Princesscoral's Journal

[seffieuk]

Oh dear Seffie, you may have a large storm cloud heading your way

a little storm with a lot of power......................

So, Rabbut, are you saying i can keep the aragonite or add some silver sand (whatever that is ) or do I have to change it - hopefully before the little storm heads back this way


Seffie x

 

[rabbut]

You cannot make the argonite inert without removing it and coating it with something anyway, so either way it will all have to come out I'd remove the argonite and add the Silver Sand if it were me...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Princesscoral]

hello
nanny plese let me keep the sand

princesscoral
age 9

 

[seffieuk]

nanny plese let me keep the sand

Ehhhh, why are you on the computer at this time of night young lady?

Really sorry though, both Truck and Rabbut say the sand has got to come out - I will explain why when i see you - if you kept it you wouldn't be able to keep the fish you want

Lets have a look for sand that is a similar colour as Rabbut suggests is that ok?

Nanny Seffie x

Aged 50

 

[rabbut]

If you keep the sand princesscoral, you'd need to revise your stocking plans I suppose Malawi or Tanganikas would be nice colourful and active fish that would be OK in the harder water you'll get from that gravel in there, though they are two fish groups I know very little about

 

[OldMan47]

Good high pH and hard water is a good setting for most of the common livebearers that we see in the fish shops including guppies and mollies. I do keep some cories in my tanks and they do OK along with some angels. Neons and cardinals do not prosper in my water but the black neons do fine along with rasbora hets. My water is quite hard and has a pH of 7.8 from the tap. It seems to also settle at about 7.8 in a tank. Water hardness runs to around 12 degrees GH here with a KH of 6 degrees but varies with the season because I live in an agricultural area and the runoff affects our water somewhat. If you like the aragonite and the water ends up around this range, most of the stocking can still be OK. I keep my angels at about 24C along with most other community fish and it lets me keep most of the cories without them being too hot. Common livebearers and even the rarer goodeids seem to thrive in my tap water so I just focus on that kind of fish although many of the "soft" water fish do fine too. I cannot get any low pH, soft water type fish to breed in my water though.

 

[seffieuk]

Right, so think I will go measure the ph and see exactly what it is I assume a good % water change each week will help with the ph as well? and lots of surface agitation?

I would so love not to have to remove the substrate for two reasons, one Princesscoral loves the colour (its pinkish) and two the mess but if I MUST do it for the sake of the fish she wants to keep then I will. Going to wait to Tuesday (when lfs will not be so busy to go get some silver sand) and decide then as well as testing what the water is running out, PH wise, can i use my marine salifert ph test kit?

Thanks for all your help folks - it's amazing just how quickly you forget about things, it's been a long time since I had a freshwater tank! Been Brackish for many a year and marine for over a year now

anyways thanks a lot

Nanny Seffie x

Aged 50

 

[Truck]

Right, so think I will go measure the ph and see exactly what it is I assume a good % water change each week will help with the ph as well? and lots of surface agitation?

I would so love not to have to remove the substrate for two reasons, one Princesscoral loves the colour (its pinkish) and two the mess but if I MUST do it for the sake of the fish she wants to keep then I will. Going to wait to Tuesday (when lfs will not be so busy to go get some silver sand) and decide then as well as testing what the water is running out, PH wise, can i use my marine salifert ph test kit?

Thanks for all your help folks - it's amazing just how quickly you forget about things, it's been a long time since I had a freshwater tank! Been Brackish for many a year and marine for over a year now

anyways thanks a lot

Nanny Seffie x

Aged 50

yeah...saliferts are good for measuring freshwater...theyre very accurate in fresh aswell

 

[tropic_john]

so princess, any updates?
Have you started to cycle the tank yet?

I've been on holiday so haven't been on lately

John.

 

[seffieuk]

Hi John

Princess is away for a couple of days visiting her other nan

Hope you had a good holiday?

PH is 7.8 ish, so what do you folks think?

Nanny Seffie x

 

[tropic_john]

Hi John

Princess is away for a couple of days visiting her other nan

Hope you had a good holiday?

PH is 7.8 ish, so what do you folks think?

Nanny Seffie x

Oh, O.K, hmm, do you mean possible stock suggestions for a tank with a ph of 7.8? Or if that is high or low?

 

[seffieuk]

Well, John have made rather a boob, by putting in aragonite, so was just checking the ph before i ditched the lot and got silver sand problem is Princess loves the colour and i hate the thought of taking it all out!

Was about to take it all out after talking to Truck and Rabbut but then Oldman came along and I had second thoughts - thought i would test the ph first. Have also read a few things following on from what Oldman says which support his view, so................... now I haven't really got a clue what to do

decisions, decisons

Seffie x



ps I'm also wondering about putting in a load of plants?

 

[Truck]

Well, John have made rather a boob, by putting in aragonite, so was just checking the ph before i ditched the lot and got silver sand problem is Princess loves the colour and i hate the thought of taking it all out!

Was about to take it all out after talking to Truck and Rabbut but then Oldman came along and I had second thoughts - thought i would test the ph first. Have also read a few things following on from what Oldman says which support his view, so................... now I haven't really got a clue what to do

decisions, decisons

Seffie x



ps I'm also wondering about putting in a load of plants?

you could put in plants...but low maintenance species will be best...the best species for this tank will be cryptocorynes, valliseneria and echinodorus species all slow growing and easy to grow plants...apart from vallis, i had mine growing 1 inch a day.

a fert such as tropica plant nutrition+ will help too.

what lighting does the tank have?

all of these plant species recommended will do well at a higher PH

 

[rabbut]

The pH isn't too bad. How long has it had to settle. Theoretically, the argonite will up the pH to about 8.0 which is too high for Princesscorals fish, 7.8 is on the cut-off point and 7.5 or less is better (though actually, I consider "stocking by pH" a dodgy one to go by, really, you want to be "stocking by KH". What is your KH/Alkalinity reading? The Salifert Alkalinity kit will be fine for checking it, readings in German degrees please ) If your KH is below 8ish or less degrees, the Angels will be fine, 5 or less for Neons ideally, and the guppies will prefer 4-16 degrees, with between 6-10 being the sweet spot

 

[Princesscoral]

hello
dont want silver sand i would like sand i have

princesscoral
age 9