alkalinity woes

[sarahh]

hey folks, i have been out for a little while, but i am back, and i was hoping for some advice

we have some super acidic water here i guess, and the water pH is staying at about 6.7. the problem i am having is that the alkalinity is stuck below 40 ppm, and i don't know what to do. It's the 30 g planted tank that i have, now minus fish because they kept tanking in there, so i took em out and put them in the 45. I had to put cichlid sand in the 45 to bring the levels up. Now the 30 is just at an all time low, the plants are wilting in places. i have put in 4 piece of coral about the size of a mans fist in there, which seemed to help for a bit, but they have started to drop again.

now i want to keep goldfish and a pleco in there, but i don't want them to crash and die on me. any ideas on bringing it up again? it's bothersome more than anything..

 

[mgamer20o0]

7 is neutral so 6.7 isnt low by any means. there are a ton of fish that prefer that kind of water. i am not 100% about the goldfish but most likely they will be fine. though i wouldnt mix plecos and goldfish since ones a coldwater fish the other a tropical.

 

[sarahh]

thanks for the reply i googled plecos again today, and i have no idea where i got the notion that there was a coldwater species.. doofus mcgee here..

i have started to combat the problem by approaching the tanks like i do the cichlid tanks. i added about a third of cichlid salts as i do to the FW,and the ph settled out at 7.0 and the alkalinity has gone up to almost "ideal" on the tester strip.

another few days and i will beadding fish.. woot!!

 

[jsoong]

Goldfish would prefer pH in the mid 7's, although if the pH is stable, you should be OK at 6.7.

There are only 2 pleco that can be kept with goldfish - bristle nose & rubberlip. The other kinds can attack the goldfish, and a common will get big & eat the fish outright. Now, with plecos & goldfish, you are going to have to have a heater. Fancy goldfish like to be in water of mid 70's+ , so at 75-78F, you can keep both the (dwarf) pleco & goldfish. Now, a purist will say goldfish should be kept in species only tnaks. That is a valid point, esp. in smaller tanks.

I suspect that your water has a secondary buffer that si keeping the pH low. There is likely phosphorus in the water, and you will not be ale to pick that up with the KH kit. (check your water co's quality report). With a second buffer, it will be a bit tricky to doctor the water. Basically, you need to add enough of a carbonate buffer to overwhelm the first buffer. If you are doing coral, you will need to crush it to tiny bits to increase the surface area so a lot of it can dissolve in. Adding cichlid salt like you are doing is another option.

 

[HeathB]

Not that I would ever condone keeping plecos in coldwater, but last year we had an ice storm that knocked our power for a week. The only thing that survived? The pleco. XD He was the definition of hardy.