Water parameters

[MaisyMoose]

Hello all of you experts

Questions: how do my parameters look? Partial water change tomorrow. I keep livebearing fish, corys, shrimp, snails and rasboras.

My Kh and Gh has tested very low— two drops and color change. I’ve read that adding coral shell to filter will help? Any recommendations?

All fish and shrimp, snails, plants seem to be thriving. Great appetites and active.


Thank you so much for any help!

 

[Byron]

Do you know the GH and KH numbers? If the last photo above isw pH, it looks to be around 6, is this correct?

 

[MaisyMoose]

PH is about 7.4
GH and KH 35.8

 

[Byron]

PH is about 7.4
GH and KH 35.8

The GH and KH I assume are in ppm not dH. From the photo the pH is not as high as 7, perhaps you could lay the tube beside the colour rows which might make it clearer to see?

The GH is very low, 35.8 ppm equates to 2 dH. Same holds for the KH. You are in New York and we have previously had several members from there with soft water, so this is no surprise. If you let a glass of tap water sit overnight, does the pH change? I still think it is acidic, the colour looks more yellow than the 7.6 orange.

To the ramifications for the fish...the livebearers are not going to do well in very soft water; they need the GH up around 10 dH (180 ppm). The cories and rasboras will be fine in this very soft water, thriving. The shrimp may need harder water, depending upon the species, and I will defer to advice from members familiar with shrimp.

I personally would not mess with parameter adjusting. It makes your life much easier with water changes, and there are so many soft water fish species. As you have some now, they will do better in the present water. I have very soft water, around 7 ppm, less than half of 1 degree; my fish room was full of tanks of plants and fish. I messed with dolomite in the filter to increase the pH from the tap water of 5 or lower to 6.4 in one tank, but after a few years I didn't bother. I had tanks with water very similar to the Rio Negro and the fish thrived.

 

[MaisyMoose]

The GH and KH I assume are in ppm not dH. From the photo the pH is not as high as 7, perhaps you could lay the tube beside the colour rows which might make it clearer to see?

The GH is very low, 35.8 ppm equates to 2 dH. Same holds for the KH. You are in New York and we have previously had several members from there with soft water, so this is no surprise. If you let a glass of tap water sit overnight, does the pH change? I still think it is acidic, the colour looks more yellow than the 7.6 orange.

To the ramifications for the fish...the livebearers are not going to do well in very soft water; they need the GH up around 10 dH (180 ppm). The cories and rasboras will be fine in this very soft water, thriving. The shrimp may need harder water, depending upon the species, and I will defer to advice from members familiar with shrimp.

I personally would not mess with parameter adjusting. It makes your life much easier with water changes, and there are so many soft water fish species. As you have some now, they will do better in the present water. I have very soft water, around 7 ppm, less than half of 1 degree; my fish room was full of tanks of plants and fish. I messed with dolomite in the filter to increase the pH from the tap water of 5 or lower to 6.4 in one tank, but after a few years I didn't bother. I had tanks with water very similar to the Rio Negro and the fish thrived.

Thank you for your response. I use the High PH test bc when I use the normal PH it’s always bright blue, which is 7.8, if that makes any sense? The PH color isn’t yellow but more of a tannish brown— I think it’s from the lighting.

I will do an overnight PH test— thank you

 

[MaisyMoose]

The GH and KH I assume are in ppm not dH. From the photo the pH is not as high as 7, perhaps you could lay the tube beside the colour rows which might make it clearer to see?

The GH is very low, 35.8 ppm equates to 2 dH. Same holds for the KH. You are in New York and we have previously had several members from there with soft water, so this is no surprise. If you let a glass of tap water sit overnight, does the pH change? I still think it is acidic, the colour looks more yellow than the 7.6 orange.

To the ramifications for the fish...the livebearers are not going to do well in very soft water; they need the GH up around 10 dH (180 ppm). The cories and rasboras will be fine in this very soft water, thriving. The shrimp may need harder water, depending upon the species, and I will defer to advice from members familiar with shrimp.

I personally would not mess with parameter adjusting. It makes your life much easier with water changes, and there are so many soft water fish species. As you have some now, they will do better in the present water. I have very soft water, around 7 ppm, less than half of 1 degree; my fish room was full of tanks of plants and fish. I messed with dolomite in the filter to increase the pH from the tap water of 5 or lower to 6.4 in one tank, but after a few years I didn't bother. I had tanks with water very similar to the Rio Negro and the fish thrived.

