My First 55 gallon planted tank Journal.

Byron

Yes. I would up the danio too, if you like them. Say 8. Danio are more active, but this shouldn't bother the tetra too much. With lots of plants, the tetra will remain among the plants (as mentioned, they do not like overhead light) whereas the danio will be out front and centre.

Dwarf Neon Rainbow will work too. I would suggest 5, and keep in mind the male/female ratio mentioned in the profile.

Some substrate fish will complement nicely. You have several options, depending upon water parameters.

alwaysoc0nfused

That explains why the tetras are always hanging out in the furthest corner of the tank away from the bright light.

alwaysoc0nfused

Okay I finally got my water tested. I am not sure what the numbers really mean so if you can explain them it would be awesome.

ph= 7.3-7.4
alkalinity = 160
hardness= 150-200

these were the numbers my LFS guy told me.

alwaysoc0nfused

can anyone help me understand what those numbers mean please?

KendraMc

it means you have a moderate amount of minerals dissolved in your water, causing the hardness and raising the pH. it will slightly limit what fish you should have, as a lot of tropical fish need acidic water (pH below 7). you may have problems with fish native to south america. most of the fish profiles include what pH range they do well in. you pH isn't high enough to really limit you, though. there are plenty of fish who like pH around 7, and your numbers are close enough that they should be fine. be glad you don't have my tap water. i have a pH of 8.4, which very much limits me.

alwaysoc0nfused

Ok so with my water my tetras and danios that i currently have are gonna be okay? I know the ph is okay but in the fish profile the water hardness is stated like this "Soft (hardness to 12 dGH)" and I am not sure how to translate this to the numbers my LFS guys told me. Thanks

KendraMc

i'll be honest, i have no idea what the hardness of my water is. but i know my pH, so i can guess at my hardness. i have a high pH, so i have hard water. since hardness and pH are directly related (low hardness=low pH, high hardness=high pH), if you pH is ok, your hardness shouldn't be a problem.

i'll admit, there are exceptions to this, but as a general rule, this work.

Byron

The hardness of the water is actually more significant than the pH in many cases. This is explained a bit in my article on hardness & pH, here:
Water Hardness and pH in the Freshwater Aquarium
so I won't repeat any of that.

To the initial question on the numbers, you have GH around 8 dGH to 9 dGH. This is medium hard, and not bad. Except for wild caught soft water fish, this should cause no problems. The KH (Alkalinity) is 9 dKH, which is also not bad. But it is high enough that the pH is likely to remain stable at the level it comes out of the tap. The previously-linked article explains how this works.

To convert ppm to dGH and vice versa, you use 17.9 and either divide the ppm number by 17.9 to get dGH, or multiply the dGH number by 17.9 to get equivalent ppm. Works for KH the same. I use dGH in the profiles because it is a bit easier to work with and most sites also use degrees rather than ppm (parts per million).

Byron.

alwaysoc0nfused

so i came home tonight to my big yellow snail just floating at the top of the tank hiding inside its shell. Normally the the snail just sinks to the bottom and gets about his business. But today he just kept floating. any ideas as to whats going on??