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Water chemistry questions
4/3/20 Some FW Setup and Water Chemistry Questions; Cardinals,
Plants 4/2/19 Help please. GIGO/vague questions/responses re water quality;
source water filtration /RMF 5/1/17 freshwater tank; RO use... not exclusively
1/28/17
Confused about water chemistry in freshwater tank; Pomacea sys.
9/12/15
Sea shells producing nitrites...why?
8/18/15
Done being salty. Use of well-water, lvstk sel.
5/27/15 white crust (lime??)
4/13/15 Water chemistry; FW, ref.s
11/9/14 Sudden drastic water chemistry changes
10/19/13 Found out about my water. 2/17/13 Non-Potable water only source 9/25/12 Setting up a tank (stkg.) and fighting chemistry
8/22/12 Question regarding using drinking water for my fish room
7/10/12 pH Fluctuations in planted tank
5/18/12 Fish Tank Help, FW too high NH3, NO3, too
low KH... 10/26/11 weird water issues
/Neale 10/19/11 soft water planted tank
question 8/23/11 Questions regarding plants,
in bottled ("Spring") water 7/15/11 water parameters. FW
12/7/10 powdery substance on
surface of aquarium 8/29/10 water chemistry, FW... as relates to fish
lvstk. sel. and planted system CO2 maint.
7/6/10 Aquarium Question: Over-abundance of
calcium/minerals in tap water? 6/13/10 Re: Aquarium Question: Over-abundance of
calcium/minerals in tap water? 6/14/10 Water quality question 5/15/10 Help ! More from "Weird water
Chemistry" 3/20/10 Follow up on Is this stream crowded? FW
stkg. mostly, test kits, maint. -- 02/25/10 Planted Tank chem., hardness
10/5/09 Re: Planted Tank chem., hardness
10/5/09 Stability vs. "recommended
parameters" 6/27/2009 FW Water 5/2/09 "Freshwater Aquarium Water
Quality" addendum - 4/13/09 Water? 4/10/09 Re: Water? 4/10/09 Re: Water? 4/10/09 Question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) -- 02/12/09 Hi. I have a freshwater 300 gallon tank (225 tank with a 75 gallon sump). It use to be saltwater and about 2.5 months ago converted it to a freshwater community, mainly discus tank. I have 8 discus- most around 5' inches, 5 gold nugget Plecos, 2 electric blue crayfish (no claws), 3 black ghost knife, 3 Bala sharks, a butterfly fish, 2 big snails and left over feeder fish swimming around. I plan on adding more discus and am trying to convince my boyfriend to make it a discus only tank which I'm sure will happen soon. Anyway- I noticed my nitrites went up the day I added feeders (mainly for butterfly fish) and added 4 discus the same day and according to my bf I feed too much as well which I am working on. I feed a mixture of frozen food (brine, blood worms, mosquito larvae, krill, shrimp, beef heart etc) 3-4 times a day maybe a large spoon full each time (maybe a tad more) :/ Anyway, I'm trying to get some expert advice on how to get my nitrites back at zero. We have a Fluval, two overflows and have a little circulation in the tank at all times (not too much because I know discus like still'er' water). I try to do a water change once every week or two. Now that my nitrites have gone up, I've done 3 30%+ water changes in the past 4 days. I keep my temps at 83, ph at 6.4/6.6 and have extra aeration (big round bubbler) in sump (does that even help with aeration in main tank water??) Thank you for any advice. I appreciate it greatly. Christina <Hi Christina. Well, one thing you can do is not use feeder fish. There's absolutely no reason to do so, and many good reasons not to. One key reason is that (commercial) feeder fish are reared in filthy conditions. That's how they're so cheap! And filthy fish are disease-ridden fish, and that's the last thing you want in this tank. Discus obviously are sensitive to diseases, and Black Ghost Knifefishes are killed outright by many medications (especially those with copper in them) so you can't easily treat this tank. Crayfish and snails will be killed by copper too. So adding feeders is just plain dangerous. African Butterflyfish will eat all sorts of other things, including flake. They have a distinct "kill zone" around each eye, in an arc about 90 degrees and extending outwards a few centimetres. If you start with things like small crickets or fruit flies, you'll get the African Butterflies trained onto other foods, and once that happens they'll take good quality pellets and flakes. Right, with that dispensed with, we can look at filtration. Yes, Symphysodon come from "slow" water, but that's not really an option in an aquarium. Filters for fish the size of Discus will need to be rated at 6 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. In your case, 6 x 300 = 1800 gallons per hour. Anything less isn't going to process ammonia and nitrite rapidly enough. Another key thing to remember is biological filters prefer basic pH levels. Below 7.0 they work less and less well, and below 6.0 don't work at all. So unless there's a darn good reason, you should run your tank at pH 7. Commercially bred Discus are just fine at that level, and the improved filtration is far more important to their health than the pH. Cheers, Neale.