View Full Version : Crushed Coral or not?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 4:27 PM
Ok, i got some help in another thread about how to go about adding minerals back into RO water that is going into an invert tank that i am setting up. I'm planning to use Seachem Equilibrium, Acid Buffer, and Alkaline Buffer. Do these sound ok? I'm going to get the ph to around 8 for the snails. Anyway, i was just wondering if i should keep some crushed coral in the filter to help maintain the levels or will just adding those things to my WC water be ok? And does a 50% wc a week sound like too much? I'm planning on having a few amano shrimp, one bridgesii, and some ramshorns in an eclipse 5 hex. Thanks.
The Zigman
12-11-2008, 4:41 PM
what is your tap water like?
Why use RO for a snail tank?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 4:43 PM
Because my tap has copper in it. I don't know how effective the copper removing media that you can buy is. And i don't want to set up the tank thinking i removed all the copper from the tap and then realize that i can't keep inverts in it. Plus my ph from the tap is only about 6.6 and really soft so its a little low for snails anyway, but i could always just used the crushed coral if i was using tap water. I just am not sure about the copper.
sqrlproductions
12-11-2008, 6:27 PM
This is just a SWAG (some wild a** guess), but I don't think that the RO will take out the copper in the water which are prolly in some ionized form. DI might, but RO works by pushing water through a membrane. Molecules which are too big do not pass through to the "clean" RO water.
Again, just a SWAG on my part. Maybe someone with real-world experience can chime in, accordingly.
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 6:34 PM
I'm not planning on making my own RO water. I was just going to buy it. I have been doing some looking though and i kind of want to try just using some cuprisorb (http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/CupriSorb.html) or something like it in my tap water for a day or so before i actually change the water. It says right in the description if it is used in the filter it allows inverts to live in a tank with copper. I was planning on doing this in my other two tanks so maybe i could keep some inverts in those. But i figured the RO would be the best way to go for the invert tank, but it is looking to be more trouble than anything. I would also run a bag of cuprisorb in the tank filter. So does anyone think this would be better than RO water?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 6:53 PM
Ok, here is what i think i am going to do. Should save me some money and hassle if it works. If not, it isn't going to be a big tank so no big deal breaking it down and starting over. So anyway. I'm going to get a small plastic bin, some cuprisorb, and some tap water. I'll put the water in the bin a day before my water change. Then put the cuprisorb into an extra HOB filter i have laying around and let that run in the bin for a day. That should remove whatever copper is in the water column i think. This would be in addition to running cuprisorb and crushed coral in the filter that is on the tank. So, sound good?
How much copper is in your tap to begin with?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 7:07 PM
Between 0.5 and 1 ppm.
Cory Keeper
12-11-2008, 7:12 PM
yeah, how do you know you have copper and just how much copper is in it? Even inverts can take a little copper, in fact plants need copper to grow correctly.
But in regards to CC, I use it on my 5g hex and it works well. I use it because my tap water is stupid soft, main 29g show tank runs @ 6.0 or less PH.
What you could try doing is keeping a storage tank for future water and have lots of plants (possibly terrarium plants) suck up the excess copper (maybe) to keep the water safer.
BTW, do your inverts keep dying? I know that copper tests are not the most accurate.
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 7:19 PM
I know that i have copper because i used a test kit and i have copper piping so even without the test kit i would assume there was copper in the water. i tried keeping some snails in my 26 and they kept dying. Bought a copper test and it shows nothing in the tank but some in the tap. So i figured it was being cause by an ich med i used. Then i just set up a 10 and thought i wouldn't have a problem. Then i got some ramshorns and within a few days they were all dead. All params were normal. So i'm just assuming it is the copper. And i would prob. need to use cc too just because my water from the tap is soft and ph is about 6.6
I don't think copper is your problem, honestly. I'm not saying I'm right, but I would bet it's your water being too soft. Also how long was your tank setup before you through in the ramshorns?
What ich med did you use that would contain copper sulfate?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 8:06 PM
the tank had been set up for about two weeks. It was fully cycled i used old filter media and checked params for a few days to make sure. I don't think the water is soft enough to kill snails that fast because i had coral in the filter since i set the tank up. it had already brought the ph up to 7. and i didn't use ich med with copper in it it had some chemical with green in the name. it dyed my air hoses blue.
Cory Keeper
12-11-2008, 8:11 PM
I would just setup a little 5g nano critter tank and just see what happens.
