believe your absolutely right. I freaked out watching $180 worth of fish go within aweek. I have a 125, I probably only change about 25-30 gallons twice aweek. Too much, or not enough? So roughly 50-60 gallons per week. I guess now I have to assume that LFS are like tackle shops, they give off false reports to get the fisherman in, as in the LFS will lead you to things that aren't neccessary to gain income? Thanks to both of you.
Boosten, I will do the search as you said. Thanks bro !!!
Sorry for your loss of the brokopondos. The science of perfect water in fishkeeping can be confusing to us all. For me to avoid losing rare expensive fish I invest a lot of money in the filtration system and always over-filter every tank I got. Meaning buying adding extra bio media, using multiple filters, using lots of fresh carbon, routine water changes. A lot of folks find it easy to pick up or buy expensive fish but wont spend much on filtration of their tanks.
N.Y.Jetsfan;4703103; said:
Thanksgiving? A full cycle takes anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks so I hate to say it but your tank isn't fully cycled and that is why you have nitrites. I'd wait until your nitrites spike and then drop and your nitrates spike until you do your next water change. Due to your fish have iche, they are probably stress out from nitrite level and what is in store for them the next 2 weeks or so, they are most likely not going to make it depending on there size. If you keep doing water changes then I don't know if your tank is going to properly cycle?!
jimmie1974;4703182; said:
A PM would of been fine
As for too much or too little, your test kit and judgement will help you decide that.