> Re: question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) 2/12/09 Ok Thanks so much. So for now what do I do about the nitrite?? I think I'm going to do a 40%/50% water change... let me know what you think. Thanks Christina <Water changes will of course dilute nitrite. But if there's inadequate biological filtration, e.g., from too many fish, or too little filtration, or not enough circulation, then the nitrite will keep coming back. So by all means do a water change, but look at the big picture too. Cheers, Neale.> Re: question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) 2/13/09 Ok Gotcha! I did a 50% water change and it didn't lower the nitrites as much as Id like but at least it did go down a little. Im confused on how my filtration might not be good enough- I have water flow, two overflows and a Fluval. Hmmm. <Well, first check the turnover. As I mentioned, there's a certain amount you need, and I'd recommend 4-6 times the volume of the tank per hour. Next up, check water chemistry. As the pH drops below 7, biological filtration becomes less efficient. Oxygen is also important. One key thing is that as filter media gets clogged, the bacteria get less oxygen, so biological filtration diminishes.> Maybe Im just overfeeding and I have heard that with discus some people do a water change every other day. <Simple way to test: don't feed the fish for 2-3 days. Won't harm the fish. If the nitrite goes away, that's your problem.> So maybe I will I have to do that... lower feeing and change water more often. One more question- what about adding real plants to the tank- right now I have fake plants but I heard real plants might help control nitrite, nitrate and just in all help the water quality. <Fast-growing plants (and that's the key thing!) can, will, remove ammonia and nitrate directly. Floating plants are especially good because they're closer to the light so able to grow most quickly. If you're removing armfuls of plants every week (as you will be if they're happy) then you can be confident your floating plants are removing a lot of nitrate.> I was thinking about putting them in the sump... what are your thoughts?? Thank You sooooo very much Christina <Cheers, Neale.> Re: question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) 2/14/09 Okay- so Im slowly raising my PH up to 7.0, I will get plants today (hopefully find some floating ones), Im almost positive my filtration is great- use to have saltwater with an overstocked tank and never had problems. Do you think maybe the sand is the problem? <Sand won't make a good tank bad, but if it isn't kept clean, like any substrate, it can trap uneaten food.> I hear nitrates and nitrites get caught in the sand... and how do i make sure theirs enough oxygen in the tank?? <Actually, neither happens. Sand is relatively anoxic, at least below about an inch or two, so that you get anaerobic decay. This breaks nitrate into nitrogen gas. It's precisely what happens in live rock and deep sand beds in marine aquaria, so nothing to be scared of. I like to add some fish or snails that sift sand to keep the top layer clean. This prevents excessive amounts of organic materials from being trapped in the sand. Malayan livebearing snails are the absolute ideal, but Corydoras and most Loaches work almost as well. The main thing with sand is to just rake the top inch or two every few months, just to make sure it's clean. Contrary to a widely held misconception, low levels of anaerobic decay don't kill fish, but you still want to keep the sand clean.> We have two powerheads, the Fluvals return and have a big round bubbler in the sump. Also, we have bioballs (used em from the saltwater- cleaned em very well and let them dry out before reusing them)...are they ok to use with freshwater?? <Should work fine.