Recent content by rehobothBeachBum

As I suspected he would, my poor SAE died, I'm guessing from the change in ph. :( That's the bad news. The good news is that the other fish seem to be fine (which is a bit surprising. I've heard that neon tetras are exceedingly vulnerable to changes in water chemistry. They seem to be...

Update I finally found a small bag of crushed coral last weekend. I added a pound to my 26 gallon tank on Sunday. The ph was reading 6.8. Because I noticed my flying fox (SAE) moping on the bottem of the tank at feeding time tonight (he is usually up top with the other fishes to eat the...

Hello, I started a 26" aquarium last Sept. I was reviewing my electricity bill and it seems that my household usage has increased from 300 kwh per month (before aquarium), to 400kwh per month after. I keep my house cold (65 while away, and 69 while at home). My aqaurium temp is 78...

After 24 hours the two pieces of driftwood (from S. Africa) in the bucket dropped the pH from 7.8 to 7.5. The tag claimed that it would drop the pH. I had no idea that it would drop it that much. Based on the advice here, I am going to pick up some crushed coral this weekend to try to bring up...

I have Seachem Acid Buffer (lowers pH by converting KH into CO2) and Alkaline Buffer (Raises pH by increasing KH - what I've been referring to as PH up). The packaging says that when used together, the water will be buffered and the PH stabilized. Any thoughts on using these two products to...

jsoong - Thanks for the info. My only concern is that my tank is mostly a tetra tank. I thought tetras preferred ph of below 7.0 If using crushed coral buffers the water, but raises the ph to 7.8, won't the tetras be unhappy? Thanks for the post about water chemistry. I will read it...

I tested the aquarium tonight and GH tests at about 75 and KH tests between 10 and 30. So it looks like the KH is way to low? Is adding crushed coral is the best way to stabilize KH? Thanks!

After yesterday's 50% water change/gravel vacuum, the ph was at around 7.0 (up from 6.0). I tested today and it has already dropped to 6.8. I've taken your excellent advice and removed both pieces of driftwood and placed them in a bucket. I'll test the aquarium tomorrow (w/o driftwood) and...

I'm a bit late posting here, since I've already made two posting looking for help (thanks to everyone that answered). I started my freshwater aquarium in August of 2009, and have been looking for an online forum ever since. I posted a few pics of some of my setup and a few fish. Anyway...

2 dwarf gouramis 3 zebra danios 4 diamond tetras 5 neon tetras

OK, so I did the overnight bucket test. Water out of my tap tests at 7.6 ph. After overnight in a bucket, the water still tests at 7.6. From what I read about the cause of Planaria Worms (over feeding, and too much gravel), I've reduced my feedings to once per day, and removed gravel to...

So you don't think that 6.0 is too low? What worries me is that after every water change the ph tests low, then I use ph up to raise it to around 6.8, but within a week, it's back down to 6.0. What I'm hearing is that I should not be concerned if 6.0 is where it wants to be.