Any water paramater experts about?

[Cobraxassassin]

Hi,

I've got a 105 litre tank with 16 neon tetra 6 ottocinclus and in a few weeks adding a blue dwarf gourami, I've got the tank running great but have a tap water issue and I'm not sure on best to proceed if anyone can advise.

My tap water comes out with virtually zero gh and kh, so I always had ph swings. 2 weeks and my ph would be down at 4! It caused me lots of problems but I now buffer my water. I do changes of 30% every week and every 3rd change I buffer the water with seachem alkaline regulator. I get my kh to 8 and after 3 weeks it's about 3 or 4 then I buffer again back to 8.

This has worked great have a flourishing planted tank with happy fish. But I've never buffered GH should I if tank is going fine? Will it causes issues in future if I don't?

Is there anything better for kh buffing than seachems alkaline buffer?
What would you recommend for gh if I should buffer it? Equilibrium?

TEMP 26
PH 7.4
.25 AMMONIA(ONLY RECENTLY ADDED OTTOCINCLUS AND HAVE BEEN OVERFEEDING OOPS)
0 NITRITE
5 NITRATE

 

[Ichthys]

I would use a bag of crushed coral (coral gravel) in the filter. It will dissolve only calcium carbonate into the water, unlike commercial buffers that contain all sorts of chemicals you don’t want. I wouldn’t worry about GH as your fish are all soft water fish so they don’t need it.

 

[Cobraxassassin]

I would use a bag of crushed coral (coral gravel) in the filter. It will dissolve only calcium carbonate into the water, unlike commercial buffers that contain all sorts of chemicals you don’t want. I wouldn’t worry about GH as your fish are all soft water fish so they don’t need it.

Thanks, I have crushed coral in amongst my substrate does it need to be in the filter? How long does the coral take to buffer the water as I never seen a difference and just left it in tank cause I liked it. Is it because its not in the filter it's not dissolving and buffering the kh?

Thanks

 

[Ichthys]

It dissolves very slowly, so you need water passing over/through it to maximise that. It won’t make much difference in a substrate where the water isn’t flowing past it.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish you keep come from soft water with a low mineral content so you don't need to buffer the GH.

Don't get dwarf gouramis because they regularly have the gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis and neither can be treated.

If you want to buffer your water, add some limestone rock, shells, or dead coral skeleton to the tank. These are all calcium based and will help to neutralise acids in the water and stop the pH dropping. You add a bit of shell, coral or limestone to the tank and monitor the pH over a week or two. If the pH continues to drop, you add a bit more shell or limestone. Monitor for another week or two and see how it goes. Keep adding shells, coral or limestone until the pH stabilises around 6.8-7.0.

 

[Cobraxassassin]

The fish you keep come from soft water with a low mineral content so you don't need to buffer the GH.

Don't get dwarf gouramis because they regularly have the gourami Iridovirus and or Fish Tuberculosis and neither can be treated.

If you want to buffer your water, add some limestone rock, shells, or dead coral skeleton to the tank. These are all calcium based and will help to neutralise acids in the water and stop the pH dropping. You add a bit of shell, coral or limestone to the tank and monitor the pH over a week or two. If the pH continues to drop, you add a bit more shell or limestone. Monitor for another week or two and see how it goes. Keep adding shells, coral or limestone until the pH stabilises around 6.8-7.0.

What would you recommend fish wise? 105 litre 16 neon tetra an 6 ottocinclus

 

[Byron]

Colin is correct. There is absoluely no need for "buffering" water that is initially well suited to the fish species being kept. This is where trouble begins, because as soon as you start messing with the water chemistry you automatically create an unstable biological system. Leave it alone.

You have space for other species. Consider almost any of the soft/very soft water fish species such as tetras, hatchetfish, pencilfish, catfish, rasboras. Not all of thee will work obviously, due to temperament and such, but they do all share the water parameters.

 

[Cobraxassassin]

Colin is correct. There is absoluely no need for "buffering" water that is initially well suited to the fish species being kept. This is where trouble begins, because as soon as you start messing with the water chemistry you automatically create an unstable biological system. Leave it alone.

You have space for other species. Consider almost any of the soft/very soft water fish species such as tetras, hatchetfish, pencilfish, catfish, rasboras. Not all of thee will work obviously, due to temperament and such, but they do all share the water parameters.

I have an albino hoplosternum in another tank was told they would eat the neon tetra but I do love catfish what species can live with neon tetra and ottocinclus?

Thats good to know the soft water is fine. I had to start buffering the kh as the oh was swinging like mad. But I will try and do it with Skeleton crushed coral instead of buffing agents thank you

 

[Byron]

I have an albino hoplosternum in another tank was told they would eat the neon tetra but I do love catfish what species can live with neon tetra and ottocinclus?

