This is a discussion on What to do? within the Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
What rams do you keep that you say it was needed to lower the pH?
Most necessary readings to determin which fish to keep ...
What rams do you keep that you say it was needed to lower the pH?
Most necessary readings to determin which fish to keep are your pH and KH (not the GH!).
So you're saying all tests 0 you only exchanged 10% ~ 12oz of water nothing else was added in there and all fish just suddenly died on you expect the 3 rams? Is that summarizing it correctly?
the alkalinity reading on your test strips is there way of noting the kH i think.....300 is high, if this is a true reading (i dont trust test strips). kh (or alkalinity) reading basically tells you how at risk you are for ph swings. the higher the kH the less likely you are to encounter pH swings, meaning your ph will be more stable. gH is the actual hardness of your water. I personally stopped wasting my money on test strips and invested in an API mater liquid test kit and bought the addiotional API kH/gH liquid test kit
To tell you guys again this was the day before i started using distilled. I did one change of distilled water and then the next day i did the same thing to gradually change it.
IMO gh does matter when choosing fish because some fish prefer certain hardness/softness and the one good way to find out where your water sits is by testing gH. I also feel kH is important because knowing your kH you will then no if you should be expecting any pH swings
the day i tested it was the day before*, but i am going to buy the api master kit and the additional gh/kh test as you said. I was planning on getting that tomorrow.
The only thing you can do for your rams, if these parameters proof to be Zero tomorrow with API as well; that then means something somehow got into your water or maybe someone tried play a prank on you. Then do a full w/c refill the whole tank, be sure to use water conditioner and place the rams back home and monitor them & the water closely!
