Fsh For Ph 5.something

[Miss Wiggle]

i don't understand kh at all you know makes no sense to me.

if i was you i'd chuck a handful of those oyster shells in and see what effect it has. you've no fish in and we've plenty of mature filter media elsewhere if you find the bacteria dies off in the fluval. so it doesn't matter too much if it swings now. just put a handful of oyster shell in today, test the ph tomorrow if it's not above 6 put another handful in, test the day after and so on

 

[karin15]

i don't understand kh at all you know makes no sense to me.

if i was you i'd chuck a handful of those oyster shells in and see what effect it has. you've no fish in and we've plenty of mature filter media elsewhere if you find the bacteria dies off in the fluval. so it doesn't matter too much if it swings now. just put a handful of oyster shell in today, test the ph tomorrow if it's not above 6 put another handful in, test the day after and so on

oh thats a great idea, rotting drift wood buffers ph too dosn't it?

 

[BigIan]

i don't understand kh at all you know makes no sense to me.

if i was you i'd chuck a handful of those oyster shells in and see what effect it has. you've no fish in and we've plenty of mature filter media elsewhere if you find the bacteria dies off in the fluval. so it doesn't matter too much if it swings now. just put a handful of oyster shell in today, test the ph tomorrow if it's not above 6 put another handful in, test the day after and so on

the oyster shes work by releasing calcium into the water, Calcium however reacts with co2, thusly nutralising it.
(thats how calcium reactors work on marine tanks you have a calcium based medis, and ruth water with a high concentration of co2 through it the calcium reacts and the co2 is nutralised the the calcium is then carried off into the tank)
so i need to find some other method to buffer the tank

 

[karin15]

i don't understand kh at all you know makes no sense to me.

if i was you i'd chuck a handful of those oyster shells in and see what effect it has. you've no fish in and we've plenty of mature filter media elsewhere if you find the bacteria dies off in the fluval. so it doesn't matter too much if it swings now. just put a handful of oyster shell in today, test the ph tomorrow if it's not above 6 put another handful in, test the day after and so on

the oyster shes work by releasing calcium into the water, Calcium however reacts with co2, thusly nutralising it.
(thats how calcium reactors work on marine tanks you have a calcium based medis, and ruth water with a high concentration of co2 through it the calcium reacts and the co2 is nutralised the the calcium is then carried off into the tank)
so i need to find some other method to buffer the tank

you know your chemistry x_X

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i don't understand kh at all you know makes no sense to me.

if i was you i'd chuck a handful of those oyster shells in and see what effect it has. you've no fish in and we've plenty of mature filter media elsewhere if you find the bacteria dies off in the fluval. so it doesn't matter too much if it swings now. just put a handful of oyster shell in today, test the ph tomorrow if it's not above 6 put another handful in, test the day after and so on

the oyster shes work by releasing calcium into the water, Calcium however reacts with co2, thusly nutralising it.
(thats how calcium reactors work on marine tanks you have a calcium based medis, and ruth water with a high concentration of co2 through it the calcium reacts and the co2 is nutralised the the calcium is then carried off into the tank)
so i need to find some other method to buffer the tank

aaaah OK didn't realise that sorry!

is it the same with tuffa rock etc?

know you'll probably not want to but what about those 'proper ph' bottles you can get, know it's chemicals and not really a natural way of doing things but if needs must

 

[BigIan]

aaaah OK didn't realise that sorry!

is it the same with tuffa rock etc?

know you'll probably not want to but what about those 'proper ph' bottles you can get, know it's chemicals and not really a natural way of doing things but if needs must

i think its the same with the tuffa rock. not 100% sure.
and not sure how the proper ph chems work they may well just be powderd calcium, i need to investigate

I have however just found that bicarbnate of soda (NaHCO3) has no calcium and so shouldn`t affect the disolved co2. now the question is how much to use?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

http/aquariumpharm.com/en_gb/productTech...p?productid=278

the proper ph stuff is a phosphate buffer...... whatever that means

 

[Majjie]

Surely a lot of the South American black water rivers would have a pH around 5? Mind you, having said that - I'm not sure what fish are native to these rivers - I don't pay much attention to the place of origin of my fish. I'd guess though that you'd be fine with Emperor and Lemon Tetras, pencilfishes and glowlight rasboras - as well as angelfish or discus.

I've been filtering hard, alkaline tap water through peat for some of my tanks. This reduces the KH to 0 and the pH to below 5 (but reduces the GH by less than half - so doesn't give me true soft water). I bring the pH back up to 6 - 6.5 by adding sodium bicarbonate - which seems to work fine (also brings the KH back up to around 2 - 3).

Avoid Proper pH buffers if you want plants - it actually says on the small print (which I didn't read until after my plants stopped thriving - of course!) that they aren't suitable for planted tanks. Waterlife do a much better buffer if you really need one (just called 6.5 Buffer) - but I'd try the sodium bicarbonate first.

 

[jayjay]

Look into fish from the Amazon blackwaters. Other Asian species may work but I don't know the where abouts of those, bettas, gourami's, rasboras etc.

 

[George Farmer]

Ian - please don't worry about your pH. Buffering is not required if you stick to the EI routine. I've explained why in planted. You are complicating things unecessarily and probably confusing others in the process.

Experienced planted folk run 0 KH and Aqua Soil with no problems, to fish health or otherwise. The key is stability through water changes. Keep it simple.

 

[Griz]

Some fish that like soft acidic water off the top of my head are Apistogramma, pencilfish, hatchetfish and many South American tetras.

 

[BigIan]

Ian - please don't worry about your pH. Buffering is not required if you stick to the EI routine. I've explained why in planted. You are complicating things unecessarily and probably confusing others in the process.

Experienced planted folk run 0 KH and Aqua Soil with no problems, to fish health or otherwise. The key is stability through water changes. Keep it simple.

I`m just going to have to wait and see where the AS leaves my tank stats after its finished leaching ammonia ect.