need help fast with kh / co2 problem ( i think)

H

hmt321

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Nov 21, 2005
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need help guys fast

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i have a 125 gal heavily planted, native american tank,

4 orange spot sunnies
20 sailfin shiners
2 speckled madtoms

I have co2 injetc (im new to it and i think that is my prob)

fert dose

kno3 1 1/8 tsp per week
cal sufate 9 tsp
mg(epsom salt) 6 per week
fleet 1 ml

test from like 5 min ago

ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 15 ppm (i dose for this)

ph 6.8 at lights on, 6.6 at peak photo

kh was 4 last thurs
kh is 12!!!!!!!!

fish were listless, and barely eat, these fish litterly jump out of the water to get food,

one of the orange spots is on its side,

the only thing i have changed in like 2 weeks is a added a bag of crushed coral to a filter. (someone told me it would bump up ph, but i think it just effects kh, now that i have read about it)

I have done a 10% water change
and i am running 2 air stones

does this sound like o2 depletion??

my water temp is like 70 f I have 2 age water to do a large change (my tap water is like 80deg)


help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Crushed coral dissolves to raise your kH, which may raise your pH and gH as well. A drastic change in gH will affect a fish's respiratory system among other things. Adding salt will help the gills extract oxygen from the water, as will larger water changes.

What was your pH before the crushed coral? How much CO2 are you injecting?
 
ph was 6.8 before injecting co2, dont know my gh, i will bring a test kit to the office in the morning and check. today my ph was 6.6, I did a 25% water change before i left, (i was worried that the water temp diff would be really bad on stressed fish)

im injecting about 3 bubs a sec into the intake of a fluvall 404
 
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KH 12- pH 6.6= Co2 somewhere between 75 and 100 ppm.
Kh 4- PH 6.8= 19 ppm co2 give or take
That is pretty high and some fish can be sensative. I run co2 that highbut not often, and most folks tell you that is way way too high. The usual reccomended amount is around 20-30 ppm CO2. If you back off on Co2 you will see a rise in pH to go with the rise in KH you have already seen.
The question that comes to my mind is are the plants pearling well? At that co2 level they should be, and if they are not you may have additional issues with O2 levels. Co2 does not compete with O2 for sapce in the water so to speak, but plants that aren't growing well are usually consuming oxygen insteadvia one reason or another.

Crushed coral dissolves to raise your kH, which may raise your pH and gH as well. A drastic change in gH will affect a fish's respiratory system among other things. Adding salt will help the gills extract oxygen from the water, as will larger water changes.
Click to expand...

Just curious on this, if a rise in GH (TDS's ) makes it hard for the fish to breathe, how will adding more solids and making the water harder alleviate that? Chloride will block Nitrite in the blood stream, but aside form that I've never found any evidence that salt would help a freshwater fish breathe easier.

Additionally, crushed coral dissolves at a very slow rate, and would not make the drastic changes that normally cause stress of this type. Taking a fish from soft awater and plunking it in hard water will cause a lot of trouble, but slowly changing Gh levels over a week should not do so, and with the fish mentioned in particular I can't see it ever causing trouble. those fish all live and thrive in limestone pits all over this country.
 
I am not positive, but that rise in Kh could be all of that Ca and Mg you are adding to the tank. i think that may be too much. I would cut back on the Ca and see what happens. The crushed coral should stabilize your kH and PH enough itself.
 
the kh was a steady 4 before i added the coral, my kh out of the tap is 1 or less, so the cal sufate and mg bump it to 4

I never saw any pearling on the plants, but i did have duckweed covering the top, (i added it when i had some green water) I removed some of the duckweed- most of it infact,

as of 5 am all the fish are alive and look much better. I have removed the coral (i did this last night) and i have turned down the co2 to 1 bub per sec.

I checked the ph this morning and it was 7.6!!!!!!!!!!!
I usually get to the office about an hour after the co2 and lights come on I never saw a ph over 6.8, no wonder. I will do 25% wc until the kh is evened out each night this week until fri when i resume my normal 50% to reset fert doseing.

at this point i think i doged a bullet, I will beable to spend most of the day at the office so i can closely moniter.
 
hmt321 when you say you used a bag of crushed coral, how much is that?

Like I used about 3/4 of cup on my 36 gal, and it raised kh from 2.5 to about 4-4.5
 
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