> Thanks so much- your a great help Christina <Suspect this is more an over-feeding, under-cleaning issue that anything else. Good luck, Neale.> Re: question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) I've done tons of research and combined with your advice I think I understand the way the system works now. I did a 60% water change yesterday then tested and the nitrite dropped a little, but then today I tested it again and back at 1.0- this makes no sense to me because for the past 5 days I've been doing 30%, 30%, 50% and now 60%(yesterday) water changes and the nitrites are still the same reading... why is this?? <If you do a water change, and the nitrite vanishes afterwards, that tends to mean the problem was a "spike" and it's fixed. If the nitrite comes back up again, it means nitrite is being produced. Ammonia gets turned into nitrite by the filter, so somewhere along the line there's an excess of ammonia *relative to the rate of filtration*. Your tank may be big enough for the fishes you have, but if your filter is somehow inadequate, then that's where the nitrite comes from. In effect, the ammonia is being generated by decay in the aquarium at rate X, but the filter converts it into nitrite at rate Y, and if Y is smaller than X, nitrite accumulates over time.> Somethings isn't right in my tank. <Indeed. Review filtration rate, the quality of the biological media, the cleanliness of the filter, the amount of oxygen getting into the filter, the pH, etc.> I read in a few articles a little salt would help solve the problem but also read no salt with plants- which I plan on getting Monday. What do you think- do the salt even with the fish I have (knife fish, gold nugget Plecos, crayfish, discus, ornate bichir, butterfly fish) or just do plants which seem safer but will it help out with nitrites?? <Salt should not be added to this tank. Filtration -- FILTRATION -- is the issue!> Or I was thinking about buying and adding refrigerated bacteria (turbo start etc)... <The bacteria are there already, so adding more is neither here not there. Improve the filtration. Cheers, Neale.> So confused... Thanks again Christina Re: question about nitrites (Symphysodon, Pantodon; water quality issues) 2/15/09 Okay. So what would you suggest in making my filtration better. <Making sure it has adequate turnover usually does the trick. Look at your filter, and read from the pump what it's gallons (or litres, as you prefer) turnover per hour is. Divide that number by the volume of the tank. if the answer is less than 4, you have too little filtration. You're aiming for at least 4x the volume of the tank in turnover per hour, and ideally 6x.> I have the biggest Fluval (450 I think)... <Fluval 405? That has a turnover of 340 gallons per hour. Your tank has 300 gallons capacity (including the sump?) so the turnover required is 4 x 300 = 1200 gallons per hour minimum. In other words, you'll need at least 3-4 of these Fluval 405 units just for the minimum level of filtration.> 2 overflows, and a 90 gallon sump with about 200 bioballs. I also have a 'sock' that the hoses go into to catch debris. Im now wondering if my sump is not set up correctly... hmm. <The sump is neither here not there. Just add its volume to the overall capacity of the tank. While it may well contain biological media (e.g., bioballs) if the rate of water turnover is too low, then the filtration just won't happen. Normally you get the 1200 gallons per hour purely using canister filters or whatever. But since you have a sump, you may be able to combine a canister filter with a powerhead water pump of adequate turnover that water passes through the sump quickly. In this case, if you have 340 gallons/hour accounted for by the Fluval, you'll need 1200 - 340 = 860 gallons per hour from the powerhead.> Can I send you a pic of my sump and tank and maybe you'd be able to point out where something is wrong? Also- I have a big protein skimmer from my old saltwater setup- would that be of some use on this 300 gallon freshwater tank? <Skimmers don't work in freshwater aquaria. Only in brackish/marine (or in some cases, ponds, though not regular aquarium skimmers).> Thanks Christina <Cheers, Neale.> Trace Minerals in Freshwater 1/14/09 Hello Crew, Hope all are having a good day. <Yes, thanks for asking.