Thats good to know the soft water is fine. I had to start buffering the kh as the oh was swinging like mad. But I will try and do it with Skeleton crushed coral instead of buffing agents thank you

You missed what I said...do not do any buffering with coral or anything else, it is not necessary, and it only creates the possibility (probability) of water chemistry issues that can harm fish. If the pH in the tank lowers, leave it, these are soft and acidic water species. What is the pH of the source (tap) water?


As for the Hoplosternum, at 9+ inches (23 cm) yes, this fish will easily eat the neons and the otos. Options for fish in the tank with these small fish need to be small, generally speaking.

 

[Colin_T]

What is the pH of the source (tap) water?

The tap water pH is 7.4 so the op might need some coral or limestone to reduce the variation between the tank water and tap water when they do water changes.

 

[Cobraxassassin]

You missed what I said...do not do any buffering with coral or anything else, it is not necessary, and it only creates the possibility (probability) of water chemistry issues that can harm fish. If the pH in the tank lowers, leave it, these are soft and acidic water species. What is the pH of the source (tap) water?


As for the Hoplosternum, at 9+ inches (23 cm) yes, this fish will easily eat the neons and the otos. Options for fish in the tank with these small fish need to be small, generally speaking.

I wasn't buffering before and lost a tank of fish, my tap water come out tap 6.8ish, with 0 kh, after 1 week it gets as low as 3 or 4 complete acid bath it was effecting my bio filter and everything for 3 months buffing the kh has kept the tank stable. Even 30-40% weekly water changes wasn't keeping the ph up

 

[FishHobby99]

Hi,

I've got a 105 litre tank with 16 neon tetra 6 ottocinclus and in a few weeks adding a blue dwarf gourami, I've got the tank running great but have a tap water issue and I'm not sure on best to proceed if anyone can advise.

My tap water comes out with virtually zero gh and kh, so I always had ph swings. 2 weeks and my ph would be down at 4! It caused me lots of problems but I now buffer my water. I do changes of 30% every week and every 3rd change I buffer the water with seachem alkaline regulator. I get my kh to 8 and after 3 weeks it's about 3 or 4 then I buffer again back to 8.

This has worked great have a flourishing planted tank with happy fish. But I've never buffered GH should I if tank is going fine? Will it causes issues in future if I don't?

Is there anything better for kh buffing than seachems alkaline buffer?
What would you recommend for gh if I should buffer it? Equilibrium?

TEMP 26
PH 7.4
.25 AMMONIA(ONLY RECENTLY ADDED OTTOCINCLUS AND HAVE BEEN OVERFEEDING OOPS)
0 NITRITE
5 NITRATE

View attachment 145330

I am not experienced enough to offer advice, just wanted to say your tank is gorgeous. Love the plants!

 

[Cobraxassassin]

I am not experienced enough to offer advice, just wanted to say your tank is gorgeous. Love the plants!

Thank you!!

 

[Byron]

I wasn't buffering before and lost a tank of fish, my tap water come out tap 6.8ish, with 0 kh, after 1 week it gets as low as 3 or 4 complete acid bath it was effecting my bio filter and everything for 3 months buffing the kh has kept the tank stable. Even 30-40% weekly water changes wasn't keeping the ph up

I question if this was the issue. I have tanks with the pH below 5, and tap water is now in the high 8's. I have reduced the volume of the weekly water change so this does not cause too great a variance, but my very soft water fish seem to be coping, though I admit this is difficult to say unless the fish were dying. I asked about the tap pH previously, and Colin says it is 7.4 while you have said 6.8...? For the past 12 years until this past Spring, my tap water was 7.2 and I changed 60-70% of the tank volumes every week without incident. I won't belabour the point, but a basic premise to good fish care is to not do any adjusting of parameters. Let the biological system establish and it will maintain a stability that will tend to remain unless/until you do something. In my case for example, the pH after these water changes was only a few decimal places higher.

 

[Colin_T]

I asked about the tap pH previously, and Colin says it is 7.4 while you have said 6.8...?

That was my mistake. I read 7.4 in the original post but that was for the aquarium. However, if the tap water is coming out at 6.8 and the tank water pH is dropping rapidly over a week, then something should be done to buffer the water a bit to slow or stop the sudden pH drop.

TEMP 26
PH 7.4
.25 AMMONIA(ONLY RECENTLY ADDED OTTOCINCLUS AND HAVE BEEN OVERFEEDING OOPS)
0 NITRITE
5 NITRATE