Remington
Aquarium Advice Regular
Okay guys here is the scoop. I decided to do a 55G tank. Biggest I have ever done. I then decided to do sponge filtration to get away from bio wheels. Now here is where the trouble starts.
I know to not chase pH because drastic changes kill fish. My tank cycled. I quickened the process with ghost feeding and bacteria in a bottle. Tested water daily. Send the ammonia spike the nitrite spike then the glorious nitrate level of 5 ppm with no ammonia or nitrite. Awesome. Did all that with a HOB bio wheel. My PH would be around 7.6-7.8 a little high but it was steady. Then before I bought fish I decided to buy sponge filtration and try it out. I had to buy two small units as the went from recommending 30G on package to 100G. I was impatient and said two 30G will be fine. After a little air line cutting and a few plastic connectors I positioned them on opposite sides of the tank and let my biowheels and filter cartridges float in tank for a day to help with new sponges gaining bacteria. Did my water test and PH was around 7.8-8.0 I thought ok no big deal not a major jump and tank is still fishless. No ammonia or nitrite still ghost fed. So let’s get some barbs they are hardy and will survive a slight ammonia spike. The next day I did just that. Straight after work. I neglected the water tests. Got them home and did a drip acclimation. For about an hour maybe hour and a half. Fish were fine and I don’t have a QT tank yet so in they went. They instantly went a hid amongst my rocks. Coll that’s why they are there. Next morning I was off. So I did my water test. No ammonia or nitrite ok cool. No nitrate ?* where did it go. But fish are alive and eating no big deal pH.... solid 8.2 grrr WTF. Tank ran at 8.2 for a week. Fish are alive and eating. Still hiding but alive and well. I decided to try Indian almond leaves. Bought a pack and it had three six-eight inch leaves. I put them in the tank. Two days later they sink and I did notice a slight tint nothing drastic so everything points to normal. This whole time tank is still at 8.2 steady not going up or down. Leaves are now on the bottom of tank for another two days test again and pH looks like it’s headed upwards like a 8.3 double grr. IAL is supposed to lower not raise pH. WTF!!!!. Fish are still doing great. To the point I decide to add two rainbow sharks and a Bala just last night.
Now the questionable questions.
Because I am running sponges off of air and not power head is it over airating my water causing a high pH? Does activated carbon help lower pH? My dream fish (rope fish) likes a more neutral ph and I do not want to kill him. What do you think his survival chances are? As I write this post I am contemplating getting new cartridges and throwing the good ole biowheel back on to see if it changes anything. Luckily I can turn my airline back to just using a stone with little hassle. But the pump is still supplying the same amount of air to the two sponges or the stone so would that really matter?
I know to not chase pH because drastic changes kill fish. My tank cycled. I quickened the process with ghost feeding and bacteria in a bottle. Tested water daily. Send the ammonia spike the nitrite spike then the glorious nitrate level of 5 ppm with no ammonia or nitrite. Awesome. Did all that with a HOB bio wheel. My PH would be around 7.6-7.8 a little high but it was steady. Then before I bought fish I decided to buy sponge filtration and try it out. I had to buy two small units as the went from recommending 30G on package to 100G. I was impatient and said two 30G will be fine. After a little air line cutting and a few plastic connectors I positioned them on opposite sides of the tank and let my biowheels and filter cartridges float in tank for a day to help with new sponges gaining bacteria. Did my water test and PH was around 7.8-8.0 I thought ok no big deal not a major jump and tank is still fishless. No ammonia or nitrite still ghost fed. So let’s get some barbs they are hardy and will survive a slight ammonia spike. The next day I did just that. Straight after work. I neglected the water tests. Got them home and did a drip acclimation. For about an hour maybe hour and a half. Fish were fine and I don’t have a QT tank yet so in they went. They instantly went a hid amongst my rocks. Coll that’s why they are there. Next morning I was off. So I did my water test. No ammonia or nitrite ok cool. No nitrate ?* where did it go. But fish are alive and eating no big deal pH.... solid 8.2 grrr WTF. Tank ran at 8.2 for a week. Fish are alive and eating. Still hiding but alive and well. I decided to try Indian almond leaves. Bought a pack and it had three six-eight inch leaves. I put them in the tank. Two days later they sink and I did notice a slight tint nothing drastic so everything points to normal. This whole time tank is still at 8.2 steady not going up or down. Leaves are now on the bottom of tank for another two days test again and pH looks like it’s headed upwards like a 8.3 double grr. IAL is supposed to lower not raise pH. WTF!!!!. Fish are still doing great. To the point I decide to add two rainbow sharks and a Bala just last night.
Now the questionable questions.
Because I am running sponges off of air and not power head is it over airating my water causing a high pH? Does activated carbon help lower pH? My dream fish (rope fish) likes a more neutral ph and I do not want to kill him. What do you think his survival chances are? As I write this post I am contemplating getting new cartridges and throwing the good ole biowheel back on to see if it changes anything. Luckily I can turn my airline back to just using a stone with little hassle. But the pump is still supplying the same amount of air to the two sponges or the stone so would that really matter?