The only Chemicals you need to put in are the ones to remove Chlorine, Chloramine and ammonia. That will not affect your ph. All those chemicals you have listed are not neccasarry. When you find the right mixture of R/O and tap water, then your ph will be ok. You need some of the hardness of your tap water to keep your aquarium happy. That will take care of the ph and the alkalinity. If you can't go to a fish store and buy prime, or something simple like that to remove the chlorine, chloramine and ammonia, from your replacement water,then use the Nova Aqua +
Nitrate and PH problems... Help!
- Thread starter Apota
- Start date
The only Chemicals you need to put in are the ones to remove Chlorine, Chloramine and ammonia. That will not affect your ph. All those chemicals you have listed are not neccasarry. When you find the right mixture of R/O and tap water, then your ph will be ok. You need some of the hardness of your tap water to keep your aquarium happy. That will take care of the ph and the alkalinity. If you can't go to a fish store and buy prime, or something simple like that to remove the chlorine, chloramine and ammonia, from your replacement water,then use the Nova Aqua +
If your tank is functioning properly, the small amount of ammonia in your tap water will be bound by the conditioner, and converted by the good bacteria in your tank in a short amount of time, if that bacteria has been established. If you are reading ammonia a day after your water change then you have a problem.
The Amquel+ is labelled as doing the same thing that we think of as what Prime does. It makes the measured ammonia safer by converting it to ammonium. The test can't tell them apart but the converted ammonia is only about 1/20 as toxic so it is a good short term measure until you can get the levels down. It will also take care of the trace amounts that are sometimes in tap water. My tap measures 1 ppm after treatment so I always use the Prime, in your case Amquel+, when I change my water. Because my cycle has reached its end point, a few hours after I add water, my ammonia reads zero. Right after the water change it reads based on the percentage that I changed and on whether the tank I added to was one where I use an RO mix.
After doing some research on the Amquel and the Aqua Nova, I agree that the Amquel is the way to go between the two (although I am still a prime fan). However, using either one of them to try to control chemical problems in your aquarium on a regular basis could lead to problems. They are no replacement for water changes, but are to be used to treat tap water for water changes.
I found this stuff that is made by the Prime people. I guess it would be good to add to the RO to replace missing supliments?
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/FreshTrace.html
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[/FONT]Fresh Trace™ supplies a broad range of trace elements demonstrated to be necessary for proper fish health and growth. Unlike terrestrial animals, fish obtain nutrients from both their food and environment. Trace elements are normally depleted by utilization, oxidation and precipitation, thus it is important to restore them on a regular basis. Fresh Trace™ contains only those elements actually demonstrated to be required by fish.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sizes: 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]DIRECTIONS: Use 1 capful (5 mL) for every 80 L (20 gallons*) once or twice a week. Guaranteed AnalysisCalcium (min)
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/FreshTrace.html
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sizes: 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
2.40%
Calcium (max)2.64%
Magnesium (min) 0.792%
Iodine (min).1%
Potassium (min) 0.1%
Copper (min)0.032 mg
Fluorine (max)0.001 mg
Iron (min)0.007 mg
Manganese (min)0.002 mg
Selenium (min)0.000006 mg
Zinc (min)0.007 mg
There is also a product called RO right that replaces some of what the RO removes but it allows you to control the final concentration in the water. The advantage is you choose the amount of solids you want in your water. The obvious down side is you need to mix every batch you put in your tank and always mix it the same.
Death int he tank..
Well, my dwarf blue gourami died today. Before he died he was hiding most of the time behind a rock and his mouth was moving really fast and constantly and I don't think he was eating. Was that symptons of a water quality problem?
Also, I'm putting algae wafers in the tank for the sucker fish to eat and the Silver Dollar fish just starting grabbing it away from him and carrying it off in his mouth and him and the rosery barb fight over it. Eventually, he drops it. He just started doing it and he does it everytime. When he drops it he drops it in wierd places that I think the sucker fish can't always find again.
Also, the silver dollar fish now has a growth or lump on his side. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It doesn't seem to bother him, but I'm not sure what that's all about.
I haven't done anymore water changes. I'm going to try and do another 50% water change today. I'm going to do 5 Gal of RO with the Kordon stuff and 10 Gal of Tap with the Neutral Regulator stuff. I'll test the RO and the Tap before I put it in the tank to see what it's at. I will post the results. I was thinking that I would do 5 Gal water changes once per week and one week of RO and the next week of Tap. I thought I'd use the Kordon stuff in the RO and the Neutral Regator in the Tap, to help lower the PH in the Tap before I put it in the tank since you say you need some of the minerals in the Tap that the RO filter takes out.... Or, I can just use the RO every week and just use that stuff that puts the minerals back into the water. That might be the better way to go. Then the water changes will always be consistant. Thinking about it that's probably what I'll do.. Thanks...
Well, my dwarf blue gourami died today. Before he died he was hiding most of the time behind a rock and his mouth was moving really fast and constantly and I don't think he was eating. Was that symptons of a water quality problem?
Also, I'm putting algae wafers in the tank for the sucker fish to eat and the Silver Dollar fish just starting grabbing it away from him and carrying it off in his mouth and him and the rosery barb fight over it. Eventually, he drops it. He just started doing it and he does it everytime. When he drops it he drops it in wierd places that I think the sucker fish can't always find again.
Also, the silver dollar fish now has a growth or lump on his side. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It doesn't seem to bother him, but I'm not sure what that's all about.
I haven't done anymore water changes. I'm going to try and do another 50% water change today. I'm going to do 5 Gal of RO with the Kordon stuff and 10 Gal of Tap with the Neutral Regulator stuff. I'll test the RO and the Tap before I put it in the tank to see what it's at. I will post the results. I was thinking that I would do 5 Gal water changes once per week and one week of RO and the next week of Tap. I thought I'd use the Kordon stuff in the RO and the Neutral Regator in the Tap, to help lower the PH in the Tap before I put it in the tank since you say you need some of the minerals in the Tap that the RO filter takes out.... Or, I can just use the RO every week and just use that stuff that puts the minerals back into the water. That might be the better way to go. Then the water changes will always be consistant. Thinking about it that's probably what I'll do.. Thanks...
What are your water parameters? If you are continuously running high nitrites, nitrates or ammonia, then of course, you are going to lose fish.
Algae wafers that do not get eaten, will rot and contribute greatly to your water quality problems.
Any chance of a picture?
You've gotten a lot of good advice on this thread on how to take care of your water. The number one priority is to keep the chemistry in good shape, by doing water changes any time the nitrite is .25 or greater, ammonia is .25 or greater or if your nitrates are over 20-30. Number to is to rid your tank of the fish that will grow to big for it. Fish will continue to die unless these things are addressed.
