JustKia
Fish Herder
Usually I only test Ammonia, NitrIte and NitrAte - These seem to hold stable at 0, 0 and 0-10 respectively.
I just recently tested pH, GH & KH and was a bit concerned by my results.
pH 6 (!!!)
GH 22dh
KH - a little confused on this one - using the API test you count the number of drops to turn the water "bright yellow". Each drop is equivalent to 1dh. The term "bright yellow" is a little ambiguous I think and there was no colour match chart.
So, 1 drop and my result was pale yellow by 5 drops I'd say it was yellow by 9 drops it was starting to go from yellow to orangey yellow. I think there fore my KH must be somewhere between 5-9dh.
The fish all seem to be OK (frequent/regular spawning by corys and danios), they eat fine, poop fine, are active and show no signs of illness other than one cory has red streaked barbels (that don't seem to respond to any treatments yet).
However, I did notice that my red ramshorn seemed to have white patches on his shell - on closer inspection it looks as if the shell is eroding. I took a closer look at the other snails:
Nerites - no signs of erosion; MTS - some (less than 1/2) show signs of erosion at tip of shell; pond/pest snails - no signs of erosion (but there are't many as they get eaten by the loaches).
My tap water pH is 7 and I get the same result in my betta and fry tanks.
Need to test tap water for GH, but I know our water is "slightly hard" in this area.
Besides water changes what is a stable, long-term method of bringing my pH up?
Or rather what is likely causing my drop in pH and what can I do for the long term to prevent it from dropping.
125L/33Gal tank
Argos play sand substrate
API stresscoat dechlorinator
fluval 405 external filter with lots of ceramic media
no heater but temp stays at 25-27C - a little warm I know)
8 corys, 5 pygmy corys, 7 neon tetras, 3 danios, 6 kuhlis, 3 zebra loaches, 3 gobies, 4 nerites, lots of MTS, cherry and amano shrimp
lots of live plants, about 6lb (wet weight) bogwood, 3 plastic caves, 5 granite stones
Tank has been up and running since November 2008, decor has been in since at least Dec08/Jan09
I just recently tested pH, GH & KH and was a bit concerned by my results.
pH 6 (!!!)
GH 22dh
KH - a little confused on this one - using the API test you count the number of drops to turn the water "bright yellow". Each drop is equivalent to 1dh. The term "bright yellow" is a little ambiguous I think and there was no colour match chart.
So, 1 drop and my result was pale yellow by 5 drops I'd say it was yellow by 9 drops it was starting to go from yellow to orangey yellow. I think there fore my KH must be somewhere between 5-9dh.
The fish all seem to be OK (frequent/regular spawning by corys and danios), they eat fine, poop fine, are active and show no signs of illness other than one cory has red streaked barbels (that don't seem to respond to any treatments yet).
However, I did notice that my red ramshorn seemed to have white patches on his shell - on closer inspection it looks as if the shell is eroding. I took a closer look at the other snails:
Nerites - no signs of erosion; MTS - some (less than 1/2) show signs of erosion at tip of shell; pond/pest snails - no signs of erosion (but there are't many as they get eaten by the loaches).
My tap water pH is 7 and I get the same result in my betta and fry tanks.
Need to test tap water for GH, but I know our water is "slightly hard" in this area.
Besides water changes what is a stable, long-term method of bringing my pH up?
Or rather what is likely causing my drop in pH and what can I do for the long term to prevent it from dropping.
125L/33Gal tank
Argos play sand substrate
API stresscoat dechlorinator
fluval 405 external filter with lots of ceramic media
no heater but temp stays at 25-27C - a little warm I know)
8 corys, 5 pygmy corys, 7 neon tetras, 3 danios, 6 kuhlis, 3 zebra loaches, 3 gobies, 4 nerites, lots of MTS, cherry and amano shrimp
lots of live plants, about 6lb (wet weight) bogwood, 3 plastic caves, 5 granite stones
Tank has been up and running since November 2008, decor has been in since at least Dec08/Jan09
