SALT AND RTC'S????????

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bigcol;3508537; said:
Im beginning to get the impression i dont just have to do the water hardness once Lupin, im guessing this will be an ongoing thing?? correct me if im wrong, if so i will ask my lfs about tums also for future reference and/or use. I dont mind a bit cloudiness of the water aslong as the fish are happy they could live in black water for me if it helps them live hapily ever after. Anyway im off to get this substrate out the tank now and do a 25%-30% water change when its all out, im sure it will stir stuff up in the water once i move it all, even though it does seem to be spotless gravel. bbs with a test, maybe sometime tonight.
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They would not know anything about Tums, Col. It is a petstore, not a pharmacy. Tums is calcium carbonate tablet meant for heartburn and calcium deficiencies.

The hardness issue is an ongoing issue. The hardness levels change when you change your water with a different hardness level.
 
Lupin;3509669; said:
They would not know anything about Tums, Col. It is a petstore, not a pharmacy. Tums is calcium carbonate tablet meant for heartburn and calcium deficiencies.

The hardness issue is an ongoing issue. The hardness levels change when you change your water with a different hardness level.
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Oh right, i would never have guessed that either. How did u figure out u could use something like that for hardness? I wouldnt even dream of putting something like that into my fish tank, even an empty 1. Obviously its ok to do it as u have proven its amazing some of the stuff u can learn over the net. Mick in my lfs said the hardness might never be a prob if i use the coral gravel we spoke about, even when i do a water change it shouldnt drop or raise much at all. I think i need to test some of this stuff 1st and see if it really works the way he said it does.

Anyway, all substrate is out of the tank, water went really cloudy white, so there was lots of dirt i couldnt see in there and i thought it was clean, So u were spot on Lupin it does hide lots we cant see, I done a 50% water change straight after i got the gavel out and today when i woke its clear as ice, gona do a test after my morning coffee (gotta love the coffee) and i'll post the results soon. Couldnt do it last night as i had to nip straight out then back here to help sort kids out.
 
justonemoretank;3508549; said:
I wasn't offended... I just wanted to emphasize that it's not experimental... Obviously, you're going to end up going with one solution or the other. If you check out my latest "Pond update" in the characins media lounge, you'll see how clear my water is. My fish are acting completely healthy and normal, and actually even better than before, now that I don't have a constant .5 ammonia level. I really think that this is the best way to raise pH and KH. I have to admit that I've never tried to do it any other way, but it was easy to measure, easy to mix, and easy to add, and is really simple to replace during water changes, because you add as much as you take out, and you can measure that easily by how much volume you remove. 25% of volume, add 25% of mix, etc. Also, it's cheap, as I said, and we're dealing with large volumes of water, so it's important to be economical.
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Yeah ive looked up some of the ingredients for the mix and most are reasonably priced, we know i have an ammonia prob aswell as a ph so i think the best way is to test my hardness 1st then we go from there, i just wish i could have tested it last night or even now but i guess i will just have to wait a small while. I would like to try and cure the fish 1st aswell but not sure if it will work with the params being all over the place. I dont want to be shoving this and that in whilst treating them of an illness. I guess sometimes im a little impatient when it comes to doing things.
 
bigcol;3510673; said:
Oh right, i would never have guessed that either. How did u figure out u could use something like that for hardness? I wouldnt even dream of putting something like that into my fish tank, even an empty 1. Obviously its ok to do it as u have proven its amazing some of the stuff u can learn over the net. Mick in my lfs said the hardness might never be a prob if i use the coral gravel we spoke about, even when i do a water change it shouldnt drop or raise much at all. I think i need to test some of this stuff 1st and see if it really works the way he said it does.

Anyway, all substrate is out of the tank, water went really cloudy white, so there was lots of dirt i couldnt see in there and i thought it was clean, So u were spot on Lupin it does hide lots we cant see, I done a 50% water change straight after i got the gavel out and today when i woke its clear as ice, gona do a test after my morning coffee (gotta love the coffee) and i'll post the results soon. Couldnt do it last night as i had to nip straight out then back here to help sort kids out.
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Hehe...Glad your tank cleared up very well. As for the Tums, I keep hundreds of snails, Col. Some of the snails I got had shell damage so I had to find options to remedy decalcification and decided to use Tums and Caltrate as a way to help fix their shells a bit as they grow. That's where I learned the hardness levels and calcium levels climb very easily with the calcium tablets.
 
God ive been running around all day, never stopped, got home in the end and heres the KH + GH readings.................... KH=5dkh,89.5ppm... GH=10dgh,179ppm. Lupin can you please tell me if thats good or bad as i aint got the foggiest. I gave the rtc's their 1st treatment too with the waterlife sterazin, i recall u asking what was in it Lupin, All it says on the tub is sterazin contains formaldehyde. Sorry there wasnt more info.

Anyway by the looks of the GH readings i have a hunch thats bad, the KH isnt too bad, so what can i do to resolve this??? it seems to be 1 thing after another atm lol.

so i wont be needing the coral gravel afterall, or could i still use it as i got half a sack off my lfs for free, well not exactly free as i do take alot of other fish into him when im changing stock of my other tank which in turn btw has exceptional water quality and there is also 3 baby cats in there too along with a wide range of others.

I was thinking about the tums aswell and im near sure we have a similar thing here called rennies, it is a product that is poss global aswell as tums but i havnt really seen them here in the uk, maybe as ive never needed them before so never looked or noticed. Ur snail scenario sounds like a great story though all the same.
 
Your KH is very low which means your water is soft although fortunately, it is not too soft but with your nitrate elevating easily due to the size and number of your fish, I'd still adjust the KH as necessary to stabilize the pH.
 
Ok so i do use the coral gravel lol, what should the kh read to get the ph levelling out? and will it harm the fish raising the KH giving thier current situation? heres me thinking the GH was a prob lol being so high 'n' all.

Im trying to find homes for the albino oscar and the channel cat i have, although the channel might just go back into the river as i suspect thats where he came from, there is hundreds of them in our rivers and he is pretty big for his age too.
 
Lupin could you please direct me as to what KH + GH levels im looking to achieve also what should the PH level be at for the most affective water conditions for my cats. I have about 1 3rd of coral gravel which is a 25K sack so its not alot but i think it will do to raise the KH levels, due to the illness my cats have i dont want to raise the levels too high which in turn might make the situation worse rather than better, correct me if im wrong though. I have read on the net through many other sites and forums that changing the KH + GH levels could do more harm than good to to certain south american species, it didnt specify what species though so thats why im asking you what levels you would recommend for the best water quality for my huge cats. Im considering putting all of the coral gravel into my tank, like i said it isnt alot and in time could do the trick as far as the KH is concerned but will it raise the GH also?

Im just running round in circles atm lol
 
Thanks Lupin, i take a look now, water params at the moment are.........PH=6.8 (the reason it has gone up could have something to do with taking the gravel out) Amonia=0.25.........nitrites=0.25.........nitrates=40ppm KH + GH are still the same, well i managed to get an extra drop into the KH before it turned so that 6dkh now and not 5.

Will keep you all updated.


Yeah that explains alot, cheers dude ;)

I went out on a hunch and put the coral gravel in the tank but in that article it says u can place it into external canisters, if i knew that i would have just put it in the sump lol theres always time to move it if the KH rises to high.
 
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