Greetings! I’ve been reading these forums for a while now, but since this is my first post I suppose a bit of background is in order. I “inherited” a 10g tank and all its accessories from a friend that was moving, and it was enough to get me hooked. I don’t like to go into anything uninformed, so I did some reading and spoke to several folks at various LFS’s in the area. I learned enough realize the importance (and even wonder) of the nitrogen cycle, and to replace the existing outdated UGF with an AquaClear Mini. Unfortunately it wasn’t until I started read sites like AC that I realized you can NEVER know enough about this hobby, and I could have done many things differently. (Not a single reference to fishless cycling in four books and over two dozen LFS folks until I went online!)
Anyway, the 10g is just finishing up its fishy cycle now (NH3/NH4+ is constant at 0 and Nitrites are around 0.25 and falling over last 48 hours. Nitrates seem steady at 20ish, PH is 7.4), so all is well I suppose. It’s stocked with 4 tiger barbs and 2 albino corys who seem healthy and happy, and I’ve done 25-30% water changes every other day since I started to help the fish stay less stressed thru the cycle. I’m planning to purchase a 72g bow front in the near future and have most of the accessories determined, but feel I have a great deal to learn still beforehand. Which leads me to my questions about water:
I actually started off using distilled water in the 10g since my tap water seemed unsuitable, and my LFS instructed me to stop that and use Aqua Clear and Perfect PH 7.0 instead for practicality reasons. I’m convinced now he was just trying to sell me product and have since read on these forums that distilled water is bad due to its ability to keep a stable PH. I’ve also switched to Ammo Lock instead of Aqua Clear since it supposedly binds NH3 into less toxic NH4+. (BTW: is there a difference between Ammo Lock and Ammo Lock 2? The active ingredients are the exact same on the bottle.)
I know a stable PH is better than constant fluctuations to get the “ideal” PH, but how high is too high. Straight out of the tap, my water looks like:
PH = 8.6-8.8, NH3 and NO2 = 0, NO3 = 5.0.
After “aging” the water 24 hours the PH changes to 7.8-8.0. I have no idea why. I plan to buy a GH/KH testing kit ASAP. (it wasn’t included with the master test kit I bought for some reason – at the time the LFS clerk told me hardness testing was “outdated”)
The really strange thing is that after I add the Ammo Lock to the aged water, the PH jumps up again to around 8.6, and then returns to 8.0 after another 12 hours. I also detected a slight NH3 reading of 0.25-0.5 or so, but I assume that is due to the breakdown of chloramines in the water into ammonia.
So my list of current questions:
1) How high of a PH is *too* high? I plan to buy a Python for water changes with the 72g tank. Is a PH of 8.8 acceptable?
2) Any idea why the PH changes as it ages, or after I add the Ammo Lock? Does it have something to do with the GH/KH, which I can’t measure atm? What exactly does the water hardness affect in terms of PH?
3) I have a household water softener in my house that all water except the two outside hoses is filtered through. What effect does that have on my water in terms of fish, PH and hardness? Do any of you have the same setup? Is it something I should try and bypass?
4) When doing water changes, especially in large tanks, how do you guys determine the temp. of your tap water? Do you use a 2nd thermometer or do you go by feel? (This is why I normally age the water, to get it to room temperature)
I have a million more questions, but I’ve probably bored you all to death already. Thanks in advance for your help and advice!
Anyway, the 10g is just finishing up its fishy cycle now (NH3/NH4+ is constant at 0 and Nitrites are around 0.25 and falling over last 48 hours. Nitrates seem steady at 20ish, PH is 7.4), so all is well I suppose. It’s stocked with 4 tiger barbs and 2 albino corys who seem healthy and happy, and I’ve done 25-30% water changes every other day since I started to help the fish stay less stressed thru the cycle. I’m planning to purchase a 72g bow front in the near future and have most of the accessories determined, but feel I have a great deal to learn still beforehand. Which leads me to my questions about water:
I actually started off using distilled water in the 10g since my tap water seemed unsuitable, and my LFS instructed me to stop that and use Aqua Clear and Perfect PH 7.0 instead for practicality reasons. I’m convinced now he was just trying to sell me product and have since read on these forums that distilled water is bad due to its ability to keep a stable PH. I’ve also switched to Ammo Lock instead of Aqua Clear since it supposedly binds NH3 into less toxic NH4+. (BTW: is there a difference between Ammo Lock and Ammo Lock 2? The active ingredients are the exact same on the bottle.)
I know a stable PH is better than constant fluctuations to get the “ideal” PH, but how high is too high. Straight out of the tap, my water looks like:
PH = 8.6-8.8, NH3 and NO2 = 0, NO3 = 5.0.
After “aging” the water 24 hours the PH changes to 7.8-8.0. I have no idea why. I plan to buy a GH/KH testing kit ASAP. (it wasn’t included with the master test kit I bought for some reason – at the time the LFS clerk told me hardness testing was “outdated”)
The really strange thing is that after I add the Ammo Lock to the aged water, the PH jumps up again to around 8.6, and then returns to 8.0 after another 12 hours. I also detected a slight NH3 reading of 0.25-0.5 or so, but I assume that is due to the breakdown of chloramines in the water into ammonia.
So my list of current questions:
1) How high of a PH is *too* high? I plan to buy a Python for water changes with the 72g tank. Is a PH of 8.8 acceptable?
2) Any idea why the PH changes as it ages, or after I add the Ammo Lock? Does it have something to do with the GH/KH, which I can’t measure atm? What exactly does the water hardness affect in terms of PH?
3) I have a household water softener in my house that all water except the two outside hoses is filtered through. What effect does that have on my water in terms of fish, PH and hardness? Do any of you have the same setup? Is it something I should try and bypass?
4) When doing water changes, especially in large tanks, how do you guys determine the temp. of your tap water? Do you use a 2nd thermometer or do you go by feel? (This is why I normally age the water, to get it to room temperature)
I have a million more questions, but I’ve probably bored you all to death already. Thanks in advance for your help and advice!
I can never get myself to do that.