please check out my tank readings...

[steve1337]

This is after 2 days of cycling...

I dont know if it matters, but these tests were taken after I added the liquid bacteria stuff.

PH = 7.5 - 8
Nitrite = <0.3 mg/l
Nitrate = 10 mg/l
Ammonia = 0 mg/l

Temp = 78F

From the instructions that came with the test kits these are all good readings... well except for the PH. Its kind of high I think for piranha right....?

I do have some blackwater that I will add when I put them in the tank.

My fish arrive tomorrow. I hope these conditions will be ok for them.

 

[guppy]

Ph is a bit high, nitrates soso, check your tap water, if the readings there are the same there is not a whole lot you can do. Fast growing plants like elodea will lock up some of the nitrate and you just discard excess growth. I have been lucky with ph and I am sure there are purpose made products for this but I have used plain white vinegar to lower ph, mixed with water 5g at a time in buckets. RPBs will live at 8ph but do better down around 6.5ph. Test the ph of the water they come in or better yet find out the ph they were kept at before you bought them and adjust you parameters accordingly.

 

[steve1337]

I think the blackwater stuff lowers PH, and I also saw a bottle of something that is made to adjust PH. They had a bottle that said 6.5. I should probly pick that up.

So If my tank has nitrate and no ammonia then it must have cycled right? Its only been a couple days, but maybe since I re used the filter tubing that the old owner had that helped??? My 2 filters were both used, but I put in new filter media.

So should I be OK putting my new fish in tonight?

 

[guppy]

This is a 90g tank right? You have seeded the filters with liquid bacteria and your parameters are acceptable, If you can, adjust the ph before adding the fish, I haven't used that stuff or the blackwater extract, (usually contains tannic acid), but I think they only take 15 minutes or so to work, check the instructions. Other than that your bioload on a tank that size with ten small rpbs should be low enough that your filter culture will catch up with it no problem. Just double check everything just before adding the fish tonight. Don't forget to recheck the temp. I almost cooked a couple fish that way once in a new tank, (the thermostat had gotten bumped up).

 

[rvrrays]

In my experience, unless you are breeding south american cichlids, it is never a good idea to screw with the pH of the water coming out of your tap. Sooner or later you will screw it up and get a large pH bounce that will kill your fish.

Acclimate them to the pH that you have and leave them alone. Consistency is the key.

The chemicals will also break your bank account.

Colin

 

[steve1337]

Great advice guys! Thanks

The stuff you said about the PH makes sense... Every time I do a water change I would get a jump in PH unless I add more chemicals. That doesnt sound good to me.

And temp shouldnt be a problem as I live in a very nice place

Last night my water temp was at 78F

 

[guppy]

Yeah, It isn't that high and you aren't trying to breed them, yet.

 

[Maloney_Tombstone]

In my experience, unless you are breeding south american cichlids, it is never a good idea to screw with the pH of the water coming out of your tap. Sooner or later you will screw it up and get a large pH bounce that will kill your fish.

Acclimate them to the pH that you have and leave them alone. Consistency is the key.

The chemicals will also break your bank account.

Colin

Took the words out of my mouth
quinn