Ph Raise?

[onlinebug]

OK so heres the story so far, i've got a 73L tank with fake plants and no live rock, gravel on the bottom and a heater and a filter running i'm using wool and carbon in the filter. I have started cycling today, i've raised my temps and done my tests, added stress zyme and 5ppm of ammonia.

So today, the first day of the cycle I have tested my normal tap waters PH and then my tank water which has the ammonia etc in. My taps PH is a 7.5 and then my tanks has shot up to 8.0+ I am using an API Master test kit and it is brand new. Was wondering why it is so high and if there is anything I can do about it?

 

[rabbut]

It's not too high, cirtainly not high enough to worry about, so I'd leave it be. A high pH is actualy benificial during the cycle, as there is less chance of a pH crash

Things that could have raised it, are CO2 in the water supply being driven off, or substrate and other decor that are not chemicaly inert. Having seen you pics of you tank, and knowing the area you live in, I'd have said it was the first option, as I belive you are in a hardwater area.

Interesting choice of filter media BTW. Is it just floss and carbon you are running? Niether are an easy to manage biological filter, so you may want to consider changing the carbon for foam, or ceramic media. Carbon is only active for a few days tops, and has a reputation for leaching toxins back into the tank, if it is left in too long after saturisation. Very few people run carbon in their filter permanantly. I only use carbon when removing meds from the water. In this situation I replace it every 3 days to keep it working, and I run it for about 1 week, to make sure it gets all the meds

HTH
Rabbut

 

[onlinebug]

It's not too high, cirtainly not high enough to worry about, so I'd leave it be. A high pH is actualy benificial during the cycle, as there is less chance of a pH crash

Things that could have raised it, are CO2 in the water supply being driven off, or substrate and other decor that are not chemicaly inert. Having seen you pics of you tank, and knowing the area you live in, I'd have said it was the first option, as I belive you are in a hardwater area.

Interesting choice of filter media BTW. Is it just floss and carbon you are running? Niether are an easy to manage biological filter, so you may want to consider changing the carbon for foam, or ceramic media. Carbon is only active for a few days tops, and has a reputation for leaching toxins back into the tank, if it is left in too long after saturisation. Very few people run carbon in their filter permanantly. I only use carbon when removing meds from the water. In this situation I replace it every 3 days to keep it working, and I run it for about 1 week, to make sure it gets all the meds

HTH
Rabbut

The wool is not spread out and is backed in fairly close, which i heard is better to build bacteria on. The carbon is a bag of activated carbon, not the normal sponge Find quite strange. I really don't want to open the filter box again though, now all the bubbles are out of the system Is this the right way to arrange the media?

Water In >> Bio Rings >> Activated Carbon >> Bio Rings >> Filter Wool >> Water Out.

 

[rabbut]

You usualy place bio media last, so it is last to clogg with debris, and thus least likely to become ineffective when the flow drops.I would arrange your media as so

water in>>>Carbon>>>tightly packed floss(you have dedicated bio mediawhich is easier to manage, so use the floss for machanical)>>Bio rings>>>>Bio rings>>>water out

It isn't ideal to have chemical media first, but as it will need to be replaced regularly anyway, I'd also use it as a pre-mechanical-filter. I would still replace it with sponge next time you have to open the filter for maintanance, as it will stop the floss from clogging as quickly, and reduce the risk of toxins being dumped back into the tank.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[onlinebug]

You usualy place bio media last, so it is last to clogg with debris, and thus least likely to become ineffective when the flow drops.I would arrange your media as so

water in>>>Carbon>>>tightly packed floss(you have dedicated bio mediawhich is easier to manage, so use the floss for machanical)>>Bio rings>>>>Bio rings>>>water out

It isn't ideal to have chemical media first, but as it will need to be replaced regularly anyway, I'd also use it as a pre-mechanical-filter. I would still replace it with sponge next time you have to open the filter for maintanance, as it will stop the floss from clogging as quickly, and reduce the risk of toxins being dumped back into the tank.

All the best
Rabbut

Which would be more suitable for my tank?

http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/bfine-spon...2dd8ffa57861ee3
or
http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/bcoarse-sp...2dd8ffa57861ee3

And are these sponges any good?

http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/bnitrate-r...2dd8ffa57861ee3

 

[rabbut]

Out of the three I'd go with the fine sponge, as it will prevent more muck passing into the floss than the corse sponge. Also, the nitrate removal sponge will need replacing to remain active at removing nitrate. I'm not entirely shure how the nitrate sponges work, so can't realy coment on their usefulness, other than to say that you don't want to use them with live plants, as they remove the natural fertilisers produced by your filter system. You can buy packs of pond media on ebay far cheaper than the branded Juwel sponges, that you can cut to size and keep excess as spares. This way you can join the list of media donors later, and offer media to those prepaored to "chip in" for the media you give Assuming they don't bring their own replacements

All the best
Rabbut

 

[rdd1952]

The nitrate removal sponge will become saturated just like carbon and have to be recharged or replaced. I would steer clear of any product that says it "removes" anything from the tank (other than using carbon to remove medications). You're always better off letting your biological filter handle the ammonia and nitrite and remove nitrate with water changes.