Hi all,
I assume I'm not the first daddy whose six year old daughter with bad allergies talked her old man into buying 'some fish' from petsmart only to find out that fish keeping is quite the learning experience. That said, I bought a ten gallon top fin tank kit and 'set it up' according to the pamphlet we got at the store then responsibly de-chlorinated our water and waited a day before bringing home our new friends. Long story short, of the 3 original inhabitants only Rainbow, the gold twinbar platy survived my learning curve. I'll fast forward this tale to spare you kind readers...
Since this tale began almost 2 months ago, I've changed the tank completely, adding two new fish, a black skirt tetra and and emperor tetra (i may be incorrect about him). It is now planted modestly w/ Anubis Nana, Java Fern and a sword of some sort, as well as dwarf hairgrass. I used Caribsea substrate in the red/black volcanic looking color with a 20w daylight CFL at 6500k. The filter came with the unit and there is a preset heater that maintains 78 degrees relatively consistently. (my wife bought the cheapest thing she could find of course.)
Now for the water:
pH: 6-6.5, typically 6.0
Ammonia: .25
Nitrites: 0-.25
Nitrates: Never above 5.0
I do water changes as often as 3x /week and treat the water with Prime if Ammonia or Nitrites are present at all. My latest WC was probably about 70% which brought both my Ammonia and Nitrite readings down to zero. However the following day my ammonia showed between 0 and .25 and nitrites zero so i dosed lightly with Prime. The fish appear healthy and we do not overfeed, although I do supplement with bloodworms once or twice a week which they seem to absolutely love.
After poring over the forums for weeks now I am concerned that our local tap water is creating a scenario that has made it difficult for my tank to fully cycle. I believe that the consistently low pH is prohibiting bacteria growth. I've tried dosing with baking soda, but the pH spike scares me to death and I'm not willing to risk it again. I am considering introducing crushed coral as I've read this is good way to permanently treat the tank for low pH but I'm also considering an alternative. I'm thinking of setting up a 20 gallon tank and fishless cycling it and just moving my guys to the new pristine and bigger space then doing the same with the 10 gallon which can then be used to house a small school of little guys. I'd love to hear your thoughts and I promise to post pics of the current setup at my next opportunity. It's hard to believe how addictive this hobby is (i'm not really a hobby guy. lol-) but I've not enjoyed an activity like this in a good while. My wife says I pay more attention 'to those fish' than her! LOL... But I digress.
Oh, and I just got my Kh/Gh (i think that's right) test in the mail so I'll have those numbers soon. And I test with the API master kit. Thanks so much for reading this rant, but I appreciate any feedback you might offer. Cheers!
I assume I'm not the first daddy whose six year old daughter with bad allergies talked her old man into buying 'some fish' from petsmart only to find out that fish keeping is quite the learning experience. That said, I bought a ten gallon top fin tank kit and 'set it up' according to the pamphlet we got at the store then responsibly de-chlorinated our water and waited a day before bringing home our new friends. Long story short, of the 3 original inhabitants only Rainbow, the gold twinbar platy survived my learning curve. I'll fast forward this tale to spare you kind readers...
Since this tale began almost 2 months ago, I've changed the tank completely, adding two new fish, a black skirt tetra and and emperor tetra (i may be incorrect about him). It is now planted modestly w/ Anubis Nana, Java Fern and a sword of some sort, as well as dwarf hairgrass. I used Caribsea substrate in the red/black volcanic looking color with a 20w daylight CFL at 6500k. The filter came with the unit and there is a preset heater that maintains 78 degrees relatively consistently. (my wife bought the cheapest thing she could find of course.)
Now for the water:
pH: 6-6.5, typically 6.0
Ammonia: .25
Nitrites: 0-.25
Nitrates: Never above 5.0
I do water changes as often as 3x /week and treat the water with Prime if Ammonia or Nitrites are present at all. My latest WC was probably about 70% which brought both my Ammonia and Nitrite readings down to zero. However the following day my ammonia showed between 0 and .25 and nitrites zero so i dosed lightly with Prime. The fish appear healthy and we do not overfeed, although I do supplement with bloodworms once or twice a week which they seem to absolutely love.
After poring over the forums for weeks now I am concerned that our local tap water is creating a scenario that has made it difficult for my tank to fully cycle. I believe that the consistently low pH is prohibiting bacteria growth. I've tried dosing with baking soda, but the pH spike scares me to death and I'm not willing to risk it again. I am considering introducing crushed coral as I've read this is good way to permanently treat the tank for low pH but I'm also considering an alternative. I'm thinking of setting up a 20 gallon tank and fishless cycling it and just moving my guys to the new pristine and bigger space then doing the same with the 10 gallon which can then be used to house a small school of little guys. I'd love to hear your thoughts and I promise to post pics of the current setup at my next opportunity. It's hard to believe how addictive this hobby is (i'm not really a hobby guy. lol-) but I've not enjoyed an activity like this in a good while. My wife says I pay more attention 'to those fish' than her! LOL... But I digress.
Oh, and I just got my Kh/Gh (i think that's right) test in the mail so I'll have those numbers soon. And I test with the API master kit. Thanks so much for reading this rant, but I appreciate any feedback you might offer. Cheers!
