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Thanks guys...
Just wanted to let you know my tank has recycled & all fish present & accounted for. Hey, I've got bacteria again!
I promise to be a lot dirtier from now on...Seriously tho I appreciate all your help & congrats LHG on your MVM award,very much deserved. I am sure I speak for all us small fry & fingerlings that we also appreciate the time & effort that you both put into your responses & the patience that you show when we make the same mistakes over & over again.
I do have one question...When I originally got my water tested at my LFS (about mid Jan ) they said my kH wasn't high enough(1 at the time) & said it should be around 5. They suggested adding some shell grit which I did,it is now reading 3. Should I continue to try & increase the level? My ph throughout has been pretty stable at 7.2

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

Thats excellent news, well done on getting it sorted. Shell grit will keep on hiking the kh over time, it dissolves in the water according to temperature, motion and osmotic principles, so in theory the reaction you already have in regard to kh is telling me that theres plently in there already. I wouldnt try to increase the hardness more by adding any more grit, it will probably keep rising gradually for a little while yet, and that is as it should be. Keep monitoring for this month and see how the readings go before deciding to add any more. Get yourself a long term comparative , so you know how potent your grit is and how fast the water uptakes the calcites before adding any more.

Good work fella, hopefully things will be more stable now.


BTW its always a pleasure and never a problem. Youre most welcome.

congrats LHG on your MVM award,very much deserved.

I 100% agree with that

Hi,
Thank You for your compliments and LHG certainly deserves
the MVM award!
With the KH running around 1, the buffering capacity of
the water is nearly zero. That means that as the foods
and other waste products are created, they will turn to
organic acids and lower the pH of the water. That would
require frequent, regular water changes and gravel
vacuuming to control. Essentially the pH would drop over
time, and then you would drain part of the tank and refill
it with water more alkaline, and the pH would rise. How
much it would rise would depend on how much it dropped,
and how much of a water change you performed. In the
end you could wind up shifting the water 2 or more points.
That could prove to be a disaster for your fish.
Constant pH is one of THE best ways to preserve the health
of your fish. Every time they have to alter their bodies
metabolism to compensate for shifting pH's their systems
are stressed. Stress leaves them open for all kinds of
diseases and attacks by parasites.

Generally, you want to keep your KH around 3. Sometimes
more if you are injecting CO2 for plant growth.
The easiest way to do that is by adding regular, old,
unscented, Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda) to the tank.
Do it slowly because as you add the soda it will affect
the buffering capacity of the water and the pH will shift
up-wards.
The only problem with adding oyster shells (shell grit) to
the tank is that it contains other elements beside CaCO3,
and can increase the general hardness (GH) of the water
as well. Baking Soda will only affect the KH and pH.

Using carbonates, such as crushed dolomite, crushed coral,
crushed limestone, crushed oyster shells, is THE best way
to shift the tank to a pH of 8 and the higher required GH
for fish such as the African Rifts.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

OK..Thanks again for the info guys...Cheers!

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"