fresh water tank...water

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Thanks for the info. (y)
For starters, water changes are more effective when done on a weekly basis rather than monthly. With that many fish in the tank, you need to exchange higher nitrate water with clean water more frequently to keep the tank healthier. Excess/ uneaten food, fish poo and detritus all help foul up the water so even if they are smaller amounts but more frequent water changes, it would be better than monthly. Water changes also help replenish minerals that are found in the water which also helps the fish and snails because they do absorb them out of the water so they need to be replaced. ( And Yes, LOW PH will effect snail shells as it means the water has more acid in it and that eats away the shells.;) ) There is also a correlation between rising nitrates and falling PH so the water changes also help keep the PH more stable. While a reading of 40 PPM nitrates is considered acceptable, fish go by "the lower the better" so please keep that in mind. (y) One way to do that is to clean a small section of your substrate at ever water change. Assuming you have a standard 55 gal which is 48" long and 12" wide, if you vacuumed a 6" x 12" area at every water change, you should not be disturbing enough of the bacteria bed to have any real effect on it. What I do on my tanks is to make marks with a magic marker at certain distances so I know where to clean. So say you started at one end of your tank and went from left to right, make a mark at 6", 12" 18", etc. so that every week, you just vacuum within that one 6" space and the next week, move it to the next 6" space and just keep rotating like that. This will help keep any detritus from building up and degrading your water. (y)

So now it comes down to knowing your tap water readings. If it has ammonia and/or nitrates in it or not plays a key role in how you manage your tank. I again suggest you invest in your own test kits so you can have more immediate answers in the future. They are one of the best investments you can make for your fish. (y) So please post your readings after you get the tap water tested. (y) (y)
 
Thanx, also for the info.(y)
I will definitely take you up on your suggestions. I will have my water tested this week-end and post them. :rolleyes:
I do have a standard 55 gallon tank just to let you know.:fish2:
 
Thanx, also for the info.(y)
I will definitely take you up on your suggestions. I will have my water tested this week-end and post them. :rolleyes:
I do have a standard 55 gallon tank just to let you know.:fish2:

Great. Once we know exactly what we are dealing with, it will make helping you a whole lot easier. :D(y)
 
water

i will shop around, but, does anyone have suggestions on getting the right test kit. i obviously dont want just strips and want a good one on a budget.
 
API freshwater master test kit. I think cheapest via Amazon if you are in the US.

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Water

I talked to someone today and told them that I had to replace my filter about 7 months ago. I have not replaced carbon cartridges at all. They said that could be part of the problem. What are your opinions? I will test water over weekend.
 
I talked to someone today and told them that I had to replace my filter about 7 months ago. I have not replaced carbon cartridges at all. They said that could be part of the problem. What are your opinions? I will test water over weekend.

While carbon does pull impurities out of the water, it doesn't pull out ammonia or nitrate so that is not the issue. Most people using a HOB filter need to do some maintenance on the filter cartridges as they go along because as they get filled with debris, they clog and stop working creating an inhospitable environment for nitrifying bacteria to live on. You will need to rinse off the cartridges as they fill up so that water can continue to pass through them not around them. As for carbon cartridges alone, they do have a relatively short lifespan due to the absorbency of the carbon. Many people stop replacing the carbon in the filters to save money and just do water changes instead. I like to do both.

What I am assuming is that the detritus in your tank had caused the water to acidify and nitrates to climb. You can check that by taking a stick and swirl some substrate areas in your tank and see what comes up. If a lot of stuff flies out of the substrate, BINGO!!!!! ;) If not much comes out ( out of a large area) then something else is at work here and the water tests may help answer what it is.

Hope this helps (y)
 
Water

I do rinse my carbon filters and that I believe helps. I will try stirring the substrate. If stuff flies up then does that mean that is a big part of the problem. Is the next step to do a water change and really hit the substrate? Or what is suggestions.
 
I do rinse my carbon filters and that I believe helps. I will try stirring the substrate. If stuff flies up then does that mean that is a big part of the problem. Is the next step to do a water change and really hit the substrate? Or what is suggestions.

