Brenna ' s fish room basement build

[brennae]

Good to know because I was just reading they needed real soft water. They are acclimating now. Here are some updated pics. The only ones not in their tank yet are the apistos.
I just missed getting a breeding pair of L201. He brought all kinda of ancistrus but the Echohaus is outta space for them because I don't want to mix.

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[PoppaRyno]

The IAL's help soften water don't they?

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[brennae]

The IAL's help soften water don't they?

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Yes sir! I added extra. Need to test the hardness of my water and maybe buy some distilled to mix in? Not so sure what to do here. Could always email seller tomorrow.

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[brennae]

I emptied the one guppy tank for these apistos and there are still some small small fry in the tank. Will they provide a nice snack? I know I read to feed live and we'll I have tons of tiny fry. Lol

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[Gillie]

I emptied the one guppy tank for these apistos and there are still some small small fry in the tank. Will they provide a nice snack? I know I read to feed live and we'll I have tons of tiny fry. Lol

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What size is the tank?

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[brennae]

20 long. Will that work for tonight? Long term what do I need? Saying they all make it overnight. Didn't look too good when I got them.

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[Gillie]

It will work for tonight, but you will need to eventually separate the males, they aren't very nice to each other when females are present and I think I see 2 definite males in the last pic.

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[brennae]

Are the males the darker ones? Also can I keep them with plecos? I'm getting that 70g in the next week or two and was going to put green dragons in there and so can one apisto male go in there?

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[brennae]

Did you get any advice on breeding from the seller? I never had luck spawning them in a ph higher than 5.5 and a tds around 150.

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I just did some tests. Ph out of the tap is 7.6 or it used to be. I should test again as ita been a while for that test. Today I tested for hardness I think and dKH is 9. I have IAL in the tank. There are two things I can think to do. Buy some distilled water to mix with my tap water or i do have this product (see pic) and I can put some in a media bag and add to my AC filter. I've been trying to read qebsites about this stuff but I'm not finding Apistogramma 101 exactly. Doh!

So, maybe I also need tds meter if these fish live longer than a month, I'll seriously look into my options.

I fed them a few white worms and a few just gobbled those up! Hungry little fishies! I'm going to email seller and ask about his water.

I have my mother convinced I need a 75g tank for her plecos. Teeheehee. But she wants to take down the one goldfish tank and put the goldies all in one tank which I know is not going to work. Have to figure out where I can put this tank. Might have to start using that back room in the basement. I just don't like it because there are no windows. Such is life.

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[Laeris]

Big hugs! You're going to get it well and truly sorted!

 

[hjsvt]

I struggle with water issues so I know a little about that. A tds meter is definitely a worthwhile investment. I paid $15 for mine online and use it all the time. I check tds more often than pH. What hardness are you referring to above? General GH or carbonate KH? IME the peat granules above work great for reducing pH in lower KH water and are actually the thing I've found that works the best for lowering pH. I have some in a filter bag in my HOB filter. But I think it's effectiveness decreases the higher your KH is. As far as reducing GH, I don't know what IAL refers to in your posts above but RO water has been the most effective for me. A member in my club has had some success with API water softener pillows for reducing GH but I haven't tried them. I suspect that they work like mini water softeners which means they replace GH with sodium. This can cause other problems including higher TDS. So IME RO had been the best way to combat high GH/KH water.

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[Brookster123]

Wowzers Brenna, you cleaned up if you're going to keep a breeding pair in the 20 than I don't see a problem with housing the rest in a 70 with some plecos. Plecos will probably strip eggs though.

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[Eggheadfish]

I struggle with water issues so I know a little about that. A tds meter is definitely a worthwhile investment. I paid $15 for mine online and use it all the time. I check tds more often than pH. What hardness are you referring to above? General GH or carbonate KH? IME the peat granules above work great for reducing pH in lower KH water and are actually the thing I've found that works the best for lowering pH. I have some in a filter bag in my HOB filter. But I think it's effectiveness decreases the higher your KH is. As far as reducing GH, I don't know what IAL refers to in your posts above but RO water has been the most effective for me. A member in my club has had some success with API water softener pillows for reducing GH but I haven't tried them. I suspect that they work like mini water softeners which means they replace GH with sodium. This can cause other problems including higher TDS. So IME RO had been the best way to combat high GH/KH water.

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Would there be any benefit to using bottled spring water instead of RO? I have no idea what my gh/kh is but I assume it's high because ph buffers are typically ineffective in my tanks...RO is a pricey investment. Don't want to get off topic but just curious.

 

[Gillie]

I just did some tests. Ph out of the tap is 7.6 or it used to be. I should test again as ita been a while for that test. Today I tested for hardness I think and dKH is 9. I have IAL in the tank. There are two things I can think to do. Buy some distilled water to mix with my tap water or i do have this product (see pic) and I can put some in a media bag and add to my AC filter. I've been trying to read qebsites about this stuff but I'm not finding Apistogramma 101 exactly. Doh!

