statisticsnerd
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
First of all, please be forewarned that I am a complete newbie when it comes to maintaining an aquarium, excluding a few goldfish.
I have a 20-gallon tank set up that I would like to add some neon tetras to and maybe a pleco to keep the algae in control. After doing extensive research on the Internet, I have learned that tetras tend to do best in slightly acidic, soft water (please correct me if I'm wrong).
After setting up the tank how I want it, with the filter running and decorations arranged, I let it run for a couple of days before testing the water. Keep in mind that there are no fish in the tank as of now and the water is fresh, straight out of the tap. Also, the decorations are all "aquarium safe". Anyway, I use a test strip from Petsmart (5-in-1 nitrate, nitrite, GH, KH, pH) and everything is fine except for the KH and pH, which are both at the high end of the scale (8.4 pH, 300 ppm KH). The general hardness test amazingly reads "soft" (75 ppm GH).
Being the novice I am, I bought some pH down and ended up using a whole bottle 8O on the tank over a two day period. The pH would lower to 7.2-7.4 but rebound to where it was before in just a few hours.
After having tried and failed at chemically altering the pH and KH, I drained all of the water, afraid that I had perhaps over-medicated. After reading up on peat moss's ability to soften the water and lower pH, I committed to going with that method. After buying some sphagnum peat moss, I filled up a colander with it and poured hot water over the moss and filtered the juice through a towel into a bucket.
Once my aquarium was filled to the top with the dark tea-colored water, I performed a litmus test. Amazingly, KH went down to 40 ppm, GH went down to "very soft" (25 ppm), and pH dropped to 5.0-5.5. Even though water visibility is significantly reduced, I felt comfortable knowing that the peat was having the effect that I had wanted.
However, I went to check the water 12 hours later and much to my surprise the pH went back up to about 8.0 and KH back up at around 250 ppm. On a slightly positive note, the general hardness continues to stay at "very soft" with 25 ppm, where it was right after adding the peat water. What happened overnight? What would cause such a massive rebound for water with pH 5.5 and KH 40 ppm to shoot up so rapidly? The "pH buffer" was removed according to the KH test immediately after filling up with the peat water. Also, the water is still a murky, dark tea color so surely the tannic acid hasn't disappeared. As a precaution, I had removed all carbon filtration beforehand so that the tannins wouldn't be affected. Am I out of luck? I have always enjoyed watching neon tetras in other people's fish tanks, but now I'm starting to think I should just stick to keeping goldfish.
I have a 20-gallon tank set up that I would like to add some neon tetras to and maybe a pleco to keep the algae in control. After doing extensive research on the Internet, I have learned that tetras tend to do best in slightly acidic, soft water (please correct me if I'm wrong).
After setting up the tank how I want it, with the filter running and decorations arranged, I let it run for a couple of days before testing the water. Keep in mind that there are no fish in the tank as of now and the water is fresh, straight out of the tap. Also, the decorations are all "aquarium safe". Anyway, I use a test strip from Petsmart (5-in-1 nitrate, nitrite, GH, KH, pH) and everything is fine except for the KH and pH, which are both at the high end of the scale (8.4 pH, 300 ppm KH). The general hardness test amazingly reads "soft" (75 ppm GH).
Being the novice I am, I bought some pH down and ended up using a whole bottle 8O on the tank over a two day period. The pH would lower to 7.2-7.4 but rebound to where it was before in just a few hours.
After having tried and failed at chemically altering the pH and KH, I drained all of the water, afraid that I had perhaps over-medicated. After reading up on peat moss's ability to soften the water and lower pH, I committed to going with that method. After buying some sphagnum peat moss, I filled up a colander with it and poured hot water over the moss and filtered the juice through a towel into a bucket.
Once my aquarium was filled to the top with the dark tea-colored water, I performed a litmus test. Amazingly, KH went down to 40 ppm, GH went down to "very soft" (25 ppm), and pH dropped to 5.0-5.5. Even though water visibility is significantly reduced, I felt comfortable knowing that the peat was having the effect that I had wanted.
However, I went to check the water 12 hours later and much to my surprise the pH went back up to about 8.0 and KH back up at around 250 ppm. On a slightly positive note, the general hardness continues to stay at "very soft" with 25 ppm, where it was right after adding the peat water. What happened overnight? What would cause such a massive rebound for water with pH 5.5 and KH 40 ppm to shoot up so rapidly? The "pH buffer" was removed according to the KH test immediately after filling up with the peat water. Also, the water is still a murky, dark tea color so surely the tannic acid hasn't disappeared. As a precaution, I had removed all carbon filtration beforehand so that the tannins wouldn't be affected. Am I out of luck? I have always enjoyed watching neon tetras in other people's fish tanks, but now I'm starting to think I should just stick to keeping goldfish.