1st Community Tank

[Gill Fynn]

we have a six foot tank with
1 synsphillan
1 elecctric blue
2 electric yellows
3 silver sharks
3 clown loaches
1 dragons blood
3 cribs 1m 2fms
2 angles
2 green severons
2 red jewlels
1 pleco
1 horse face
1 peacock
2 johanni
1 blue acara
1 sucking thing i call noodles
tropheus bemba (by accident)
waiting to get bigger in a smaller tank is
1 horseface
2 princess
these fish in large tank have been there for 4-5 months with a few variations of fish
if its too aggresive we sold em if its too timid we stuck em in a smaller tank.
i have the proper size external filter and two in tank filter.
is there anywhere that will tell me about gh kh ph ect and what are the causes and effects i know how to check
for it but i dont understand it fully

 

[rabbut]

I am not realy able to comment on you stocking, as I don't know what half of those fish are, let alone have any experience with them

However; GH, KH and pH (note capitalisation) I can help with.

GH is a measure of disolved magnesium and carbonate salts. It tells us whether water is soft or hard, but on its own, thats the only use I know for it. These salts contribute to the pH of the tank, and influence how well fish breed. With some species, hard water makes the egg shells too hard to be fertilised. With others, the hardness is required for the fish to be able to breed.

KH is a measure of carbonate salts in the water. These salts hold the pH stable, and affect the efficiency of the fishes repiration system. Fish rely on a hardness difference to remove toxins and CO2 from their bodies, and take in some nutrience and O2. The KH may also be reffered to as buffering capacity or alkalinity of the water. This is because lowering the pH without lowering the KH, will bounce the pH back up again. Not good

pH is a measure of how acid or alcaline the water is. Above 7 is alkaline, below is acid, with pH 7 being nutral (to nearest whole number) IMO, when breeding or keeping fish, pH is not as inportant as KH or GH.

HTH some
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

gee rabbut, some very interesting stuff! relates back to the fish themselves more than most discussions I've seen...

guys, there are also some discussions going on over in the scientific section, one started by me in an attempt understand KH,pH better (in my case with respect to fishless cycling.)