A big hello plus a question..

[Golden Ouroboro]

Just wanted to say hi all

Ok now onto my problem, I've had my tank for about 2 months now and I can't get the water to a good pH level. The test keeps indicating yellow, and I only just changed some tank water yesterday.

The filter I had in there was too small for the tank I had, thinking this was my problem, I went out spent $250 on a fluval 304, yes the water is crystal clear, but I was also expecting it to help the pH level abit.

I don't have that many fish in there, just a few 'head standers', 3 upside down catfish, 4 khuli loaches, a 8 inch long black ghost, a bumble bee catfish and a couple of bristlenose cats. A friend gave me these fish and she asked me to look after them for her as she was unable to take them south with her. I don't want to let her down..

Any advice would be welcome..
Thanks

 

[Lazersniper]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
First of all what does 'yellow' mean. Each test kit has it's own color key. Honestly unless it's extremely low I really wouldn't worry about it. You should worry about how stable it is. If it is consistantly showing up to be 'yellow' then you should be good. I have very high ph (8.5 plus) and all my fish are fine. You shouldn't try to mess with the ph unless you have to and if you do you have to be willing to stress out your fish a lot.

I'm assuming you are new at keeping fish. How big is that tank? If you have an 8 inch ghost and I can't see it I'm assuming it's a pretty big tank. You should change at least 25% of the water at least once every 2 weeks. Most recommend at least every week.

Just a side note but you should consider finding fish equipment on the net. It is a lot cheaper. $250 on a fluval 304 seems really high. At bigalsonline you could get a 404 for $90. Oh and your filter doesn't affect the ph level. The water chemistry does.

You should try to read/learn as much as you can about keeping fish, and the fish you have. This is a great website to learn from. If you have any other questions feel free to ask, the people here are great.

 

[BeeGirl64]

What do you want the PH to be and why? Have you done a GH/KH (hardness/buffering) test? If not, I'd recommend it. If you're not familiar with their effects on PH, search the internet for the info. My tap water is outrageously hard which translates into high PH. Chemical PH adjusters have no effect on it because it's so well buffered. I use reverse osmosis water in my tank because I have Blue Rams and they wouldn't like my tap water. I'm sure there are other biological reasons for PH problems, but I'd check into this if you haven't already.

 

[Golden Ouroboro]

250 is AUDs, you can't see most of the fish in there cause most of them are nocturnal.. the big ghosty only comes out at night when I turn the lights off and throws some blood worms in there for them.

My father used to keep fish when I was young and he used to go on about the pH level all the time not being right.. lol.. I'll have a look around thanks.

Can the gH/kH have an effect on the fish, all I know is that they're not acting like they used to when I put them in, the black ghost barely comes out at night these days and seems less active than usual, just abit worried about the poor fella.

 

[amosf]

$250 sounds about right in Oz for filters - which is why I build my own wet/dry setups...

But don't worry over the ph too much unless your kH is low in which case bring it up to at least 80ppm... Then the pH will be nice and stable.

What is that, a 4ft tank? About 220litre/58gallon?

 

[Golden Ouroboro]

yes a 4 ftr, Got a good deal for it, stained all the wood myself. It's in need of some plants. The ghost was out tonight buzzing around, I'll go down and check out the prices of some test kits tomorrow, plus have a look at getting some more weed. I can't get anything with a small leaf structure, the head standers seem to tear that to pieces.. >_<

 

[amosf]

Get a master test kit of some sort. It will be worth it in the long run. You want ph, kh, ammonia and nitrite at least. Once you get it settled down it will be fine. You'll probably need to pay about $50 for the kit...

It's a nice looking setup anyway...

 

[Golden Ouroboro]

Out and about..

Thought I'd post these two up.. heh

I'll post what the readings say later, after I get the kit ofcourse >_<

 

[Lazersniper]

Nice BGK. Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about the ph as long as it's stable. GH and KH really dont' have any bearing on fish unless you are trying to breed. Sorry didn't know you were from aus. I wouldn't worry about it too much, sometimes fish will do that, especially the more 'exotic' ones.