firebirdmc
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2009
- Messages
- 8
By way of background, I am relatively new at maintaining a healthy aquarium. I started my first 20 gal about 4 months ago. I cycled for 8 weeks with feeder gold fish. Finally got my levels right to add real fish. Added an oscar, red blooded parrot, silver dollar, pleco catfish (yes, I know I would eventually need a bigger tank, but all 4 were small fish). I soon found out that ciclids are dirty fish and my 20 gal whisper filter wasn't cutting it. Before I realized this, the catfish got velvet and died, and soon after the other 3 died as well. I thought a quick cleaning would fix the problem (did a couple wimpy (by my own admission) 1/3 water changes) and soon got a new pleco and 2 albino clawed frogs. The 2 frogs lasted about 2 weeks and then died. I had my water tested and all the levels were off the chart. For example, when the fish and frogs died I recall my nitrite being purple, low PH, high ammonia. For the last month I've only had my pleco.
I've since been cycling with Cycle and doing weekly/bi-weekly water changes. Currently my Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is 0, but my Ammonia is between 1 and .5 (light green), and PH is less than 6 (pure yellow). The thing is that I've always had low PH from the very beginning - from cycling with the goldfish. I've never been able to get the PH back up. My sink tap/shower water is 7. 'PH up' doesn't work. I'm not looking to artificially get it back up, I want to get it fixed naturally. Petco tells me that my PH is low because I still have this ammonia. Correcting one should fix the other. I've since become more aggressive in my siphoning... really mixing up the gravel and have removed the rock and fake plants. I also upgraded to the whisper EX 45 which is doing a good job filtering.
My question is ---> How do I get my PH and Ammonia normalized? The only thing left in the tank is the pleco and the gravel which I've been siphoning with each water change. Is it possible that I need to replace the gravel? Everytime I add PH 7 tap/shower water (blue), it immediately becomes <6 (yellow) as soon as it hits the tank. I am determined to maintain a healthy tank before adding any new fish. I hope my narrative is useful for you and appreciate any guidance.
Thanks!
I've since been cycling with Cycle and doing weekly/bi-weekly water changes. Currently my Nitrite is 0, Nitrate is 0, but my Ammonia is between 1 and .5 (light green), and PH is less than 6 (pure yellow). The thing is that I've always had low PH from the very beginning - from cycling with the goldfish. I've never been able to get the PH back up. My sink tap/shower water is 7. 'PH up' doesn't work. I'm not looking to artificially get it back up, I want to get it fixed naturally. Petco tells me that my PH is low because I still have this ammonia. Correcting one should fix the other. I've since become more aggressive in my siphoning... really mixing up the gravel and have removed the rock and fake plants. I also upgraded to the whisper EX 45 which is doing a good job filtering.
My question is ---> How do I get my PH and Ammonia normalized? The only thing left in the tank is the pleco and the gravel which I've been siphoning with each water change. Is it possible that I need to replace the gravel? Everytime I add PH 7 tap/shower water (blue), it immediately becomes <6 (yellow) as soon as it hits the tank. I am determined to maintain a healthy tank before adding any new fish. I hope my narrative is useful for you and appreciate any guidance.
Thanks!
