ewurm said:
Does it crash your PH even more when you inject Co2?
It almost seems like a double sided blade, your supposed to have lots of plants but also have soft water?
Blue Ram Question
- Thread starter justintoxicated
- Start date
Does it crash your PH even more when you inject Co2?
It almost seems like a double sided blade, your supposed to have lots of plants but also have soft water?
justintoxicated said:
I use a buffer, Seachem Neutral Regulator, to buffer the water against pH swings. This is a highly planted tank. I also use Kent Freshwater Plant supplement to add the necessary Iron and Potassium for the plants to thrive. I also have a sizable piece of malaysian driftwood, for cover and to provide tannins to simulate the natural SA environment.
I'm using crushed coral as a PH buffer, but my driftwood is a piece of ADA (I still can't believe I paid $25 for it lol) but It has not released any noticable Tannins. What is SA? This would be the only Chilid in my tank so I'm starting to think it was a bad idea to get one 
Oh and I jut found out I still have 4 ottos, I just had not sceen 4 at once for months!
Oh and I jut found out I still have 4 ottos, I just had not sceen 4 at once for months!
Not exactly... Ever tested the pH of RO water? Should be 7.0 - Neutral.justintoxicated said:
Soft water though, by definition lacks buffers to prevent pH drops. No buffers, plus CO2 injection = pH drops. But teh CO2 will not alter the hardness (GH).
My water will test 0gpg on a liquid test kit, I have to use an electronic TDS meter to find out what it is. It runs about 7 to 11 ppm. Since I don't want to worry about pH crashes, I use crushed coral in my filter, in all my tanks. It keeps me steady between 7.0 and 7.2 on the pH. When I do a water change, the new water is at 7.0 so adding 20% even if the tank is at 7.2 makes very little difference.
In the days of wild caught fish being the norm, it was far more important to try to duplicate the natural environment as closely as possible. Any more, it's rarely necessary. Keep things stable and you will be fine.
The snails like hard water because they need the calcium for shell building. Most of what you are seeing in a hardness test is calcium, or calcium based compounds.
Possible stocking issue: Popondetta_furcata are recommended to be kept in groups of 6 or more, and require medium hard alkaline water. But they are really cool-looking fish! Rather than Rams, I think I would go for some more of these guys... (I looked them up - this is not personal experience)
Rams can get territorial, especially when breeding.
If you look around, you can find information that says anything from hard alkaline to soft acidic on the water conditions.
They also have a reputation for not being very hardy and having short life spans.
Actually, I think the Rams wouldn't do that well in this tank, with the stocking you have now. YMMV
Thanks I guess i will skip them then. I do plan to get another Popondetta_furcata but only one..
They don't have the colors like the Ram, I thought it would be a good centerpiece fish (even if I had to setup a cave for them... I'm still considering them but maybe something else like the fish I posted a link to above would be a better match in my tank?
I'm a little confused still wether or not I would have to use RO water to keep Ram's alive.
I asked on this forum and everyone thoguht it was a celeb's so I bought some, they do look similar, but different... When I got home I realized my mistake. I asked around and they said the Popondetta_furcata's will school with Celebs anyways (they are both in the blue eye family). They do hang out together so I think thats all that counts. So right now there is a school of 4 blue eyes, just different species so I don't believe I need to add more as badly as you are thinking.
On another note:
My Guppy likes to school with the Celebs as well, well he keeps trying to mate with them, they don't seem to mind but it does look kinda funny, especialy since he seems to be going after the boy! DOH! The Popondetta_furcata would school with the guppies a bit when he was younger but then he started chasing them around when he matured (all guppies were moved to another tank except for the one boy I just can't catch!)
They are after all only in a 20 gallon, so theres not alot of places to swim around in a school anyways. I do see some good schooling action with the micro rasbora Galaxies, they are awesome fish!
They don't have the colors like the Ram, I thought it would be a good centerpiece fish (even if I had to setup a cave for them... I'm still considering them but maybe something else like the fish I posted a link to above would be a better match in my tank?
I'm a little confused still wether or not I would have to use RO water to keep Ram's alive.
I asked on this forum and everyone thoguht it was a celeb's so I bought some, they do look similar, but different... When I got home I realized my mistake. I asked around and they said the Popondetta_furcata's will school with Celebs anyways (they are both in the blue eye family). They do hang out together so I think thats all that counts. So right now there is a school of 4 blue eyes, just different species so I don't believe I need to add more as badly as you are thinking.
On another note:
My Guppy likes to school with the Celebs as well, well he keeps trying to mate with them, they don't seem to mind but it does look kinda funny, especialy since he seems to be going after the boy! DOH! The Popondetta_furcata would school with the guppies a bit when he was younger but then he started chasing them around when he matured (all guppies were moved to another tank except for the one boy I just can't catch!)
They are after all only in a 20 gallon, so theres not alot of places to swim around in a school anyways. I do see some good schooling action with the micro rasbora Galaxies, they are awesome fish!
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I didn't grasp that they were the same family... I believe you are absolutely correct about this.justintoxicated said:
Rams do great in hard water. However, they are sensitive to stress and water quality issues. I would not put them in that tank just due to the numbers of other fish. You may have read that they need soft water for breeding and this is very true - their eggs won't hatch in hard water. However, I have had them spawn like crazy in hard water.
CO2 injection won't change the hardness of your water. It may change the pH if your water is already somewhat soft.
I agree with dbaric that sensitive fish need stable conditions most. Aging your water is important (aerate for 24 hrs.) before adding to the tank.
hth,
windsurfer.
CO2 injection won't change the hardness of your water. It may change the pH if your water is already somewhat soft.
I agree with dbaric that sensitive fish need stable conditions most. Aging your water is important (aerate for 24 hrs.) before adding to the tank.
hth,
windsurfer.
I fill my tanks with a python so aerating wter is not an option.
However my water is very clearn, I have to add Nitrate for my plants because they suck it all up. I don't think the bioload is really that high definately not enough to support the plants, those Galaxys only reach a couple cm each, they are really small.
However my water is very clearn, I have to add Nitrate for my plants because they suck it all up. I don't think the bioload is really that high definately not enough to support the plants, those Galaxys only reach a couple cm each, they are really small.
