Recent content by Stevetheadi

Thank you for the detailed reply. You are suggesting that I don't change the water daily while I'm waiting for the bacteria population to grow? Are the bacteria growing slowly because there is no ammonia in the tank?

Thank you.

May I just check that I've correctly calculated the amount of salt to use? The tank has 55 litres of water in it. The N02 reading is 4.0. 55*4 = 2200mg. Multiply that by 1.5 = 3300mg or 3.3g. The instructions that came with the aquarium salt say 1 rounded tablespoon for every 20 litres. So...

Thank you. I'll try that.

Hi The water was perfectly fine in my established 64L tank until I added more substrate. Covering the old substrate has, I think, caused the nitrite (as measured by an API test kit) to spike. Today it is 4.0. Ammonia is zero, PH is 8.5, nitrates are high (that's how it comes out of the tap)...

Thanks, that's very helpful.

Hi guys I've been using a Interpet CF2 in my 64 litre tank for a couple of years. But that filter has been discontinued and the service packs are hard to get and expensive. So I've decided to replace it with a Fluval U2. What's the best way to get the new filter colonised with bacteria...

The fish seem fine today so I guess no harm was done by the sudden drop in pH. I'll be more careful in future!

Thanks, I'll do that.

Thank you.

I have harlequin rasbora, corydoras and cherry barbs. I'll do as you suggest, not do another water change straightaway but make some gradual changes if I need to. The water here is very hard so I'm limited as to what I can realistically do about the pH, I think.

Hi The pH of my 64L tank was a high - pH8. So I changed about half the tank's water with RO water, thinking that would start to bring it down. But checked the pH and it's now pH6.5. Is that too much of a change? Should I change the water again and add some high pH tap water?

It's good stuff. Feeds plants in an inert substrate. Made a big difference to mine.