I paid less than a 100 bux for my ro. It still works great over a year later. I use with different intentions now and it is used on a daily basis. Ebay is where I got it. Replacement filters are cheap as well. With a 29 you will not need to use yours much and it will last. I tried dwarf hair grass and it worked out. Only thing I see as a problem is the onion. Not sure with that one. I forgot to mention my rams laid eggs at 82deg. But the fry never made it past the mouths of other fish.
Soft/acidic water and plants
- Thread starter Pyramid_Party
- Start date
I forgot to mention I have crypt plants too. The hairgrass has not filled in all the way yet, but I plan to have this a moderate to heavily planted tank. In most circumstances you would not need to do water changes because the system would take care of itself. However, you need to do top offs. But I do not know how all this would play out with keeping Rams. I wonder if the fishes health would be in jeopardy.
Is there other ways to drop the PH and hardness? How about peat moss? I got a little driftwood in this tank but makes no difference. It's just a skinny branch of manzanita wood.
Is there other ways to drop the PH and hardness? How about peat moss? I got a little driftwood in this tank but makes no difference. It's just a skinny branch of manzanita wood.
Rams do need pristine water quality. I had my discus in my 180 in a high tech planted and did 3 70-80% wc's a week. I was also growing out 2.5"-3" juvies. It was heavily planted at the time and I still ran into water quality issues with them. I failed to suck up all the dead leaves and plant litter because it was so densely planted. I dont think rams need the quality of h2o as discus but Im sure it doesnt hurt. Crypts at 82deg worked for me as well. Even when I switched the crypts to another tank with run of the mill bulbs they still thrived at the same temp
Here my suggestion. Buy them and try it. They are cheap. Maybe get some lfs rams and give it a whirl. Or buy a already bonded pair via aquabid. If they dont breed then you know you need to adjust your parameters. At the worst you will have some nice fish to look at. I dont think your hardness is the main issue. For ph buy some Indian Almond leaves and toss them in. That will drop your ph and induce breeding. If you only have a pair your load will be nothing and the plants will use up all the nitrates and give them good enough water. Maybe do wc every 2 weeks with prepared water in a garbage can. You can boil the almond leaves and use that water to treat your wc water. You cant use too many leaves or OD the boiled off water from the leaf tea. I added my extract to my tank and my tetras all got fat and full of eggs in a matter of days. It really works
And on top of the almond leaves helping prepare the water they have antibiotic properties for the eggs. So they dont mold etc. and beneficial for the fish. You will just have tea water. My SA tank and Discus tank get it. I swear by it. I havnt had a problem with my discus since I added the tea extract to my breeder tank. In fact I am certain that the almond leaves helped my discus over come a SEVERE bacterial infection. Well along with the potassium permanganate I HAD to use. My female still had cloudy eyes after pot perm treatment and all I did was almond leaf them. No meds nothing. God I sound like a salesman now.
Ok, so what would a routine be like when changing water? Also, since my water is hard/alkaline changing it to soft/acidic, would there be a huge impact? WHat I mean is, isn't it bad for it to go through such a big swing like this all at once?
Pyramid_Party;4716380; said:
It wouldnt be a swing on your fish because you would prepare the water and then do your wc. Replacing the tank water with like water from your holding container.
Lets hypothetically say:
Its tuesday. Damn it! Another wc. So you go over to your holding container, fill it up with desired tap, test ph, go to your stove take 1-3 almond leaves and boil them for about an hour on med heat, dump that into your holding container, test ph and adjust by amount of tea needed, aerate it let it stabilize and get it to the desired temp and transfer from holding container to your tank. Since its a 29 it will be easy, maybe use 2 5 gal buckets? Easier to store them when your done.
So you think I can use almond leaves instead of an RO unit? What kind of pump should I use to pump the water in the tank? What other equipment do I need? Just some tubing? Any almond leaves will work? What's a good price on them?
I think with out an ro unit you will have to use quite a bit of leaves. Now that I think about it just get a 5 gallon culligan bottle and refill it as needed at your grocery store. I use to do that for my saltwater tank. Let me run a ph test with a gallon of water and a couple leaves and I will let ya know how much of a drop the leaves/extract does. I got 60 grade A leaves for 11bux shipped. Let me see if I can find the link. The seller sells on ebay as well. But its overseas and long shipping. hers the link. The price went up a few bux. http://aqmagic.com/store/product_info.php?pName=catappa-indian-almond-leaves-20-pcs-set
Pyramid_Party;4716577; said:
Your gonna need a submersible pump, enough tubing to get from pump to tank, air pump, air stone and tubing. Since you are doing maybe 10-15 gallon wc's a pump would just make it easier. You could always use buckets
