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  1. tam

    Remineralising RO water with waste water

    If it's a 27l tank, I'd be tempted just to go with a gh/kh remineraliser - a pot is going to last you a pretty long time.
  2. tam

    Thoughts on EC meters

    I've used D-D ones for years, no issues, batteries last for ages and seem to stay reliable, cost about £20.
  3. tam

    Rotten rainwater

    Same here, went to grab some this afternoon to top up and it stinks. The heavy rain last week washed a lot of debris off the roof and I'm guessing that plus the hot weather is the culpret. I've emptied it on to the garden and given it a rinse. Was meant to rain this afternoon so was hoping it...
  4. tam

    Spotless water...help me understand

    Yes, you can just mix it with your tap, which is the simplest option. It will lower your gh by the proportion of tap you mix, so if you use 40% tap your GH will by 40% of the orginal to give you 7.9. In otherwords, mix 4 litres of tap with 6 litres of spotless water to get 10l of water at your...
  5. tam

    Rainwater storage - bit chilly this week!

    Anyone else had logistical issues with their rainwater supply this week? I did eventually manage to aquire some, but it was a bit chunkier than usual. If you are bringing rainwater inside for temporary storage, do you do anything with it? I think of it as a bit more 'live' than RO, I'm...
  6. tam

    How to adjust GH when topping off? I'm confused!

    You can guess what your water is currently made up of and add the corrisponding amount of saltshrimp to bring it to your required level (I'd suggest doing that gradually) the same way you'd remineralise. However, long term you'd probably be better doing a small water change now and then. We put...
  7. tam

    RO or Tap Water

    Anubias is usually very tough! Where did you source your plants from?
  8. tam

    Water report

    Adding an airline usually helps with hot weather/water. Mines been running about 29 with no issues with amano/cherry shrimp but I run air in when it's hot.
  9. tam

    High ammonia on established tank

    Once a week should be enough to keep things stable, it's usually a problem if it's months without. Your water report might tell you the base line for things like hardness. Another thing that might be worth doing is popping a water sample into your local fish shop - a lot will test for you and...
  10. tam

    High ammonia on established tank

    What's your KH? The nitrogen cycle uses up KH, if it runs out you can end up with a low ph and stops the cycle - usually it happens in old tanks without a lot of water changes. Is your water soft?
  11. tam

    High ammonia on established tank

    Test your source water too just to make sure it's not a false reading/problem there.
  12. tam

    RO or Tap Water

    Tap! Your tap water is soft to start with so not really a lot of benefit to RO.
  13. tam

    Strange water parameters after switching from rainwater to RO

    Is that existing substrate taken out of your tank or new out of a bag? I'd expect it to produce less after its been in a tank awhile. Also, are you dechlorinating still - you don't know what's coming through your RO if you are getting high tds?
  14. tam

    Strange water parameters after switching from rainwater to RO

    RO water should really be <10 - ideally pretty close to 0. It might be your filters need changing. The rain could have some hardness in it (rain isn't necessarily zero everything), so rain isn't necessarily the same as RO. How accurate is your mixing 20% tap would give you 2.4gh - which I think...
  15. tam

    Rain water questions

    Tested mine for you, the TDS was 48. Higher than I'd have guessed but I did just connect it and it's just got a downpipe straight off the main roof and has filled mostly from one down pour a month ago and a bit of drizzle so it's probably not very dilute. I think when I collected buckets mid...
  16. tam

    Rain water questions

    1. How much rainwater can I collect per week? Depends how big the roof you are collecting off, I can fill a 20l bucket in <20 minutes of heavy rain. There may be rain fall records for your area if you want to get technical 2. how would one go about getting rainwater to collect, off the roof I...
  17. tam

    Water conditioners

    Pick whichever is cheaper in your country/local shop (making sure to work it out by litres treated rather than price per bottle) - all the big brands are going to do the same job.
  18. tam

    Acceptable level of Nitrate non planted community.

    What's the water you are putting in? If you are using tap that is 40ppm to start then I'd say you are doing well. If your input is 0ppm then you could increase water changes a bit to bring it down.
  19. tam

    Rainwater confussion

    You can get pumps for the cans, might be called caravan pumps or similar. They are small cylinder shaped. Or use lidded buckets instead of the can. I use too hot tap water to sort the temperature. Same as you cut the tap with rain to lower the TDS, start with the tap too hot so when you cut it...
  20. tam

    Water changes bad for beneficial bacteria

    Does it matter? Either you are removing it through water changes or bacteria via the nitrogen cycle. As long as it's not there, who cares. If there is ever enough inbetween changes to support bacteria it will develop, and if there isn't it's not needed anyway.
  21. tam

    What Remineralising parameters do you aim for ? or Products do you use?

