Tap Water and Tank Water Readings

[materbona]

I am treating my Oscar for what appears to be hith disease. Using Fungus Guard while waiting for API General Cure to arrive (we have no real pet shop here). So the oscar tank had mad nitrate readings. Did a large partial water change yesterday before adding 5 dissolved Fungus Guard Tablets. His tank has also had constant brown algae since I had to move the large pleco out because the Oscar was attacking him..... despite weekly vacuuming and 1/4 to 1/3 water change. No live plants are in any of my tanks. His is 60 gal. So I have low ph issues in three tanks despite weekly water replacements and vacuuming. The other three are fine as far as ph alone, including the Oscar tank.

I bought Tetra Strips cause I just found out about kh, etc. but already had the API master kit which did not measure Kh and Gh. The values for my tap water are:
nitrate 0-20, nitrite 0, GH 0-25, chlorine 0, KH 40, ph 6.2 - 6.8

42 Gal Bowfront (1/3 water change yesterday) (Aqua Clear 110 filter. loaches, corys, plecos, synydontis, flying foxes
nitrate 40-80,nitrite .5, gh 75, chlorine 0, KH 0, ph 6.2

15 Gal Column no water change for 5 days - Aqueon Med filter,pleco, flying foxes, guppies
nitrate 60, nitrite 1-3,GH 75-150, chlorine 0, KH 0, ph 6.2

5 Gal no water change for 5 days - Aqua Clear 20 filter) small shriveled loach I have nursed for 2 years, 4 small corys, 2 guppies---- I first noticed a couple of guppies died and found the ph really low
nitrate 20, nitrite 0-.5, GH 75, chlorine 0, KH 0, ph 6.2

Lastly 60 gal Oscar tank mentioned above..2 Aqua Clear 110 filters..large partial water change yesterday, vacuum and algae scraping on walls: there is fungus guard in the tank now which I plan to change out and replace with general cure if needed (I have ordered it)
nitrate 40, nitrite 0-.5,GH 150, chlorine 0, KH 40, ph 7.2-7.8

I ordered these Tetra test strips and seachem Alkaline Buffer and Acid Buffer. I also have PH Up and Down. Can anyone decipher this? Sounds like my tap water ph is a little strange...... I know this is a long post but I really want to regulate my tanks better...my bow front has really nice fish and I want to help my Oscar Buddy...General Cure was suggested (which I ordered) but I have a variety of other things here....Melafix, Pimafix, Prazipro, Acriflavine MS (bought for turtles but is a fish product) Seachem Stress Guard. I generally use Prime to when doing water replacements. Sorry for the lengthy post but any insight into the KH, GH ph relationships and what to do would really be appreciated. I tend to do these water changes each week and clean the filters at least every other week. I have tried a variety of added filter pads...I don't change all the aqua clear media --just rinse it--and after while toss one of the pieces...I don't always use charcoal. I have recently been adding poly filters but am confused somewhat about them---can they really be regenerated? Mine stay dark after a while. I add them to the foam and bio material. Thanks again for any help. The KH GH thing is a new animal to me, as was cycling the tank when I came back to aquariums a couple of years ago. Have had these fish now for 2-3 years---lost a few guppies and one golden algae eater that was quite large---hoping to get my tanks in better shape without buying much more!!!! All fish eat tetra or hikari foods, plus I use a lot of Romaine lettuce leaves on clips---but 2 of the tanks that have no probs at all get lettuce leaves and they are only 10 gal, so I don't think it could be the lettuce. The plecos and flying foxes love it!


I added some drops of ph up to these tanks (except for the oscar tank) before I left for 4 days--but have changed the bow front like I said. The other tanks I'll check later --2 10 gal guppy tanks and a 40 gal (actually only filled to 20) turtle tank with some guppies in it too. These three have been pretty ok.

 

[dalto]

Your tap water does not look that strange to me. It is soft and acidic. I would kill for your water.

That being said, what is happening is the low KH in your water is causing your tanks to pH crash once the KH has been consumed. Simply doing more frequent water and/or changes would likely resolve your issue as it would keep your KH higher.

If you want to raise your KH which would not be a bad idea, you can do so with buffers. What you need to do first is decide how much pH and hardness you want in each of your tanks. Generally, you will use one thing to raise pH/KH and another to raise GH. Given your fish it would probably be easiest just to keep a neutral pH.

Raising KH/pH:
If your KH is low the easiest way to raise it and set a specific pH is to use phosphate buffers. Seachem makes 3 phosphate buffers, Discus buffer for pH 5.5, Neutral Regulator for pH 7 and alkaline regulator for pH 7.6. These will raise KH and set a specific(or close to) a specific KH and are difficult to dose improperly. If you want your pH to be above 8 the easiest way is to use alkaline buffer or baking soda. I don't think this is the case for your tanks.

