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Hello all, i have a few questions.
1-Baking soda. Is this what they use as the primary substance in pH upers? Does this raise pH. I know it is supposed to raise KH which i assume would be very good for the plants. I havent tested my KH in a while, i guess i will tonight.
2-Last saturday, i changed my gravel to Flourite. The thick red cloud cleared up within a day(yeah, that fast). The tank has had this slight dusty/milky tinge to the water which has been disappearing slowly but surely. What is this? I think everything is alright since the ammonia and nitrite have been zero since. I think having a Bio-wheel and adding Biozyme to the water really helped. I also kept all of the old water and filter media.
3-Nitrates- Before the gravel change, Nitrates and Phosphates were at 10ppm(PO4 is being fixed, i promise). Currently, Nitrates are 20 ppm and Phosphates are at 5ppm. What is the meaning of this?
-By the way, all fish survied and are still healthy from the change.

Mmmm, good questions!

1. Baking soda may slightly increase pH but it will definitely increase KH. In general, the plants could care less. KH is important as it "buffers" the water against potential downward swings in pH that are bad for anything in your tank. See: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hardness.htm

2. Seachem's Fluorite is clay-based, nutrient rich substrate. It's great for plants but it can drive an aquarium keeper crazy because the fine clay particles can cloud your water for a very long time. In addition, to the very fine clay particles in suspension in your water, the same very fine clay particles will coat the inside of the aquarium glass and your decor and your plants. The new substrate has nothing to do with your ammonia and nitrite readings, your readings are normal for a freshly filled aquarium. Keep taking readings and keep your fish load low for at least a week or two until the readings are consistently at zero.

3. Nitrates increased from levels before the gravel change while phosphates fell. It could mean that the gravel change reduced your phosphates but increased your nitrates. I think that your phosphates dropped because you removed the stinky old gravel and that the bacteria activity in your old water and filter continued to generate nitrates.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

clownloachfan,

I have a small addition to what Bob already mentioned:

About Baking Soda and KH. I have not experienced a rise in ph from baking soda. I use it to buffer my KH (as already stated by Bob) for the purpose of being able to "store" more CO2 in the water without crashing my ph (or at least have it fall below levels that my fish like). I have a very low (about 1dH or 17 ppm) tab KH and need the addtional buffer to achieve my CO2 levels (for the planted tank).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the replies. I will have to tell my dad about the baking soda, he always told me it rose pH. I measured my kh and it was 2 dkh which converts to 35.8ppm(i think you are supposed to multiply the dkh by 17.9). Should i add baking soda? I never have a problem with the pH going acidic but the other way: alkaline. This was only before i started using Prime to dechlorinate. I have no problems with it now.

Let's see, new tank, no injected CO2, no indicators that pH is declining... no need to add baking soda to buffer KH!

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Right on Bob

Same thought, no need to do anything about the KH.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Oh, just to clear something up, this is not a new tank. It has been set up for over a year and i hated the substrate i had before so i replaced it. The fish have all been in since the change. To this day, the fish are healthy, the murkiness has cleared up totally and no nitrites/ammonia. It has been 9 days since the change. I did a water change on saturday just because it had been 2 weeks(I had let the water sit in the tank for 1 week before the substrate change to build up, hopefully, more beneficial bacteria. After i changed the gravel, i added biozyme. A week later, i did a water change{this past saturday} and added biozyme again). Just wanted to clear up the 2 weeks thing so people do not get on me about water changes. I normally do one every 5-10 days. Usually once a week(7days).

Sorry, Clowny. Replacing the substrate is the same as a new tank set-up to me since the substrate carries a good chunk of the bio-load. You can avoid the cycle by using seeded filters, enzymes, bacteria and old tank water but I knew that you knew that from your 1st post.

Keep an eye out for diatomaceous algae, the brown sludgy stuff. New tanks always get some because of the silica leaching from the substrate.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I have a very hard time keeping my pH and hardness stable, what would be a good way to keep them from jumping around? I want my pH around 6.5 and my hardness at a fairly soft level. I can't use any phosphate buffers though, and I live in a town where I can't find pH buffers.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Hi,
If you cannot find pH buffers in an LFS, any place that
sells swimming pool supplies will carry them.
Frank


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