newaquariumguy

[newaquariumguy]

Hi.  When I joined this group recently, I promised not to ask too many questions that have an obvious answer--well this might be the first one?  

Most people have heard of Ph, Kh, and Gh, but unless we are into keeping specialized fish and/or running a water treatment plant, we just simply do not understand it or the importance of it in an aquarium.  

In one of my tanks I consistently get readings of:  ph  7.8-8.2    ammonia 0    nitrite 0   nitrate 10.    In the other tank I get  ph  7.6-7.8   ammonia  sneaks up to .25 just at w/c time, which is every Friday  nitrite 0  nitrates 5 (this tank has more live plants).  Both tanks are at 24 degrees.  

All fish seem to be healthy and doing very well.  I use the API Master testing kit.  Should I be concerned about the Kh and Gh, in order to keep every body in the tank healthy, or just don't wake a sleeping dog?   I have read in a hundred places that trying to change Ph can cause problems that I am not going to cause--does trying to change the others have the same effect?

One tank has Tiger Barbs, a Red tail Shark, Bronze Cory's, and assorted Platies.   The other has Albino Cory's, Angelfish, Zebra Danio's and Neon Tetra's.  (I know now that the Neons should not be with the Angelfish--but the guy at the LFS didn.t tell me that when I bought them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[geleen]

For the majority of fish no need to worry about kh and dh, the reason your ammonia goes up after the water change is because you’re likely using the product called prime which gives you a false reading for about three days. Sounds like you’re on track.

Most fishes in the stores come from commercial breeders and there is no need to worry about changing the parameters of your water as they are already used to it. Trying to change pH is not a good idea for the fish you have and actually most others.

 Quite often, Neons and angelfish get along just fine,  especially if they are  introduced within a short time of each other and they are not full-grown angelfish. 

John

[biodives]

I echo all that John said. My general philosophy is you either match your water to the fish (if you want to keep those that do not take well to the local water supply) or you match your fish to the local water. Fortunately, very many fish, especially those that have been bred in captivity, are very tolerant to a wide range of water parameters. Quality of food, stocking level/aggression, access to shelter, concentration of waste products etc is more important for their long term health.

If you do want to lower pH I'd recommend investing in an reverse osmosis (RO) system to get very soft water. That will automatically lower the pH and result in a stable predictable outcome, rather than a jojo pH going up and down each time you add chemicals. But for you current selection of fish there is no reason to do so.

[newaquariumguy]

Okay--thanks guys.