I’ve kept Platys for about 3 months now and have lots of healthy fry. No issues whatsoever ever. I also do weekly water changes— sometime 2x a week.

So should I not add crushed coral to increase KH and GH?

 

[MaisyMoose]

So the first picture is just normal pH
Second shot is high range pH

What does this mean for my pH?
Sorry, I’m new to this…

 

[Essjay]

The second photo - high range pH - shows the lowest colour on the chart, 7.4. This means that the pH is exactly 7.4 or anything lower, as it can't read any value below 7.4.

The first photo - normal range pH - looks to be somewhere between 6.0 and 6.4 on my laptop screen. As this is between two colours on the chart, and is at the lower end of the range, this one is more accurate, and the high range pH reads 7.4 only because that's the lowest colour on the chart.


Are these tests on freshly run tap water or a glass of water that's been allowed to stand overnight? Ideally you need to test both as tap water often has things added to change the pH, things which gas out on standing.

 

[MaisyMoose]

These two tests were from my tank—

 

[Essjay]

Ah, in that case, your pH is somewhere around 6.0 to 6.4 if my laptop screen is accurate. It is definitely not blue with the normal range tester so it's well below the range of the high range tester so the high rage can only show the lowest colour on the chart.

 

[MaisyMoose]

Okay— thanks. So what can I do to raise the pH for my livebearing fish? Ugh, that totally makes sense — I was under the impression to test in the high range pH for livebearing—

 

[MaisyMoose]

Okay— thanks. So what can I do to raise the pH for my livebearing fish? Ugh, that totally makes sense — I was under the impression to test in the high range pH for livebearing—

I will say that when I first started testing for pH from my tank it was showing the bright blue under normal pH. So something has really changed the balance.

 

[MaisyMoose]

This was from August 2 of this year—

 

[Essjay]

It does sound as though something has changed the pH of the tank water.

Could you test some freshly run tap water with both testers, then leave a glass of water to stand overnight and test that next day with both testers. That will give a baseline to work with.

Then can you tell us about your tank, please. So that we have all the data together in one place -
How big is the tank, volume and dimensions.
What species of fish and how many of each.
Nitrate level in the tank water and your tap water (so we know how much comes from the tap water and how much is being made in the tank)
How often do you do water changes.
How much water do you change each time.
Do you have live plants - what type.


Do we know how hard your tap water is? If you are on mains water, does your water provider's website list your hardness and alkalinity (that's what water providers call KH)?


The photo from a month or so ago shows your pH at around 7.4. It's still at the lowest colour on the high range so no higher than that.
Usually, things like decor or substrate raise pH not lower it as limestone rock or crushed coral decor/substrate increase both hardness and pH. Few things lower pH, maybe almond leaves or peat if the water is fairly soft to start with. But when the water is soft, if insufficient water changes are done, or the tank is very overstocked, the acids produced in the tank can use up all the KH and allow the pH to drop.
That's the reason for all the questions, to help us work out what's going on.

 

[Byron]

@Essjay explained this very well. The same reasoning applies to your earlier test mentioned in post #13.

You have very soft water, GH is 2 dH according to previous posts, and KH is similar, and normally the pH would be acidic. The lowering is not unexpected, or abnormal. This is why one must always know the source water parameters, and then work out what is likely going to occur, and monitor things over a few weeks. The accumulation of organics from feeding fish, etc will produce CO2 as they are broken down by bacteria, and the CO2 produces carbonic acid which lowers the pH. All this is perfectly normal.

You have very sofyt water so you should always use the average pH test, not the high pH test which will not be accurate as essjay explained. And she and I am seeing the same colours here.

Answer her questions in post #14, and we can go from there. As for raising the GH/KH/pH, this is more involved that just using crushed coral. And it will negatively affect the cories and rasboras. I realize the platies may appear "OK" now, but I can assure you they are not OK. Fish will do everything they can to reproduce, whatever the circumstances, because that is the primary reason for their existence, programmed into their genetics--reproduce to maintain the species. Conditions in the tank may be opposite to what they need, but they will struggle to manage until the end.