Search results for query: *

Would likely be a huge jump in hardness from most tap water, so may be best to mix it in gradually.

Very hard here ;)

As Andy says, it would probably be worth filtering first to make sure but I never did. Mine came down slate tiles and guttering. Oddly enough, since I've "cleaned" the gutters, I've had manky water!!

My only successful planted tanks used rainwater. I can't grow stuff in tap to save my life :/ Depends on where you live though. For example if pesticides/ferts get in the water, or if there's anything nasty on your roof/guttering etc.

From testing several NH3 kits against known concentrations in college, we didn't find an accurate off-the-shelf one, with Tetra being the least accurate iirc. Also, if you look at the colour charts - Do any of them actually test down to the supposed lethal levels of NH3 (0.02mg/l), let alone be...

I dechlorinate mine when I remember too :P

Any symptoms? Are the other fish behaving normally? What fish died, and what's left? Is there any aeration? Are you injecting CO2?

Cheers Clive :)

I know many people don't use a dechlorinator now, but I just wanted to find out what chlorine would actually do to plants?

Bottled water is probably pretty hard too.

It's a very expensive way of doing not a lot. Why would you want to use it?

I had this in my tank when I used a dropchecker (one of the reasons I got rid of it), and I have very hard water.

If I were you I would stop dosing the ammonia, wait for the NH3 and NO2 readings to hit 0, do a 50% water change and start stocking the tank. If you add a few small fish at a time (say 10-20 tetras) into a 240 liter, it will have very little impact on the biofiltration and you can build it up...

Yeah, the pH will bounce up again on a water change. You'd probably be better off maintaining the stable pH8.

No, don't worry about any buffers. Just a dechlorinator if you use one. It might cause some fluctuation but I wouldn't worry about it.

I would just use tapwater, it's so much cheaper and you don't need to aim for pH6.5. Amazonia will bring the pH down anyway, but your chosen fish won't really care Tom

NO3 will be in the Aquasoil as a nutrient. Nutrients themselves won't 'cause' algae, provided you have a good balance between light, CO2 and nutrients and light should be the limiting factor.

OK, so you would expect high ammonia, but then the question is why the NO3 before NO2? It's just a thought, but would the Nitrate from the Aquasoil also leech into the water, causing a NO3 reading on the test kit? It would be my guess that it's not the cycle that's causing the NO3 but the...

How long has it been running?

Isn't alkalinity completely separate from pH? Yes pH measures acid and alkaline values, but I thought Alkalinity was the buffering capacity of water. This is what KH test kits measure, not Carbonate Hardness.

I know a few people on here (myself included) don't bother with dechlorinator any more. If you get one, you won't need it to "detoxify ammonia". All that does is bind it, not remove it, so it is still there. You shouldn't have any anyway, so it'll be a bit redundant. It may or may not be useful...

I've done a water change on the 10 liter with 50/50 hosepipe/rainwater and heated to room temp. I swapped out the 1/2 liter of water in my Mini M with the same too. Our house backs onto a field which does get sprayed occasionally, but the tank itself is covered so shouldn't affect much.

Thanks Darrel, I really hope the water is the problem as it would give an answer so many headaches!! I know my Cherry Shrimp certainly struggled when I first got them this time round and haven't reproduced, whereas in the old tanks I had them coming out my ears (and somehow down the stairs on...

Because all the taps in the house are "softened" with the salt tablets. The problem is not that the water is very hard, I'm guessing that it's because of high the amount of Na, and now lack of Mg and Ca. But it's still only a theory. I reckon there will be enough. I've got about 400 liters of...

Yes I think that's pretty much what it does. I was thinking more in terms of plants not appreciating salt water! Cheers. I can only try it and see if things go better. Just looking on James' planted tank site at the deficiencies. Magnesium and Calcium both say distorted leaf growth and...

I think that's what I'm going to try then, as it's worked fine before. Do you think it could be affecting anything though? It does taste nasty/salty to drink.

We've only got the outside tap that's not softened, but I might as well use rain water if I do that. Other than that, it's the britta filter, and I'll get shot for using that!

Bad for plants? I was just wondering. In all my successful tanks I have used rain water. In all my less successful tanks I have used "softened" tap water. I know it isn't properly softened as in lower GH, so is it possible that the Sodium or whatever those salt tablets are can be harmful to...

I wouldn't worry about it - we have a similar system. Just tastes nasty, that's all.

Re: High PH, tried everything If anything, removing the debris would increase pH rather than decrease it. In a round about way, rotting stuff creates nitric acid which has the potential to lower the pH, to an extent depending on the KH/Alkalinity/Buffering Capacity of the water (which will be...

If you have lots of Nitrate your cycle must be working. In that case I would then do maybe a water change to remove some of the NO3, and wait for the NH3 to disappear. If you are worried by the lack of NO2 you can see, take a water sample to a local fish shop and they should be able to test it...

I would imagine your nitrite spike is yet to come. What kit are you using? If you are adding that much ammonia, you should definitely either be seeing a huge rise in NH3 (if bacteria are underdeveloped) or NO2. I would leave it to sit for a while without adding anything and just keep testing...

This is true :thumbup:

And I thought I could trust an AquaJournal!! :x They're no different to most businesses really I suppose - they need to make money on anything and everything they can! My lecturer at Sparsholt was right when he said Bull**** Baffles Brains! :lol: Cheers again for another good explanation :)...

Yes it has been a while, but I think I'm back for the time being :) OK then, no wonder I couldn't find much info!! :roll: Well I've bought that ADA sand anyway so I'll just swap out the visible parts and leave the stems in place at the back rather than disturb the whole layout. Obviously...

I have just ordered some Branco sand from TGM which has worked out ridiculously expensive on postage, so not happy about that. AquaEssentials seem to do the same weight for almost half the price. Would still be interested to know more about the sand I have currently now though Tom

I've just realised why my pH has been a bit high. I used some nice 1-2mm light coloured gravel that I had lying around for my latest nano, thinking that it was just an inert gravel. It looked nothing like normal coral sand as it was very smooth, and the Unipac bags don't seem to have any names...

Does zeolite not collect and bind ammonia? Until it is "full", it will not work as bio media, and in a new tank it would be a setback to have zeolite while it is still cycling. It will just lower the amount of ammonia that is available to the filter, and prolong the cycle. Tom

just wait for it all to go away before you change the water, then do say a 50% before you plan on introducing fish, then start regular changes from then onwards :)

dont do any water changes to a new tank until you see no more ammonia or nitrite, as you will just prolong the cycle :)

If you have no livestock I would remove the zeolite asap and wait with no water changes. The filter will deal with any ammonia and nitrite you have left. Once you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, do a small water change to lower the nitrates slightly and you are ready to stock with a few fish...

I wouldn't worry about forcing your water to turn soft, as once you start, you'll spend a lifetime and a lot of money trying to do it! Not everyone would advise it, but I use rainwater. It's perfect as far as I can see, and has a pH of 6.4 ish and 0 detectable hardness. The only problem is if...

Meee! pH 6.4, KH 0, GH 0, I find it great with a tiny bit of my tapwater. Watch out in built up areas though, it can contain nasty stuff from pollutants.