    Off the shelf that do gh and kh... Tropic Re-Min Tropical Salty Shrimp GH/KH Shrimp King gh/kh There are a few variations on shrimp ones, both the above do the gh and kh, rather than the more specialist shrimp varieties.
  22. tam

    Swap from RO to tap & rain

    That was might first thought, but the maths didn't seem to add up. The Saltyshrimp says 300µS = 6gh, which I work out as 190TDS (dividing by 1.56) so my 220TDS should be about 7GH. I think the tap is about 315TDS, so if I dilute to 220 that's about 12.3GH... which is quite a bit harder. Maybe...
  23. tam

    Swap from RO to tap & rain

    I'm moving and logistically it would be easier to swap from remineralised RO to tap+rainwater, I think. I currently use RO remineralised with Salty Shrimp GH/KH to about 220 TDS. The tap water report is: 311 mg/l (or parts per million) :Calcium Carbonate 124.4 mg/l (or parts per...
  24. tam

    Old tank syndrome

    Yes, cloudy eyes - which can be associated with poor water quality. I think plant growth is very helpful for stabilising things, logically it gives somewhere for the 'stuff' building up in the water to go, whether that's locked in the plant material, or in plant material that's then removed...
  25. tam

    Old tank syndrome

    Fish didn't die, but my parents had a tank that pH crashed (kept dropping to around 5 if I remember right -measured with a pen) due to kh depletion - high nitrates and no kh. Would return to normal with buffer. It had been a bit neglected and gone from plants to no plants due to a planting...
  26. tam

    Tap water or Rain water??

    Timely question, I'm just thinking of swapping from RO+remineraliser to rain+very hard tap. Checked the new water butt and it has a TDS of 25. Might need to flush it through a bit though as it is an ex whisky barrel :D ... and it needs a tap adding. We used to use rain when I was a kid and had...
  27. tam

    Are rainbow pebbles safe?

    It says 'Suitable for use on water features' in the product description so I would imagine they'd be fine.
  28. tam

    Hard Water

    You don't need to test hardness regularly as if you are using the same source water it shouldn't fluctuate much. However you should have some idea of what the hardness is - if you are using tap your water company should have a report.
  29. tam

    Help understanding TDS pen readings

    A container of water will also gradually increase in TDS due to evaporation - the water reduces leaving the TDS more concentrated. Doubt that would account for the full increase but it would contribute to it.
  30. tam

    Help understanding TDS pen readings

    So the tank changed from 457 to 527 whilst you were mixing water in a bucket and you didn't add anything to the tank in that time? I'd blame the pen, if your testing the same water without doing anything to it and getting massive differences something is off.
  31. tam

    How achievable is a Nitrate environment?

    If you have the the right balance of plants to use up the ammonia before it's converted to nitrate, and you only add in as much additional nitrate via ferts as your plants use up (or don't add any and just provide everything else they need to uptake the ammonia)... then you could do it. Most...
  32. tam

    Are nitrates bad in planted aquariums?

    I'd only worry if it was steadily increasing - that would imply that you are producing more than your plants/water changes are able to cope with and at some point you'll run into an issue. If it stays steady where it is and everything looks good, don't worry too much.
  33. tam

    Remineralsing RO Water

    I haven't actually seen Dennerle Osmoze Remineralise+ for sale in the UK - so unless you have a stockist cross that off your list. Seachem Equilibrium or Saltshrimp GH/KH would do the job. I would follow the instructions on the pack and remineralise to GH6/7 - cherry shrimp can very adaptable...
  34. tam

    Remineralsing RO Water

    Do you not have a drinking water tap that doesn't go through the softener? I know the other tap in our house that doesn't is the cold water in the kitchen. What you re-mineralise to depends on what parameters the things you want to keep in it like. There are Crystal shrimp specific options you...
  35. tam

    7.6 ph

    I'm low tech, fairly low stocked and top up with RO so I water change about 20% every 10-14 days and things seem to stay even. Higher stocking, high tech etc. people tend to favour 50% a week. Depends who you ask what recommendation you get on duration/percentage :) If you look at your local...
  36. tam