If you have a combo carbon and floss cartridge, the carbon is probably not doing anything in the way of filtering anymore if it's many months old. Rinsing carbon only cleans it off, not make it re-effective. At this point, it's more a place for nitrifying bacteria to adhere to than a filter. Since that bacteria like oxygen, it's in the filter cartridges because of the water flow. This is why you only really should clean off the filter cartridges of most HOBs rather than replace them. Keep in mind that bacteria also lives in many places in the aquarium and as long as there is good oxygenation in the tank, the bacteria will be in more than just the filter. At some point, your filter cartridge will need to be replaced but there are ways to retain some of that bacteria which we can get to at a later point. (y)
If you have a lot of "stuff" come up from the gravel, then YES, the problem is most likely being caused by that stuff. It's natural so not a catastrophy and an explanation of why you were going along with no issues then suddenly had PH crashes and rises in nitrates and ammonia. That stuff decays and creates the conditions for the problems. The problem is that if you do remove most of it too fast, you will most likely upset the balance of your bacteria bed so it needs to be removed methodically versus drastically which is where weekly water changes will help.

So once we know what the tap water reads, then you will know where you need to get your water from or what you need to do to the water. (y)
 
Water

Unfortunately I do not know kh, but I did have my water checked. My numbers are now good. A little high, just a little , nothing to worry about. My ph did come down. Now between 7-8. I am planning on doing a small water change soon and have been thinking about my filtration. I have seen many ideas on media for filter, and different types of filters. One I did like was putting a poly fiber filter in in replacement of cartridges and also a small bag of ceramic media balls or rings.
Any suggestions?
I hope I am able to provide enough info. to understand the problems.
Thank you.
 
Is it also possible that the carbon leached out bad stuff into the tank if the water is acidic I believe? Carbon is only active 2 weeks to maybe a month. After that it's basically no good. Many people do not even use it. I have the Fluval Aquaclear filters and the Fluval canister filters and I don't use the carbon ever. I instead use the ammonia remover.

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Unfortunately I do not know kh, but I did have my water checked. My numbers are now good. A little high, just a little , nothing to worry about. My ph did come down. Now between 7-8. I am planning on doing a small water change soon and have been thinking about my filtration. I have seen many ideas on media for filter, and different types of filters. One I did like was putting a poly fiber filter in in replacement of cartridges and also a small bag of ceramic media balls or rings.
Any suggestions?
I hope I am able to provide enough info. to understand the problems.
Thank you.

It would help if you posted the actual results and what your tap water reads as well. I really was concerned/ interested with the tap water more than the tank's water. The falling PH in just this short amount of time since the last water change says to me that your chemical hardness is poor which is why it is falling. As we discussed in a previous post, if your tap water is low in hardness, then so is your tank and doing water changes will not solve the problem. If your tap is high and your tank is low, it will. Each result will have a different solution. Plus, we discussed detritus in the substrate. What happened there? I need these answers to go to the next step. (y)
 
Water

The ph in the tap water was on the high side. Ammonia...close to 0 Nitrites 0, Nitrates..close to 0. The ph is higher than tank water. The other parameters are a little higher than tank water. Close to 0 but a little higher. Tank water more like 0. Hope this makes sense. As far as the detritus, I will let you know, I'm gonna check tomm.
 
The ph in the tap water was on the high side. Ammonia...close to 0 Nitrites 0, Nitrates..close to 0. The ph is higher than tank water. The other parameters are a little higher than tank water. Close to 0 but a little higher. Tank water more like 0. Hope this makes sense. As far as the detritus, I will let you know, I'm gonna check tomm.

If your tap's PH is higher than your tank and your tank PH is falling there's a sign of trouble in the system there, especially since the time between changes was so short. This leads more to needing to know your KH of the tap water and tank water to see if they match or the tap has any. You can't blindly treat this situation. :nono: If your LFS can't test for Gh & KH, spend the $10.00 or so and buy your own test kit. It looks like THAT is going to be a life saver for your fish. (y)
 
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