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neshikins

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 8, 2011
Messages
13
Hello all,

Complete newbie here. I'm afraid to say I had purchased a biorb life 16 gallon tank (rectangular tall not spherical).

Still.... I shall give it a go. Currently on my second week of fish less cycling and awaiting some encouraging readings.

Have a heater in there and looking forward to some new arrivals in the near future. Would love some reccoomendations for fish. Would maybe like some schooling fish and one or two larger friendly fish :) any ideas ?

Best wishes !
 
welcome. types of fish all depend on personal pref, how much you're willing to put into it. and alot of what your local water conditions are like. do some research on what types of fish go well with your local water as far as ph, hardness or softness, if you want a freshwater, or brackish (semi salted) freshwater tank. and the temperature you plan on keeping the water. if you have multiple types of fish, or a community, you want to make sure that whatever you put in all falls into to the same range of these parameters.
 
Hello all,

Thanks for the messages, I shall try and answer the questions.

Current readings are 3ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites , 0 nitrates. So I'm just topping up the ammonia to keep it around 3ppm.

I live in south west uk the water is very very hard. I have an ion exchange water softener fitted in the house. I searched many many websites to find out if the softened water would be ok in the tank, and thus it is filled with the softened water, but obviously still has carbonate ions but the calcium and magnesium have been exchanged with sodium ions.

Ph is a liitle high at the moment about 9 , but this is probably due to the addition of ammonia? ( I'm a chemistry teacher)!

The dimensions are

It is a portrait tank. A biorb life .

Height: 25 inches (63cm)
Width: 16.5 inches (42cm))
Depth: 11 inches (28cm)
Weight (Full): 144 pounds (65kg)


Any help most gratefully received.

Nesh
 
a ph of 9 is very high, most tropical fish thrive around a ph of 7.5 unless they are african species and then it can range in the 8.5 range such a some cichlids. Most south american species will prefer the ph at levels between 6.5 and 7.0. Generally the ph of the tank will drop over time without doing water changes, but you will need to keep the ph consistant in order for your fish to adjust to its levels. You might want to consider adding something to make the water more acidic such as adding some moss or bog wood of some type. The tannins leached into the water will lower ph levels.
 
I agree that the basic properties of ammonia in the right quantity, would raise your pH pretty significantly. However, we are talking about very minute amounts... 4ppm... so even without the addition of that small amount of ammonia, your pH is going to test high. You could get most common fish to adjust to 8.5 or below (preferably closer to 7.5)... I think it is probably the softening of the water that is causing your high pH.
 
Thanks folks. What I will do is test of pH from the soft water tap and another test of the tank water. I will post shortly .......

Would a buffering agent help ? Or will this hinder the cycling ?
 
Welcome to AA!!! I have a constant PH of 8.2 in all 3 tanks in the house. I tested my tap water as well and its also 8.2. All my fish (mollies, skirted tetras, and corydoras) and doing great....
 
Ok just took some readings.

Softened water straight out of tap pH 7.2
Tank water pH 8.4 with API liquid test and pH 9 with dip stick
Ammonia 4ppm
No nitrites.

Anything I should be doing ?
 
the liquid kit is far more accurate than the stick method. Most fish you get these days are captive bred, and will tolerate a better range of ph than they would in a natural environment, so that being said, I would say you just need to start looking at individual types of fish that you would enjoy, and then seeing what fits best. Its generally easiest to pick one species you like at first, and then work around whats compatible with them, instead of picking a bunch of different fish you might not like.
 
Great , thanks for the reassurance. I shall eagerly wait.

Will try and narrow some fish choices down and also keep you posted for any developments .

Thanks once again.
 
Hi again,

Two weeks now and no change in ammonia, no nitrites present :( added some tetra safe start again two days ago.

Added a couple of fish flakes as someone else suggested. :( still nothing. Parameters all the same as last time. Did use dechlorinator, heater is on. Hmmmmm

Any suggestions?
 
An easy fix would to add distilled water to your tap water to bring the pH down to 7.5-8. This would be better I believe than adding chemicals. I like to do things the easy way! :)
 
The problem with trying to control it with distilled water is, if you use too much, there will be no buffers in the water, and the tank could suffer a pH crash. If you use too little, the pH will not be the same as the water in the tank, and pH swings are dangerous for almost all fish. A pH of 8.4 is suitable for most common fish so long as they are acclimated. Are you planning on keeping something that needs a specific pH?
 
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