    7.6 ph

    I'd ignore ph, but check/give some consideration to hardness. I think fish that like very soft or very hard water are much more likely to be less happy in the opposite - although many fish are flexible. My remineralised RO tank water is always somewhere around PH7.8-8.4 but it's GH6, where as...
  37. tam

    RO water or TAP water in a planted tank

    Unless you have a specific problem that RO will fix then stick with tap :)
  38. tam

    TDS keeps raising

    Be careful changing with pure RO without remineralising. Although it makes your TDS appear to lower/stay more under control, the stuff that is making up your TDS might be changing dramatically. Potentially, as an extreme example, depending what is being added from other sources, you could end up...
  39. tam

    weird water parameters (apparently)

    Weird in what way? Can't see anything wrong.
  40. tam

    Sos im at a loss

    Hmmm, I'd be tempted to take a water sample in to your LFS they'll often do a free test if you lost livestock. Plants can use it all up but usually you need an established tank with lots of fast growing plants and not to be adding more in via fertiliser. I take it you are using decholorinator...
  41. tam

    Sos im at a loss

    Your nitrate shouldn't be at 0 if your tank is cycled. Are you sure you test kit is still good - make sure you really shake the bottle of reagent well. Plants can be treated against snails which will effect shrimp if not rinsed, usually more a problem with bunched plants/cheap imports - the...
  42. tam

    Sos im at a loss

    What have you done to cycle the tank? A few plants, particularly if they are slow growers won't be able to cope with the waste. Have you done a fishless cycle/added established media to build up the necessary bacteria (running an empty tank won't do this)? Have you tested for...
  43. tam

    How to control TDS creep?

    Doing 50% changes it should settle about 3 changes in and remain steady but higher than the source water, if you are dosing/changing the same each week. You can do the maths to work out what that equilibrium point will be using TDS of source water, tank volumn and TDS increase after dosing...
  44. tam

    Is my tap water ok.

    For cherry shrimp, I think GH 6 (6dGH) is usually the recommended minimum so you are right on the borderline. Darrel's suggestions are all good. If you google shrimp moulting problems you should find some photos that will help you know what to look out for.
  45. tam

    Is my tap water ok.

    They get what looks like a split across their backs ready to moult but aren't able to complete it and pass away.
  46. tam

    Is my tap water ok.

    The fish will be happy with those. Just keep an eye on the shrimp, any moulting issues and they might benefit from a GH booster. It's good water to have as starting soft it's much easier to add more 'stuff' in if you want it, rather than having hardwater and taking stuff out.
  47. tam

    New tank parameters?

    Tropica do 'substrate' which you cape with gravel or 'soil' which doesn't need capping. Either would work. Planted tanks don't cycle the same way as fish only ones as the plants use up ammonia. So most people give it a few weeks for everything to settle in and then stock (which you can do...
  48. tam

    Still very confused about KH and active substrates

    The TDS will be higher than the tap when you add a lot of ferts, but if you do 50% water changes weekly it should stabilise so the amount it raises over the week is reset by the water change. You dont need to adjust your refill waters TDS to do that, although it will work better if you do any...
  49. tam

    Sodium and plants

    I'm sure I've seen it specifically stated that Re-min Tropic doesn't contain NaCl. I know it's popular with discus keepers. My plants seem to grow fine with it, but in fairness they are the more easy/hardy types.
  50. tam

    Practicalities of RO

    Have you considered rain water?
  51. tam

    Mixing Water

    I've never used just Deionised, but I would guess safe to drink = safe for tank. A TDS pen is handy when playing with diluted water as it's easier to track than small GH changes. You can pick them up for <£10. The KH will drop in the same portion as GH, you can add them back in separately if...
  52. tam

    Marine Care basics (I know - wrong forum!)

    Marines tend to water change less/less frequently, so don't feel you need to rush. Once you've seen the equipment - what's in the tank and what's kept in the cupboard for maintenance you'll be able to work out more easily what the routine is.
  53. tam

    Mixing Water

    Yes, it will drop proportionately with the amount you mix so 5-1 with give you a GH of 10 or 9-1 a 10% drop. No need to remineralise too - you are using tap as the remineraliser. Also worth double checking your tap and tank are the same and nothing in the tank is upping it. I'd remove the 10%...
  54. tam

    New to Reverse Osmosis

    Look at your local water report and decide what values you want - then cut accordingly. You basically end up with zero in the RO so it's easy to work out. If the tap water is 20GH and you want 6GH then 30% tap is perfect. There is a mix your own remineraliser recipe around somewhere as another...
  55. tam

    Tannins a Deco

    I was always under the impression you had to be careful with decorative stuff as they may be treated with pesticides and anti-fugal/mould stuff?
  56. tam

    Are partly rotten autumn leaves are safe ?

