OK, Need some adivce here guys...
I am consistantly getting problems with a Juwel 180 and various fish infections (bloaty eye, fin clamping and recently cotton mouth) All these are associated with poor water quality I believe.
However, I change the water once a week with 20-30%, adding leafzone (and recently Stress Zhyme) at the same point. I rarely vac the bottom of the tank because TBH I rarely get anything hosed up. I clean the filters probably on average every month and I have a Nitro-zorb pouch in the filter casing. I have planted the tank (Wysteria, Hygrophila, a cryptosomthing can't remember but it's a dwarf variety and Amazon sword)
Readings: Nitrate around 40ppm, Phos; 1ppm, KH is 8-9 and PH 7.8
Tank is 6 months old now with Juwel filter and external Eheim Classic 2213 (I think) and a CO2 kit.
So what am I doing wrong? Any help appreciated.
Oh, tank contents: 15 neons, 6 X-ray tetra, 6 Glowlight tetra, 4 zebra loaches and recently added 6 onion snails, and 6 Amano shrimp.
"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." "God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore."
Hi, i'd clean the juwel filter out every 1-2 weeks and use the gravel cleaner anyway as it's suprising what it will be removing even though you don't think it is doing much. This might also help lower your nitrAtes a little aswell Test your tap water and see what nitrAtes is in it.
What sort of CO2 kit and how much CO2 are you adding?
Is your nitrate measurement before or after a water change - any ammonia, nitrite at all at any point?
I'm not to fussed about cleaning the gravel - as long as the tank parameters are ok a bit of 'mulch' isn't a bad thing in my opinion.
1xTrigon 1903 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp
Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora, Echinodorus Blehri, nymphaea lotus, Ammania Senegelis, Crinum calimustratum, java moss, 1xRekord 60Empty at Present
12 litre tank - 4 japonica shrimp, 4 Red crystal shrimp, 5 High Spot Rasbora
Anubias Barteri, Glossostigma Elatanoides, Ammania Senegalisis, Limnophilia Sessiflora, Bacopa amplexicaulis
I'll definitely second Richy's comments if you're using tapwater - in my area (West Berks) the Nitrate levels for tap water are off the scale, only solution was to go RO...
CO2 Kit is a JBL one with a C02 cylinder the size of a small house
The rate is based on KH & PH and a wiget in the tank that relies on gas exchange in a compartment with an air pocket in and a colouring chart. That's fine acording to the latest readings.
I always check Nitrate et al levels prior to a water change. I'll check my tap levels tonight. Ammonia & Nitrite is always zero.
hmm.. It could be pH fluctuations that are causing the problems. Can you check your pH early in the morning, at midday and then after the lights have gone off?
Just done a quick tap test. "Holy Nitro Batman !!"
About 30-40ppm.
I can check early and late no prob tomorrow. I'll do a full check on Saturday.
Oh, and the CO2 is connected to the light timer so it goes offwhen the lights do...
But if the tank is heavily planted, the plants release more co2 over night, which can bring the ph down.
I also suffer from hayfever and have had all the windows shut over the last week whilst it was warm. My lvinig room was hitting very high temps, so I guess the tank water won't hold as much oxygen either.
A going off at a tangent question, is aireating water with an air pump and adding CO2 counter productive?
Regarding possibly swapping to an RO unit, how difficult are they to fit? I live in a rented house and thus need to be able to remove it (and make good) when I leave. Also, what's agood make and how much would I look at paying for one?
Yes, it is counterproductive to be aerating the water whilst you're adding Co2. RO units are fairly easy to fit, however, to make good if you move out may be slightly more difficult, as they are attached to a mains pipe.. RO man is the best RO units IMO, and they're not mad expensive either. You can say about £70 for a 75 GPD one :)
you can attach RO units to a washing machine fitting with an adaptor. If you only have 1 cold feed then you can buy a Y peice (about 80p at Screwfix) and have both appliances on the pipe. This eliminates using the pipe clamp which comes with the unit and nothing to repair if you move
That's great thanks.
I've been doing a little research and I think I need to lower my PH down to about 7.0 for the tetras and ditto for the Amano shrimp. From what I've read I really need to lower the KH though because of it's buffering quality. Obviously Using RO will affect that. Again any information will be greatly appreciated.
the great thing with RO is that it strips everything out of the water pretty much, so you're left with pure water, which you can the buffer back up to what ever pH you want it to be. Some people use tap water to buffer their RO, but in your situation, I wouldn't. I'd use something like Seachem Equilibrium to bring the pH back up.
Hi, if you do use RO then you'll have to add additives to it as the RO strips practically everything out. Unfortunatley I haven't done this in practice so can't advise as to what to add. I'm pretty sure others on here can though