Ph Of 6.4

[blackers92]

I quite like the wood aswell, it is a must for bristlenoses and would provide hiding places for my loaches when I eventually get them, it also looks natural.

either way im not going to add all of the fish at once so I shouldnt have any weird spikes or whatnot.

 

[waterdrop]

Interesting, I'm not aware of any reason to not use wood in small tanks either. Wood should be quite nice in any tank!

Running a tank at the pH that fate has given you is always a much, much better proposition than attempting to "go against it." Its a lot of work to alter the water and go off to a different place from your given source water and almost always ends in bad things happening some day. There are lots of great things you can do with a very acid tank like that and I think you should be ok.

I do strongly recommend the "rough one inch of mature fish body size (fins don't count) per US gallon guideline" for the first year and a half for all beginners. Its NOT that you can't overfilter and learn to run slightly overstocked tanks, its that its very important as a beginner to have a nice solid beginner experience with what a successful tank should feel like before you move away to something that's different. Yes, there are lots and lots of problems with the inch guideline and they've been discussed in huge threads in this forum, but having the balanced tank experience under your belt once is an important thing!

I also feel that the minimum tank size for a first pair of angelfish is 29 US gallons and the tall version is needed so that they have their minimum 17 inchs or so of tank height. Many feel this is an absolute minimum for the first two angels.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

I was advised no wood because it drops the pH so dramatically. i would like some though

 

[drobbyb]

I agree with waterdrop. You should stick to your native pH if at all possible. In severe cases like mine, crushed coral in the filter can help stabilize pH keeping it from dropping lower, but it's a serious decision that needs to be researched well before attempting.

 

[waterdrop]

Robby has a link to the article he and I wrote right there in his post if you want to read more about pH. --WD

 

[indigoj]

Wood does slightly lower ph but this should not be a problem, it doesn't cause a dramatic drop.

I'd definitely avoid messing with ph unless it is 100% vital.

I wouldn't put angels in that tank unless it is 18" high.

The 6xdanio, 5xyoyo, 1 BN and a pair of Keyholes sounds nice though.

 

[blackers92]

i have had a read of robbys thread before and found it quite helpful, because he wrote how hard it is to naturally change a pH level i thought I would be better off leaving it as is, which seems to be what most of your reccomend

As for the stocking I will stick to the danios, loaches and bristlenose for now, and see how it looks in a year so I dont overstock

thanks for all of your responses they really help me decide what to do

 

[waterdrop]

How many inches can a mature YoYo loach get? I was trying to tally up your stocking and realized I don't know on these...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[blackers92]

according to wikipedia "They may attain a length of up to 13 cm (5 in)"

i have also read that they may reach 8 inches but it is very uncommon

I cant wait to get them, hopefully my LFS will stock some within the next month

 

[waterdrop]

OK, interesting, I'll have to try and remember to look at your tally again...