Mix Bag Of Questions.....

wonkey · Aug 23, 2011

Hi guys,

Hi now i have a fluval 240l tank cycled and stocked ( with rescued fish from other peoples tanks whom they where going to flush :-(

..... ill list them further down) im currantly having two problems that I cant decide whats for the best.

The water in my area is very hard it gasses off at around 8.5 and my tank usually sits in 9.0 now im well aware i can play with this and make all kinds of adjustments to the water however im wondering in the long run is it really worth it ? I mean a stable PH ive been told is better then a species ideal PH, so i would like some advice on this please on what to do.

The second problem is lighting and plants, ive never had a planted aquriam and ive been reading on various co2 injectors etc but its all too complex and expensive, ive only got one light-tube running in the tank atm as the clown loaches dont seem to like both tubes on. Is there a plant that is hardy and doesnt need much effort to get to grow and or survive long enough to not be expensive to keep replacing.

As mentioned earlier the fish ive inherited so far are 3 mollies and 2 mollie fry, 5 Danios, 2 clown loach, 1 red fin sword tail, 1 sailfin pleco)<--- this is my fave he runs the tank atm hehe) all the fish are quite young and most still only just reaching adulthood i think.
they all have a mixed bunch of PH requirments but all seem to be coping and acting normal soo far.

Cheers for any advice

coldcazzie · Aug 23, 2011

wonkey said:
Hi guys,

Hi now i have a fluval 240l tank cycled and stocked ( with rescued fish from other peoples tanks whom they where going to flush ..... ill list them further down) im currantly having two problems that I cant decide whats for the best.

The water in my area is very hard it gasses off at around 8.5 and my tank usually sits in 9.0 now im well aware i can play with this and make all kinds of adjustments to the water however im wondering in the long run is it really worth it ? I mean a stable PH ive been told is better then a species ideal PH, so i would like some advice on this please on what to do.

If your fish have come from other local people (and before that local shops and local breeders) then they will likely be used to the water. I wouldn't worry about it, unless you start wanting to keep more fussy fish.

The second problem is lighting and plants, ive never had a planted aquriam and ive been reading on various co2 injectors etc but its all too complex and expensive, ive only got one light-tube running in the tank atm as the clown loaches dont seem to like both tubes on. Is there a plant that is hardy and doesnt need much effort to get to grow and or survive long enough to not be expensive to keep replacing.

Good low light plants to try are anubias, java fern and mosses. They all like to grow on wood/rock and can be tied or glued on fairly easily.

As mentioned earlier the fish ive inherited so far are 3 mollies and 2 mollie fry, 5 Danios, 2 clown loach, 1 red fin sword tail, 1 sailfin pleco)<--- this is my fave he runs the tank atm hehe) all the fish are quite young and most still only just reaching adulthood i think.
they all have a mixed bunch of PH requirments but all seem to be coping and acting normal soo far.

Cheers for any advice

The sailfin will get quite big - roughly 18" fully grown. If you want to keep him I would recommend you look at upgrading to a larger tank (min 5x2x2) and in the meantime do more water changes so as to reduce the risk of stunning his growth.
The clown loaches are another big fish - they will get to a foot long each. They are also shoaling fish so like to be in groups, preferably a minimum of 6. Again, if you want to keep them, you should be looking to upgrade your tank. If you upgraded to a very large tank (8,3,3 perhaps?) then you could look to rehome other inappropriately housed clowns, which would be a great service, but most people don't have the room for that sized tank.

@ombomb · Aug 23, 2011

bog wood will help to slowly bring the ph down and keep it stable

9 is seriously high and it might be worth doing some further testing on the hardness of the water

i agree with the previous advice on stocking but mean while just turn the lights on, they'll get used to it soon enough

wonkey · Aug 23, 2011

Thanks for the replys guys,

Firstly yes I will be upgrading my tank in a yearish ( after ive paid for a wedding

and convinced the other half its worth it).

I suppose I could get more clown loaches to keep them happy however im only adding to the problem in hand atm if i do this.

I realise the tank size is not ideal but i figured anything was better then them going down the loo :good:

In relation to the water what other testiong can I do ?,

I suppose I could be getting a miss-reading as i think the kit is oldish +12 months, all other tests come back clean its just the PH that seems odd its a dark blue which according to the chart it says is 8.5-9.0.

I do have a buffer solution but I dont really understand how that is used when doing water changes as it only mentions adding quantities as if im replacing all the tank water in one go. Also I do have a meduim sized piece of bog wood already in the tank, but i saw an EBAY sale today thats selling about 30 pieces for £30 which is a bargain even if i dont use it all.....

Caprichoso · Aug 23, 2011

It's much easier to work with the pH you've got rather than having to alter it all the time. IME, things tend to go wrong when you start fiddling with the water chemistry. Always best to keep it simple.

coldcazzie · Aug 23, 2011

Do you have hardness test kits? Usually pH and hardness go hand-in-hand.

It could be worthwhile using peat filtered water or RO water, which you cut with tap water to lower the hardness, but you would need to know your hardness first to be able to work out what would be an appropriate cut to use, and you'd have to do it slowly to get the fish used to the change, and also do it every time.

You're right that adding more at this stage would probably be a bad idea, clown loaches do grow quite slowly though... how big are the ones you have?

wonkey · Aug 23, 2011

The whole RO thing is a bit confusing and i need to read up more on this tbh, the CLowns are less than an inch long atm. Ive also looked at peat but then read bad takes on this too lol.

Its odd coz i surley cant be the only person who keep fish with such Hard water, I do daily 20% water changes as a habit so i think this may be assisting the fishes happiness.