Aces! Yet Another "I'm New and Unsure" Thread

[carpguy]

Zebra Danios! The Cyprinids colonize yet another living room… Today Toledo, tomorrow?

They're known for being hardy fish that are commonly recommended for cycling. This doesn't mean they're immune to the harmful effects of ammonia, just that they're hardy fish. Use regular water changes to keep your ammonia levels down during the cycle. Water changes won't slow the cycle but will make things easier on your fish… You'll wan't test kits for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates if you don't have them yet. And again with the recommendation to look into the BioSpira.

Zebra Danios, along with being famously hardy and active , are very flexible with their pH range and should be fine with whatever you have. (I couldn't find a good water report for Toledo btw, but you are getting ground and lake water and are in a glacial till zone with limestone karst lying about so you probably do have fairly hard water).

Seachem is a good company with a good reputation. I don't understand how they're dropping the pH with phosphate buffers but the sauce apparently does work. The main objection to these sorts of fixes is that they promote instability unless you stick with them religiously. They need to go in at certain doses at each (weekly) water change and need to be replenished in the tank as they get used up or you'll wind up with a gyrating pH. Slightly higher than preferred but stable is better than in range but fluctuating.

Danios are good to go anywhere from pH6-8. I'd find some fish that are happy in the water you have and minimize the tinkering. You're friendly neighborhood FishStore Guy should be able to test your water for you at least to establish a baseline profile.

Enjoy…

 

[JSchmidt]

Neutral regulator won't do anything to combat the ammonia that will soon begin to build up in the tank and that will burn your fishes' gills unless you do water changes. You will need to check ammonia levels and change water to keep ammonia low; with your high pH, I'd try to keep it below .5 ppm.

Use of phosphate-laden neutral regulators is about as poor a 'solution' for high pH as is pH Down. Here's what you can expect:

Add some of the regulator. Your pH instantly goes down. Check again the next day. pH is back up. Add more regulator and pH again drops, probably temporarily. Repeat pattern a couple of times. Notice how slippery your hand feels after coming in contact with tank water; feels like it's coated with soap (that's because the phosphates have softened the water). By now you have to do a water change because the uncycled tank has dangerous levels of ammonia. You add tap water, which instantly causes pH to shoot back up to original levels. Fish begin to look a bit sluggish. (First they're swimming in low pH, high-phosphate water, now they're in high pH water...) You add more neutral regulator to get pH lower. Again, pH drops quickly, then rebounds. Repeat pattern of adding regulator again. You notice the water is getting a bit greenish. This is the beginning of a massive bloom of freefloating, unicellular algae, caused by all the phosphates in the water compliments of the neutral regulator. Helpful LFS guy sells you some algae killer, which further screws up water chemistry. Ammonia in the tank is again high, which necessitates a water change, leading to the pH yo-yo again... and on...

I hope this scenario doesn't play out for you, but it is depressingly common. It is often caused by an unfortunate confluence of enthusiasm/impulsivity, a tendency to believe whatever the 'nice' LFS guy says, and ignoring the more conservative advice offered here that counsels you to figure out what you're doing before stocking your tank. Many (most) of us have either been there ourselves, or we've helped enough beginners to recognize a pattern.

Remember two things:
1. Chemicals added to your tank rarely fix any problems.
2. Water changes are your best line of defense against problems in a tank. Anything that makes it harder/more problematic to do water changes constitutes a questionable practice for beginners, in my book.

Good luck,
Jim

 

[shaggyspeedy]

Originally posted by JSchmidt
Here's what you can expect:

Add some of the regulator. Your pH instantly goes down. Check again the next day. pH is back up. Add more regulator and pH again drops, probably temporarily. Repeat pattern a couple of times.

See, here's where you're assuming. Sure enough, the pH was back up, and the first thing I did was NOT PUT ANY REGULATOR BACK IN. Honestly, if the pH shot back up, then it obviously doesn't do a good job of keeping it down, now does it? I may be new, but I ain't dumb.

I keep forgetting to pick up a higher-end pH test, so I'll do that today. Then I'll go talk to the LFS guy and see how good he really is.

Edit: By the way, I did test my tap, and it shot right to 7.6. Surprise, surprise.

 

[New2Fish]

Congrats on the new hobby! It sounds like we started about the same time. Good luck with everything. Sorry I don't have any advise for you.

 

[Bristlenose Chuck]

It is much much easier to figure out your water conditions and then choose the fish you want to keep. You certainly have been doing a great job of figureing out your water conditions but your choice of neon tetras in your local water is not advisable. I'm not saying that its impossible its just that neons do much better in soft acidic water. I hope I am not discouraging you because there are many beautiful fish out there that are right for your water. Many African cichlid lovers would kill for your water conditions.

 

[Matak]

From Carpguy:

(His irony is chelated so that its easier to absorb than when he's being irascible ).

ROFLing! truly sharp witted


Shaggy, Has your fiance' (Scooby?) tried using this forum? It would be really helpfull for your tank (and your relationship) if you both got your info from the same reliable source. Maybe she could get her own username to feel more at home here.