    They'll rot quickly if they are already partially decomposed. You can buy batches pretty cheaply on ebay aimed at reptile/vivariums.
  57. tam

    How to find out GH and TDS

    You need a TDS pen to test the TDS, but you don't necessarily need to. Is there a reason you wanted to know it? TDS is everything in the water so not just GH - not sure if you can add them to get a minimum - someone else will know!? That's on the soft side, but not super soft. Should be fine...
  58. tam

    Ammonia Spike

    You could test your tap, add some dechlorinator to the tap water and then retest - that would tell you if it was a false positive from the tap/dechlorinator interaction.
  59. tam

    Ammonia Spike

    I sort of recall something about Chloramine in the tap + dechlorinator can add up to a false positive on an ammonia test, that's actually ammonium or ammonia locked up in some way that it's not an actual issue. Don't take that as 100% though.
  60. tam

    Accurate testing kits recommendation.

    I would imagine you'll find your TDS swings to match as GH is part of what it measures. So if you mixed to a fixed TDS you'll find the portion of tap and RO changes but the TDS and GH will stay more stable. If you are mixing 50/50 that would mean a change between 6 and 3. So worse case, if...
  61. tam

    Accurate testing kits recommendation.

    You don't even need to check it, just test the TDS of your tap water and do the same maths. So if you need 50/50 to get the right dKH then you'll just need to halve the tap's TDS too and mix to match that. I'd mix to the % of the dKH you want for what you are keeping in the tank rather than...
  62. tam

    Water company results

    Mine is 18.3, the legal limit on drinking water is 50. A maximum of 20-40ppm tends to be the most quoted for fish - lower for very sensitive ones and some shrimp. It's not worried about as much in a planted tank - some is good for plants so it often gets topped up as fertiliser. Higher tap...
  63. tam

    Water company results

    I use TMC Tropic Remin which gives about GH7 KH4 if you start with RO and follow the directions. Salty Shrimp do one each aimed at Crystal (GH+) and cherry (GH/KH+) shrimp. Seachem do one too - again generally seem well reviewed Equilibrium (raises GH) and they have other buffers you can pair...
  64. tam

    Water company results

    I think so - it's soft to start with so you can make it pretty much what you want, much easier than making hard water soft where you have to take stuff away. Don't worry about the traces of other odds and ends that's normal. It's nice your nitrates are low too - it means it's easier to keep them...
  65. tam

    Water company results

    Wanna swap water? I have 22.1 degrees clark! What do you want to have in the tank?
  66. tam

    Accurate testing kits recommendation.

    Most of the liquid kits will give you a good enough reading to know roughly what your water is and unless you are keeping something super fussy/sensitive that's probably all you need for working out ratios. Asking in your local fish shop is another cheap option, they probably have a good idea...
  67. tam

    Accurate testing kits recommendation.

    Have a look at your water companies report as a starting place - that will give you a rough idea of those.
  68. tam

    Declorinators in planted tanks

    So having high CO2 or overdosing excel, maybe throwing in a hot day, at the same time as you overdose dechlorinator won't be enough to cause an issue with oxygen?
  69. tam

    Declorinators in planted tanks

    Dechlorinators can reduce the amount of oxygen available in water. So if you are using a lot of CO2 or use a high dose of dechlorinator (some instructions allow for situations where you might want to increase the standard dose) that might be something to keep in mind just so you can factor it in.
  70. tam

    New tank setup - remineralizing RO water

    I think equilibrium only adds GH, you'll need something else to add KH.
  71. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    I've not tried it, but just watch them carefully whilst you do it - they might be a bit of a fire risk!
  72. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    Generally, if they come off green they will go black-brown as they rot or keep the greenish hue if they dry, only the autumn already dead leaves achieve that nice thin crisp texture and light brown colour - I used to collect a lot of green leaves to dry for winter forage for my pet rabbit where...
  73. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    Thanks, that makes sense, and I presume the tree leaves are ok because the not so good stuff is reabsorbed by the tree before dropping the old leaves in autumn?
  74. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    Whilst on the topic, I've been wondering - what's the difference between dissolved organic compounds you get naturally in a tank (that are one of the reasons quoted for doing water changes) and the ones you get deliberately from adding things like captappa leaves?
  75. tam

