PH concerns .

[pisan]

so I have read it is more important to have a stable PH rather than the number its self . so I filled my brand new aquarium 55 gallon no planted tank and 24 hours later I tested it . reading are PH 7.4 ammonia 0.25 nitrites 0 nitrates 0
I know about cycling and plan on doing a fish in cycle ( dainios ) but my question is this if my PH is stable ( rock steady ) at 7.4 can a community tank thrive ? danios , tetras , hatchets , the normal everyday community tank fish .. or am I going to have rethink my stocking ? I would rather not have to chase PH all the time and just use what comes out of the well with maybe some peete pellets in the filter . what say you community ..

 

[coralbandit]

7.4 is about as good as it gets for pH.
Now you need to find out what your gH is ...
That is more important IMO.
Mass. is notorious for hard water....

 

[pisan]

GH ? general hardness correct . I am on a well and that goes through a salt / filter softener . I will have to get a test kit for that I thought the ATI master freshwater test kit covered that but again I was wrong . yes straight out of the tap and 24 hours later it is 7.4 lowest reading on the high scale ..

 

[coralbandit]

yes GH is general hardness.
I raise my GBR in 7.6 PH, it is not always the most important parameter. You are also correct to not chase pH.
You are way better being able to change water right from tap.
That way changing water is easy..

 

[pisan]

water is now clouding up not bad but cloudy none the less has been 5 days now .

 

[coralbandit]

Most call it a bacterial bloom .
It is an imbalance of complete bacteria.
Test for ammonia if you have fish in.

 

[pisan]

no fish in yet and wasn't planning on doing a fishless cycle either . just letting tank get settled temp , ph , etc might put in some this weekend . ph is still 7.4 temp is 78 ammonia is 0.25 nothing on nitrates or nitrites

 

[lewis.r]

One of the hardiest fish perfect for low maintenance and don't seem to be too fussed on water parameters are white cloud minnows however they prefer cooler temps at between 18-23 degrees. So depends what other fish you are getting and what temperatures they prefer

 

[BBradbury]

pisan...

I'm going against the status quo here, but if you learn to keep things simple and understand that the vast majority of pet store fish will be fine in the vast majority of public water supplies and simply treat the water with an additive that removes chlorine and chloramine from the water, you'll be a happier and a better tank keeper. As long as your goal is to keep a basic freshwater tank with a hardy fish species like Danios, Platies, Swordtails, Guppies, Rasboras, White Clouds and some others, from the local pet store, which is what most of us do, you don't need to know the chemical makeup of your tap water. This includes pH, hardness and any of the other chemistry stuff.

What you do need to do is properly cycle the tank to establish the bacteria colony and once cycled, to remove and replace most of the tank water at least weekly. This alone will guarantee a stable water chemistry and your fish and plants will take care of themselves.

Don't make the "water keeping" hobby more difficult than it needs to be by learning every tidbit of what makes up your tap water and trying to figure out how to manipulate it. It's a waste of your time and does nothing good for whatever lives in the tank.

B

 

[lewis.r]

pisan...

I'm going against the status quo here, but if you learn to keep things simple and understand that the vast majority of pet store fish will be fine in the vast majority of public water supplies and simply treat the water with an additive that removes chlorine and chloramine from the water, you'll be a happier and a better tank keeper. As long as your goal is to keep a basic freshwater tank with a hardy fish species like Danios, Platies, Swordtails, Guppies, Rasboras, White Clouds and some others, from the local pet store, which is what most of us do, you don't need to know the chemical makeup of your tap water. This includes pH, hardness and any of the other chemistry stuff.

What you do need to do is properly cycle the tank to establish the bacteria colony and once cycled, to remove and replace most of the tank water at least weekly. This alone will guarantee a stable water chemistry and your fish and plants will take care of themselves.

Don't make the "water keeping" hobby more difficult than it needs to be by learning every tidbit of what makes up your tap water and trying to figure out how to manipulate it. It's a waste of your time and does nothing good for whatever lives in the tank.

B

Fully agree! I have literally put some easy plants in to some gravel and they grow fine. I have a mature tank that's been running for a while so everything is settled and don't get any spikes or sporadic water chemistry and all is fine!
Just knowing the basics with a little of advanced knowledge in some areas is all you need.
Keep up with water changes once a week and other regular tank maintenance and all will be fine [emoji1303]

 

[pisan]

guys I appreciate all the advice , I really do . I will be getting some cycled bio media soon to kick off the tank then some danios to keep it all going . for a 55 how many danios should I use for a fish in cycle .. thanks again all of you

 

[lewis.r]

I would say 5 or 6 to start with in that tank and give it 2 weeks and keep an eye on water parameters over those weeks. I did I fish in cycle and the key to it is slow and steady.

You probs want to be testing your water every other day if not every day.
It's stressful keeping the harmful ammonia and nitrites down during that time hence the reason why you don't want to over stock straight away.
You could even start with maybe 4 and see how that goes over a week or so and see what ammonia reading you are getting then keep adding 2 more at a time until you get more activity.
When your ammonia starts to drop your nitrites will rise pretty sharply and that's when you will know whether you may have over stocked it slightly.

But that's why it's important to start off small and do it over a few weeks. I didn't have any media to seed my filter and in total took 2 months to cycle fully!! Your may be quicker though as you have some media.

You can use various bacteria in a bottle products to help (apparently) not sure how good they are though but there are also products that you can add during cycling to turn your harmful ammonia into less harmful ammonia but I can't remember what these are called so maybe worth doing some research into them.

 

[pisan]

again thanks for all the good advise . I put 6 golden danios in today . I think that is what the lfs called them kinda bla looking fish but what the hell just starting cycle also got some well established filter pads to kick off the filters . so tank has been running for one week prior to fish and everything was stable with one light water change . 10 gls . so on the amonia scale what should I be worried about ?

 

[coralbandit]

Don't let it go over 1ppm
Many will say.25/.50 but you have to have enough to grow the next bacteria.
When it gets to 1ppm bring it back to .5 with a 50% wc.
IMO you should not register anything but nitrAtes if the media was really cycled.
It is not magic ,I have stocked brand tanks day 1 with 'old filters' and all new water.
Never had a problem.

 

[pisan]

thank you again it is all sinking in so far fish seem happy . eating and swimming all around like crazy kids except one , that one is hiding but there is only 6 of them in such a big tank .

 

[pisan]

still no ammonia and now ph is creeping up .. any recommendations ?