pH and nitrates

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Larry Little

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Feb 18, 2017
Messages
98
Have a tank that has been running for about 9 weeks. Everything has been percolating well until the last 10 days during which I've been experiencing a slow fish die-off. All eating, then one by one cease eating and die. I'm an old-school aquarist just getting back into the hobby after 30 years.

Anyway, I got both a pH test kit and a nitrate kit and have shocking numbers. The pH reading is 7.0 - 8.0 and the nitrate number is around 80 ppm.

I should mention I have live plants of several varieties; Kleiner Bar swords, Rubin swords, pygmy chain swords, water sprite, Staurogyne repens, Italian vallisneria and one other whose name I can't remember. The vall is melting, but all the other plants are at least holding their own.

The pH of my tap water is high at around 7.8 as well. In the "old days, we used to add white vinegar (acetic acid) to lower pH. Is this still acceptable? Of course, back then, we used it to neutralize chlorine as well. Also, if I lower the pH, will the nitrate reading be affected? My thinking is that the plants should do better with the lower pH and thereby take up the nitrates more efficiently.

I probably should mention ( if you haven't read my introduction) I have a great deal of knowledge and experience, just all of it either antiquated or obsolete.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Did you test ammonia and nitrite with a liquid test kit?, is your ph fluctuating as its more harmful to fish if you have fluctuations than a stable ph of 7.8, I wouldn't add chemicals to lower it if that's what you want to do I would add aquarium safe peat moss into the filter, 80 ppm nitrate is on the higher side but it's not killing your fish, I'm guessing either ammonia or nitrite, do you see anything on the fish as a sign of an infection of some sort

What water conditioner do you use when you do your partial water changes if any?

Do you have a master liquid test kit for water testing?
 
Hi Rick -- I tested the nitrates and pH with liquid test kits, but don't have NH2 or nitrite kits at the house. No signs of either infection or generalized stress; just one fish at a time.
 
Please forgive me y'all, but somehow I deleted a response from someone who does a podcast about water chemistry. I'd really like to get the name. Sorry about that.
 
Okay first thing you want to do is get an api master liquid test kit as ammonia and nitrite are you biggest concerns, you can buy the ammonia and nitrite test kits individually since you have the other 2 for about $11.00 each, but might as well save the money in the long run and buy the whole kit, that's on your discretion, ph fluctuations are worse than a stable ph, nitrate isn't a big deal just deeper substrate Vacs and 10% extra when doing a water change should bring them down, so if you do 25% a week do 35% a week, some people will tell you it's okay to do 50-75% but from what I have read its actually very bad to do in one sitting so it's best to break it up into 2 per week, do you dose ferts if so that could be keeping your nitrate at a higher ppm?
 
Also when you go to pet smart /pet Co /lfs to get the kit pick up a bottle Seachem prime water conditioner
 
Larry...

Nothing wrong with "old school" tank keeping. I'm with you on this. Don't know the specifics of your tank as far as size. You no doubt recall the old way of water keeping. No water changes or very little. This doesn't fly anymore. If you're getting your fish from the local pet store, your water supply is the same as theirs. Since they're keeping fish, you can too.

You need to remove and replace most of the tank water every few days. This will steady the general water chemistry and you won't have to worry about testing. The smaller the tank, the more water needs to be changed and more often.

Check the lighting requirements of the plants you keep. It's likely you don't have enough. Use root tabs for the plants that need to go into the bottom material. Just dose per the instructions. Any floating plants will be fine with the nutrients the fish provide.

Feed the fish a little of a variety every day or two. They don't need much. The most important part of fish keeping is the water. Keep it waste free with large, frequent water changes and the fish and plants will take care of themselves.

B
 
Larry...

Nothing wrong with "old school" tank keeping. I'm with you on this. Don't know the specifics of your tank as far as size. You no doubt recall the old way of water keeping. No water changes or very little. This doesn't fly anymore. If you're getting your fish from the local pet store, your water supply is the same as theirs. Since they're keeping fish, you can too.

You need to remove and replace most of the tank water every few days. This will steady the general water chemistry and you won't have to worry about testing. The smaller the tank, the more water needs to be changed and more often.

Check the lighting requirements of the plants you keep. It's likely you don't have enough. Use root tabs for the plants that need to go into the bottom material. Just dose per the instructions. Any floating plants will be fine with the nutrients the fish provide.

Feed the fish a little of a variety every day or two. They don't need much. The most important part of fish keeping is the water. Keep it waste free with large, frequent water changes and the fish and plants will take care of themselves.

B
I do 30% weekly on a 55 gallon and my parameters are spot on, and you should always test and treat the water with a conditioner as I recommended prime, water changes depend on his bio load, if he has for an example a 30 gallon with 6 fish he won't need to do huge water changes, it also depends on filtration as well as if he has a dead zone in the tank from a filter being on one side so the leftover food and fish waste don't get sucked up on the far end of the filter, a lot it variables come into play with water changes when I was 135% stocked I did 2-3 changes a week but only 30% each time
 
Pot...

You're missing one important fact. Water contained in a tank is constantly running through a filter system. Every time the water passes through that system, more trace elements are removed. The fish, plants and bacteria use up those elements too and simple oxidation removes more. You'll still need to remove and replace most of tank water weekly to replace those elements, even if you had one fish in a 100 gallon tank.

There's no way to neglect the water change. Large, frequent water changes on a regular basis will guarantee a steady water chemistry. This is the most important part of tank keeping.

B
 
Yeah I do 30% weekly and have not one issue, I'm taking about ammonia/nitrite your talking about minerals etc etc, I don't run carbon just media and filter sponge and floss in my 2 AC 110's
 
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