Hi Everyone- I'm an idiot!

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Reannon's Servant

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
7
Location
Duncan BC
Hey, I'm a newbie here, just needed to get some advice on a situation I got myself into today!

I was having pH problems ( too high) and after trying a pH down and getting no results I thought it could have been the gravel I was using. Since I want a nicely planted aquarium I decided to get Flourite black sand.. great.. so I take my fish out, take my gravel out.... dump in new Flourite....... I'm sure you all see exactly where this is going right???

Yeah.. so my tank looks like the black lagoon. I want to set it back up so I don't have to disturb it anymore and it can settle to the bottom, however I can't SEE inside my tank to put anything where I want it! And then, on top of that.. I have a bunch of fish that are now homeless! What I really want to know is when can I add the fish back and it be safe for them??

Thanks everyone!

Nicole
 
Welcome to AA!

If it were me, I'd drop a heater (the one from your tank already preset to the right temp) and an airstone in the bucket and let the fish stay there overnight. TUrn off the filtration in the tank and just let the fluorite settle out some overnight. Tomorrow, big PWC and and you'll be on your way.
 
Hi Welcome to AA! I would do what Neilan suggests. Also don't worry about trying to adjust ph, a stable ph is better than trying to adjust it to the "perfect" ph.

Keep an eye on your paramters to make sure you don't have a mini cycle after changing out the substrate.
 
well the problem is my pH is about 7.8... so adding new fish is very hard because they are so shocked by the pH change. I've been FAIRLY successful so far only lost one fish, but I wanted to get some Blue Rams and the store I get them from has a 7 pH.. I don't want to kill the poor guys
 
If you absolutely must lower your pH, then don't use chemicals for the task. If you are sucessfully you'll probably just totally destabilize your pH which would be even worse. Instead you'll want to use Peat in your Filter, Driftwood, or your best bet would be to mix RO water with your tap water.
 
after changing the gravel and stuff in my tank my pH may be just fine. I'm hoping so!

Here is a total chemical analysis on my tank.. it's still fairly new, I don't have alot of fish just yet nor do i really plan to, I think I will add a few rams and maybe some more cardinal tetras and that will be it...

pH- 7.8

High KH

Hard GH

Nitrite 0

Nitrate- 20
 
Have you tested your Tap Water after letting sit out 24hrs or aerating it for an 1hr? This would tell you what your starting pH is. Do you have actual numbers for KH and GH? If your KH really is fairly high then a high pH is expected.
 
Even with that pH, I don't recommend trying to adjust it. Rather, do a slow drip acclimation when you get new fish. This will help them more slowly adjust to the delta and once they make it in they'll be happier with it being stable.
 
I know my GH is between 150-300 and my KH is between 180-300

I haven't tested the sitting tap water, but my roommate who has an established aquarium has virtually identical stats
 
I also support the practice of adapting to your tap pH, rather than trying to use chemicals to alter your tank pH. I have both funny stories and horror stories about trying to do this. Is your LFS far away, or on a different water supply? Have you tested the LFS pH yourself with the same test kit you use at home? Many LFS will use test strips, and the readings are usually not accurate compared to a liquid reagent test kit. Next time you bring home a fish, test the pH of the bag water with your kit, and use a quality liquid reagent kit, such as from Aquarium Pharmacueticals.

Supposing you do have a 0.8 pH difference, you can acclimate your new fish to your tank pH by slowly adding tank water to the bag as it floats around and equilibrates temperatures. Take your time, spread it out over an hour or two if you want to.
 
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