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| Re: New to Endler's |
Subject: Re: New to Endler's
by iwrmom on 2012/4/16 0:44:04
Fishpunk...I have been water testing obsessed for the last few days...checking params and trying to see if I can figure out why the drops in ph. I have tested the water from the tap (0 ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte, ph 7.2, gh 1, kh 1). I also tested the tap but with water from the hot water heater...same params.
I have removed all my old driftwood just in case, I have done my regular water changes, I have pruned plants...and in the tanks the ph still drops like a bag of rocks. I spent a good deal of time at two of my lfs today and got very different advice on ph. One employee told me ph gh and kh are meaningless and that all fish will adjust to any parameters so testing and worrying is a waste and no products are needed to change it. Ummm...okay...? The other lfs had a different bit of advice...they still gave a thumbs down to water chemicals (good, because I want to avoid them anyway) but did agree with you that coral is a better solution because it will only raise the ph to no more than 7.5 but will definitely boost the hardness naturally. Their crushed coral was very expensive and they only had a 20lb bag. So, as an alternative he showed me coral rocks that I could hammer to pieces and put in the tank or filter. Then he disappeared. To my surprise, he came back 5 minutes later with a bag of live coral...told me it would serve the same purpose and would be better in the long run since it had good bacteria on it and my wacky fluctuating levels probably killed most of mine (my ammonia went up to .25ppm, 0 nitrItes and <2ppm nitrAtes ph 6.4 gh 1 kh 2 today so I did a 30% water change). He gave me a quarter pound of the live coral for my tanks and didn't charge me.
I have placed some in each tank...tested the water before and then 3 hours later...no noticable changes yet. How slow is the process of increasing gh kh and ph when you use coral? I would like to avoid any crazy spikes if possible.
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