Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Suggestions for my water parameters

10K views 74 replies 8 participants last post by  zombiefish610 
#1 ·
Hello all, It's been a long time since I was here. I'm in the process of cycling my tank. My water is alot different from where I used to live. I'm getting back in the hobby! Anyway, tank has been running for a few days so I know the cycle is not complete yet but I decided to test the water. I'm doing a 55g freshwater setup with malaysian driftwood that I used to have in a tank for years but is just now seeing water again and black sand. I do wanna add some rocks( not sure what yet ) and what I can have based on my parameters. My question is what fish would do well in these conditions? Also what would you suggest? Feel free to ask me any questions that might help in coming up with a plan. My parameters are as follows....

Ph- 8.0
Kh- 161.1
Gh- 232.7
Ammonia- 1.0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 7.5

The thing that most concerns me is the Kh and the Gh. I will not go the route of altering this via chemicals. Not a option for me. Much rather find fish that would be fine with these parameters. Also I have a suspicion that they may change when the cycle is complete. Am I right? So excited to get back, but I wanna make sure I take it slow and smart. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
See less See more
#61 ·
Well I have planaria and snails...damn. Before I added plants i did a dip of jungle's clear water for 15 minutes as per suggestions from others. Apparently that didn't work. So now I gotta go another route for eliminating the snails. As for the planaria..its probably because I have only done one water change since I set the tank up other than top offs. I know people say to do a good gravel vacuuming and change water. Unfortunately, I have sand so I can't do that. Any suggestions? I know neither of these are bad but I don't want them. Fortunately, I have no fish in the tank yet so my options are not limited except for worrying about the plants. What should I do?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#62 ·
Sand changes how and what you need to do. Vacuuming just over the sand to suck up any build up won't bother the sand, you don't need, nor want, to dig into it like you do gravel, just pick up the visible stuff and into the corners and edges.

Water changes should be done regardless, vacuuming can be optional. I happen to just do water changes now and haven't had to vacuum in months, the snails look after breaking down some of the waste so it actually just decomposes into the water, then the changes take it out.... or it turns into ammonia and CO2 which helps feed the plants.

I actually saw my very first fish poop the other day after having this tank setup for 5 months... it was just sitting on a smooth piece of driftwood.... I had to double take and thought, "so that's what it looks like".

Jeff
 
#63 ·
I haven't done another water change yet because I been super busy. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure you were the one that told me not to do a water change yet and also told me to feed the tank. Which is probably the reason I have the planaria because of uneaten food. I apologize if it was not you. Guess I gotta go back and look at earlier posts to be sure.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#64 ·
Don't apologize, it was me.

May 2 I followed up a previous suggestion of adding food to adding a little bit of food to keep up the ammonia source.

How much was your little bit? Even for a tank that size I would expect that would be tiny pinches.

May 3 I suggested a water change before adding the fish and a vacuum to suck up the extra crap.

Somewhere I assumed that fish were on their way shortly. This will be four weeks of tank feeding since then... I'm not sure that I would have meant to keep it up for that long every day but I can't recall exactly what I thought you were planning at the time. Most (at least a lot of people) are so anxious to get fish in they they barely wait for the cycle to get running first.

If you have fish in there now you need to do the changes as I just mentioned, if you don't, it's not necessary unless you want to reduce some levels of nitrates or just to freshen the water. Planaria are not the end of the world (not parasitic) and snails are good. The choice was to add food or to add pure ammonia (Blackwater guy's suggestion). Either served the same purpose. You could do a large water change and do a thorough vacuum to reduce the food for the planaria, I expect that the tank's biofilm is well established now and it could stand not being "fed" for a while.

When are the fish going in?

Jeff.
 
#65 ·
I only fed the tank maybe four times tops and it wasn't much at all. Haven't really stressed the water changes because there are no fish and I was adding plants. If you read my previous posts you will see that I'm in no hurry to add fish. I want to add the majority of plants before the fish and let everything stabilize. Also, as I already mentioned..I know planaria is not bad as well as the benefits of the snails. I just don't wanna look at them. That's why I posted. I'm not freaking out or anything. I'm just looking for some thought on methods of eradication. I know the normal tricks. ie lettuce, picking em out, loaches, assassin snails. I know people are against snail killing chemicals but I imagine it is mostly because of effects on fish/inverts in the tank and the ammonia spike from a mass die off. In my case though it may be a option considering I have no fish in the tank. I personally never hav
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#66 ·
Cont. Sorry accidentally hit reply..anyway..I have never used such a chemical. So I guess I'm looking for someone with experience to help me understand more about it, such as if it is a good option in my case and if it will have a negative effect on my plants? Where are you at Byron?..lol. Oh and of course what to use.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#68 ·
So..tested the water today. Here are the results
Ph- 7.8
Kh- 125.3
Gh- 250.6
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 10

After I did the testing I grabbed a chair and got real close to the tank and watched for a while. Turns out there are several types of critters in there! I got the typical 1mm long white worms, there are a few larger squiggly ones about a 1/4 in. long and of course some snails. With futher inspection I noticed another critter. This one concerns me because I never seen them before. They are about 1mm long but they have a fatter head(im guessing) and the tail end is split like a Y. They move spastically sometimes in circles and they are fast. I also seen one clearly swimming through the water in a squiggly motion like young fry and quickly! The others kinda just free float in the water when not on the glass. Anybody have any idea what the last ones are? The ones with the Y shape. Please help me! Also, why all these critters when the water is fine? I have low nitrates...10. I'm also getting several types of algae. Nothing significant at the moment. I might add that I think the Y shaped ones have legs because when moving on the glass they don't appear to leave the surface of the glass. Again, movement seems random and fast. They move like a common fly would. Help anyone?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#70 ·
I have various sorts of life in my tanks; even with my glasses I can't make most of it out. But if food was being put in the tank with no fish, and no snails, you can expect critters to appear.
 
#72 ·
Have you ever seen the ones I was talking about?
Posted via Mobile Device
I don't think so. Most of what I "see" is pretty small, nothing more than a speck.
 
#74 ·
No.

But Byron brings up a good point. I had actually started a response but got sidetracked.

I was going to suggest adding some snails, nerite snails (tiger, zebra....) to compete for the food sources in the tank. If you only added food a few times I expect that these guys may have shown up anyway. These snails don't reproduce in freshwater, are fairly large and do a wonderful job of housecleaning. I have four, along with an assortment of pond and MTS, but the tigers really do wonders. I haven't cleaned the glass in months and it is clear as... well... glass. They even chowed down on a fungus I had on one of my driftwood pieces a while back.

Jeff.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top