So, maybe I also need tds meter if these fish live longer than a month, I'll seriously look into my options.

I fed them a few white worms and a few just gobbled those up! Hungry little fishies! I'm going to email seller and ask about his water.

I have my mother convinced I need a 75g tank for her plecos. Teeheehee. But she wants to take down the one goldfish tank and put the goldies all in one tank which I know is not going to work. Have to figure out where I can put this tank. Might have to start using that back room in the basement. I just don't like it because there are no windows. Such is life.

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A kh reading of 9 is 450 ppm so it is quite high, but Pete's and I are on both on the Detroit water system, my water from the tap is 125 ppm tds with a ph of 7.7. So it looks like you could be ok if the tds comes down you should be ok to start, then if the fish don't want to do anything, start playing with the water more.

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[brennae]

I struggle with water issues so I know a little about that. A tds meter is definitely a worthwhile investment. I paid $15 for mine online and use it all the time. I check tds more often than pH. What hardness are you referring to above? General GH or carbonate KH? IME the peat granules above work great for reducing pH in lower KH water and are actually the thing I've found that works the best for lowering pH. I have some in a filter bag in my HOB filter. But I think it's effectiveness decreases the higher your KH is. As far as reducing GH, I don't know what IAL refers to in your posts above but RO water has been the most effective for me. A member in my club has had some success with API water softener pillows for reducing GH but I haven't tried them. I suspect that they work like mini water softeners which means they replace GH with sodium. This can cause other problems including higher TDS. So IME RO had been the best way to combat high GH/KH water.

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Hey, how are you? That was very helpful. The test box said Kh. The dKH is what the little chart said. It's the first time I've done this test. It was a total seat of my pants deal and I just want to do the best I can for these fish. Thanks!

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[brennae]

A kh reading of 9 is 450 ppm so it is quite high, but Pete's and I are on both on the Detroit water system, my water from the tap is 125 ppm tds with a ph of 7.7. So it looks like you could be ok if the tds comes down you should be ok to start, then if the fish don't want to do anything, start playing with the water more.

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The chart said 161.1 ppm. Now I'm confused. Where do I find these numbers? I'm using the API kit.

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[hjsvt]

Would there be any benefit to using bottled spring water instead of RO? I have no idea what my gh/kh is but I assume it's high because ph buffers are typically ineffective in my tanks...RO is a pricey investment. Don't want to get off topic but just curious.

You have to be careful with bottled water because you don't know where it's come from. It's basically "tap" water so it will have GH/KH. So if the bottled is better than your tap you could certainly use it. But I would test it and know it's properties before I used it. If you are trying to reduce GH/KH on tap water distilled or RO water is the better choice because it has no GH/KH. Pricey is all relative and depends on water source, goals and how much change you are trying to achieve. If you need to buy 1 gal of RO water weekly to get what you need then that's about $52 a year. For me, I need about 20 gallons a week at $1 is $1020 a year and I paid about $60 for my RO. But I also don't have to pay for water and don't have to factor in the waste water the RO creates in the process. So it's all relative to your situation.

 

[hjsvt]

Hey, how are you? That was very helpful. The test box said Kh. The dKH is what the little chart said. It's the first time I've done this test. It was a total seat of my pants deal and I just want to do the best I can for these fish. Thanks!

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So KH is your carbonate hardness or pH buffer. And at 9 dKH I don't think the peat granules will have much effect on lowering your pH. You could set up a little test bucket and add some tap water and add some peat granules and monitor it over time and see what it does. Check KH and pH over time and see if it decreases it any. IME the only way to decrease KH is to add distilled or RO water. So if your tap water is 9 dKH and the tank is 20 gallons you would need 10 gals tap and 10 gals RO/distilled water to reduce KH to 4.5 dkH. Also I don't think there is a direct correlation between TDS and dKH. Lots of other things can be dissolved in the water to effect TDS other than just carbonate (KH). Also my well water TDS isn't really that high but it is super hard like 25 dGH and 15 dKH. You do want to maintain a dKH of at least 2 or 3 so you maintain adequate buffer in the water so your pH doesn't swing too much. Hope this helps and isn't more confusing.

 

[Gillie]

The chart said 161.1 ppm. Now I'm confused. Where do I find these numbers? I'm using the API kit.

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Yes you are correct, I was looking at a SW chart apparently(oops). I would say you are pretty well set to start.

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[sinibotia]

Would there be any benefit to using bottled spring water instead of RO? I have no idea what my gh/kh is but I assume it's high because ph buffers are typically ineffective in my tanks...RO is a pricey investment. Don't want to get off topic but just curious.

RO is cheaper in the long run. And bottled spring water isn't what you want, it's bottled distilled water. If the tank is small it's not too bad- about $10 a month to keep my ram tank at 50% bottled distilled water.