An alternative to this if for some reason you cannot use a phosphate buffer is to use a combination of Alkaline buffer and Acid Buffer together. This method works, and it is what I do in my own tanks. However, it requires far more care to be placed into accurate dosing and pretreating or it will cause pH swings. Also, since your KH is not 0 you cannot follow the dosing recipes on the bottle. You will need to experiment and find the appropriate mix of alkaline buffer and acid buffer that give you an appropriate pH.

GH:
GH is a lot simpler to raise. You can either use a commercial product of which there are many, or you can use something like Epson Salt which will increase the magnesium content in the water and raise GH.

All that being said, I have a couple of concerns about your scenario above. First, most of your tanks have nitrite readings. Are they still cycling?

Second, your tanks have a significantly higher GH than your tap water. This makes me wonder if you water is actually changing over time in which case you would need to keep an eye on it to ensure that you are handling your additives properly.

 

[materbona]

Thanks Dalto

I already purchased Seachem Alkaline Buffer and smaller Seachem Acid Buffer.Nitrites don't really show up with the API Drops--and my tanks shouldn't be cycling? I've had them over 2 years now...what would make them cycle? Sounds like the easiest thing to use, besides water changes, is the Seachem Neutral Regulator but will the phosphates harm thin skinned fish or something? Sounds like you avoid using them? Also, you said my water may be changing..you mean my tap water? By keeping an eye on additives do you mean if I start using buffers or what I am already using, like Prime, which is sometimes hard to estimate for partial changes. I read the instructions on these two buffers. So do you treat the whole tank not just the amount of a water change? I would think 7 would be a good ph overall? Although the oscar and turtle tank are a little higher. So in treating my 42 gal bow front, to reach a ph of 7 I would use 2 tsp alkaline and 1 tsp acid? Is that correct? Just dissolve it in a cup of tank water and drizzle it in slowly? Or should I just use a tsp of the alkaline without the acid to start? Problem is we are going out of town about 2 days every weekend for medical tests which I hope will end soon....we are leaving late Thurs and will return Sat. I could try something small tomorrow or just do the water changes and add a little ph up until we return? Do you always need to use the acid if you use the alkaline buffer----how long to wait before doing anything else--like does it take 24 hours to show up? And horror of horrors, what if it gets really off---how to remedy quickly? Thank you so very much. I guess I will leave my oscar alone for now and just do water changes since he is sick. Sorry to seem so dense but still don't understand kh versus gh----although I do know what ph is lol!

 

[wildroseofky]

Instead of using chemicals why not buffer with something like cuttlefish bone or coral? You can use limestone, seashells, clam shells too. If you do not like them in the tank you can put them in a knee high stocking and place it in the filter. My water PH has wild swings from the tap. Our water company sucks. I started using seashells and limestone in the tanks. It keeps my PH around 7.4 even with lots of driftwood which usually lowers PH.

 

[materbona]

Thanks for yet another perspective

will regular cuttlefish bone for birds work? where do you get the limestone? and would just rinsed seashells from the beach work, or do you have to soak them or anything? Thanks for any help---the fish are still alive and doing fine but the ph is a real problem--and then there are the nitrates and algae in the oscar tank despite all the vacuuming and water changing-- he now has hole in the head and I'm trying to treat him.

 

[materbona]

I already have large cuttlebone pieces here I ordered from Rio Grande for jewelry mold making...do you break them up and/or soak them in dechlorinated water or something? Thanks

 

[wildroseofky]

Yes any cuttlefish bone will work. If it is for birds check and make sure there is not metal on it. They sometimes have a metal pin to hold a string for hanging. Just remove that. All you have to do is rinse it good and put in the tank. You can add it to the filter too. Break it up if you need to get smaller pieces. Seashells can be added straight to the tanks too. Just make sure they are clean. It takes a few days for you to see any real difference in the PH when adding those items. You can raise it for a week or so until the buffers start to work by adding a small pinch of baking soda to the tank. Just a tiny pinch each day until you get it to where you want it.

Now for the algae. What type of lighting are you using. With no real plants in your tank, any high light will cause algae. Leaving the lights on for long periods of time will cause algae too. Reduce the light to 6 hours a day for awhile. With no plants you could just leave the lights off all together. That would starve the algae. High nitrates can be caused by excess food and waste hidden under rocks or other tank decor. I had this problem a couple of years ago. Once all the gunk is cleaned up the nitrates will fall. Having a gravel substrate can make nitrate high too. Gravel traps a lot of stuff and it decays and leads to high nitrates.

Hope your Oscar gets better.

 

[materbona]

Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[gilpi]

Had a similar issue with my tanks. The KH from my tap water has dropped recently causing my tanks to have pH crashes. With my tanks I have both extremes of the pH spectrum, African cichlids in one and Discus and Angels in the other. With the Africans, is just a matter of adding a small amount of baking soda after every water change and all is well, the Discus and Angels I have to monitor closely trying to keep it around neutral without the use of any buffers.