I have copper piping (I should know because we had to repair it) and I have 2 brigs, a good number of ghost shrimp, lots of ramshorns and a quickly expanding population of MTS in my 5g hex tank. Copper piping is not a problem.
PH is also not the problem. I have a snail population in my 29g and while its not thriving, they aren't dead either.
Something else must be affecting the tank.
the tank had been set up for about two weeks. It was fully cycled i used old filter media and checked params for a few days to make sure. I don't think the water is soft enough to kill snails that fast because i had coral in the filter since i set the tank up. it had already brought the ph up to 7. and i didn't use ich med with copper in it it had some chemical with green in the name. it dyed my air hoses blue.
Malachite green. This should not kill the snails fast unless you overdosed which I am sure you did not. Did you acclimate the snails at all?
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 9:23 PM
I would just setup a little 5g nano critter tank and just see what happens.
I have copper piping (I should know because we had to repair it) and I have 2 brigs, a good number of ghost shrimp, lots of ramshorns and a quickly expanding population of MTS in my 5g hex tank. Copper piping is not a problem.
PH is also not the problem. I have a snail population in my 29g and while its not thriving, they aren't dead either.
Something else must be affecting the tank.
That is exactly why i am setting up a 5 gallon. So then maybe i can figure out how to keep them alive. I figure a 5 wouldn't be that hard to break down and restart if i absolutely had to. Plus i think it would be cool to just have an invert only tank. Ok, well then it sounds like it isn't the copper. And i'm assuming it isn't because my water is soft because from the sound of it yours is softer than mine. Idk what it could be.
Malachite green. This should not kill the snails fast unless you overdosed which I am sure you did not. Did you acclimate the snails at all?
The malachite green was put into a different tank than the one i recently added snails into. I did acclimate the snails like i do fish. I floated them for a while and added tank water a little at a time. When i added them my ammonia and nitrites were 0 and nitrates were about 10. They were shipped, idk if that would make a difference or not. Is there a certain way to acclimate shipped inverts? Some were floating. I added blanched zucchini with the skin removed as soon as i addeed them and only about 3 or 4 out of about 25 or 30 even attempted to eat it. Maybe i didn't acclimate them properly? I would have done a drip acclimation but i'm not sure on how to do that.
I'm heading to an lfs either tomorrow or saturday. Should i get some ghost shrimp or a bridgesii or something to try out in the tank?
I ordered some ramshorns, nerite and mts once. Out of all of the snails, only a few made it. Of course now the ones that survived have multiplied, minus the nerite.... but I think that the ones that didn't make it, were because some had died during shipping and fouled the water.
I wouldn't get ghost shrimp as a test, because they will pretty much die anyways. You could try the bridgesii.
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 9:58 PM
Ok, i'll get a bridgesii and see what happens. >crosses fingers<
JPDVM2014
12-11-2008, 10:11 PM
Well after reading this thread (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172998&highlight=drip+acclimation) i think it might be the way i acclimated them that did the snails in. Didn't realize about the water becoming toxic after shipping.
Cory Keeper
12-12-2008, 6:14 AM
I ordered some ramshorns, nerite and mts once. Out of all of the snails, only a few made it. Of course now the ones that survived have multiplied, minus the nerite.... but I think that the ones that didn't make it, were because some had died during shipping and fouled the water.
I wouldn't get ghost shrimp as a test, because they will pretty much die anyways. You could try the bridgesii.
Actually brad, I'm using ghost shrimp to test to see if I can keep shrimp, so far most have made it, and if anything, are thriving too.
BradH
12-12-2008, 11:37 AM
Actually brad, I'm using ghost shrimp to test to see if I can keep shrimp, so far most have made it, and if anything, are thriving too.
Congrats! Most everyone I know that tries to keep them lose them all. Probably because of the way they were kept before they bought them. I actually bought some, but decided not to put them in my tank because they all had a parasitic worm in them. I forgot what it's called. I ended up finding a someone on here that lived closed by and I bought some cherry shrimp from them.
JPDVM2014
12-29-2008, 8:42 PM
Ok, sorry to revive this somewhat old thread, but i figure it is better to add to this then make a new one. Anyway, i'm back to thinking that it is copper in my water that is killing my inverts. I bought ghost shrimp about a week ago and i did my weekly water change today and they all promptly died. The only thing i can't figure out is why they made it this long. I did a water change right before i started acclimating them and they did fine. But today they all died within a half hour of my water change. So, any ideas as to what could have done it besides the copper?