    Floating particles in water

    This is a skimmer inlet: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eheim-7738-Surface-Skimmer/dp/B0002AQY76
  76. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    I've started experimenting with that for one of our bigger tanks - our tap water is GH19.
  77. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    I find a TDS pen quite handy for mixing, once you get the water to water you want (full dose of Tropic Re-Min gives you around 7GH 4KH so you probably want a bit under) then you can measure the TDS instantly with the pen and mix to that rather than having to test/estimate how much to put it.
  78. tam

    Confused on KH GH etc and keeping Chocolates

    Are adding ammonia to cycle? Adding mature filter medium is great, but the bacteria need food to survive so either fish waste (as you've added fish) or some other source of ammonia in the mean time. Be worth checking the rainwater before you add to see what that reads too. It's my...
  79. tam

    Falling PH

    It's normal for new wood to get fuzzy/goopy/mouldy looking bits on in the first few weeks - it goes away in time or you can manually remove it. It doesn't cause any harm. Obviously don't add Oto's to an uncycled tank. Wood an substrate can all effect ph as they leech stuff into the water. You...
  80. tam

    What TDS should I aim for?

    I don't know anything about snails, but if you've got calcium then I'd guess the issue would be they are missing something else trace wise they need to build their shell - like plants having plenty of one thing but be limited by something else missing. You'd have to read up on what snail need -...
  81. tam

    Reverse Osmosis Water - Relation to TDS??

    Remineralising puts back in stuff taken out by RO, how high the TDS is depends how much stuff you put back in. If that TDS is too high for you then put less mineralising powder in. It depends on the brand how much they up the TDS. If your tap water is only 125 TDS that's pretty low anyway...
  82. tam

    Reverse Osmosis Water - Relation to TDS??

    Not sure what your previous filter stripped out, but tap water usually has nitrates and the calcium/magnesium etc. that make up hardness, which plants need some off and RO removes -so striping it right back might effect algae/plants. I've had algae grow in RO storage containers. I don't know...
  83. tam

    Reverse Osmosis Water - Relation to TDS??

    I agree Steve's don't add up, both measurements seem a bit off, because a drop from 250 to 150 when changing 100l implies a 40% change which should mean you had about 225l total volume which seems a bit low. A drop from 150 to 125 implies a 20% ish change which gives a 500l volume. Neither is...
  84. tam

    Reverse Osmosis Water - Relation to TDS??

    So just after water change you've got 50% of TDS 250 water and 50% of TDS 80 water so you'll end up half way between -TDS165. I don't know how much an EI dose adds, you'd have to check before and after adding (give it a bit of time to circulate).
  85. tam

    Reverse Osmosis Water - Relation to TDS??

    How many litres is the tank? I'm guessing 100l is about 40% - which would give you a drop from 250 to 150. Another 100l should have given you about 90 - not sure why you got 125 instead - either you read something wrong, something upped it or you changed less water - did you check the second...
  86. tam

    Is Adding Liquid Fertaliser a Waste of Time?

    In a low tech tank you might well be able to do find without adding any liquid ferts. It depends on a lot of other factors. I would be cautious about using any ferts designed for a lawn, particularly if you've got fish or inverts in with the plants.
  87. tam

    Acceptable RO water at LFS?

    RO water should be <10 more than that and the filter might need swapping. 120 seems very high - are they re mineralizing it? Give the shop a call and query it. As long as you only use the container for RO, it doesn't leach anything and it has a lid on then it shouldn't go up.
  88. tam

    Bacteria film on top

    I don't know if it helps, but I find I get it for a day or so after I put shrimp food in. I guess perhaps it's higher protein or has a different ingredient that contributes to it. Might be worth experimenting with foods or holding off for a couple of days and see if that makes a difference.
  89. tam

    How bad is a higher temperature

    My heater malfunctioned just after I'd planted my tank a couple of years ago and the tank went up to 100f (37oC) only for a day but it didn't seem to have any effect - though obviously not an indication of how they might cope longer term. (Luckily it was before I added the fish who'd probably...
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