> Just waiting for cold weather to come through tonight. Down in the 20s. But I think that is the way is should be in winter. Anyway, I would like to know if there is any reason to add a trace mineral supplement to a freshwater tank. <None at all, at least not for the fish. A balanced, varied diet should take care of all their requirements. Plants are different, and they will need periodic supplements, particularly of iron.> I use regular city tap water. I don't know how trace minerals get deleted and didn't know if on occasion I needed to put some in. I do have a little java fern and moss, but not sure if they take trace minerals out of the water or not. <They will take some, but slowly, and your water changes will compensate.> Thank all of you for your knowledge! James <Cheers, Neale.> Re: Trace Minerals in Freshwater Thank you. <Most welcome. Cheers, Neale.> FW hazy tank and plant fertilization, AGA referral 12/28/07 I sent a message earlier regarding a hazy tank (same subject heading), I forgot to add an additional bit of info: I perform a 25% water change every 3 weeks and the water does not clear up afterwards. Hopefully you can piece my two emails together. <Have done so> Thank you Brent Hey, your website is absolutely amazing, I have spent hours reading your FAQs and find them incredibly helpful! However, the situation in my tank does not quite add up. Here's the run-down on my tank: Freshwater, 90 gallon, 2 Fluval 305 filters (no carbon media used), 100% Fluorite based, heavily planted, water test levels: 0 for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH 6.6 - 6.8, CO2 injection, KH 40 ppm, 270 Watts compact fluorescent lighting, temperature 79.8 - 80.3 F. Fish: 1 Pleco (6"), <Yikes... what species? Some of these will "bother" to consume most all plants> 1 redtail shark (4"), 5 Neons (tiny), 5 black skirts, 2 flying foxes (3" each), 3 clown loaches, 4 honey dwarf Gourami, 1 Danios (a lone survivor of a former school of 5). My tank has been running a little more than a month. I fertilize regularly (every two days) with flourish excel and iron and I use flourish (containing other trace nutrients) twice weekly. <Mmmm, okay... I do wish there were simple, available test kits (of use natch) to test for the principal ingredients in these mixed fertilizer products> Also, I inject CO2 into the tank and diffuse it with an airstone and the canister filter (seems to be about 90% efficient for diffusion). Also, there is minor minor algae on the glass, and a little amount of beard algae on the edge of one of my plants leaves. All the fish seem happy: no disease, no weird behaviour, excellent colouration, etc. I feed once every 2 days (4, 1cm diameter algae discs, and a pinch of granulated fish food). All the plants seem happy: excellent growth, thick stalks plenty of leaves, nice and green. Ok on to my question: My tank is still a little hazy (white) and I would like crystal clear aquarium water. I think the haze is from a bacterial bloom, will that go away with time? <Hopefully so... can be more of an unsightly nuisance... such microbial populations can "lead" to changes in water quality that are detrimental...> Also, if it is a bacterial bloom, and the nitrate levels are so low (zero), why exactly are they blooming (their nutrient sources should be all used up by the plants)? <Mmm, a bit of a conundrum, but likely what available Nitrate there is, is being "taken up" rapidly here... So, not that there is no NO3, but that it is concentrated...> Also, my nitrate levels are at 0. In a tank that is heavily planted, should I be fertilizing with nitrates (NPK fertilizers) or is this going to cause the bacterial bloom to get out of hand? <This form of Nitrogen is supplied via fish wastes and in the SeaChem products... sufficiently here> Thank your your help! Brent <I'd bet most anything that you'd gain by reading Diana Walstad's works... do a search and scan when you have some time on the Aquatic Gardener Association's website: http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/ Bob Fenner> FW cloudy tk. 9/30/07 Hey crew, <Chris> I have a 45 gallon freshwater tank. There are two catfishes, one platy, ten platy fries, two guppies, and four tetras. They have been well and healthy. However, the water seems really foggy. I do 20 percent water changes every two weeks. No fishes have died or had any disease and the nitrate and ph seem fine. The ammonia may be a tiny bit high though. <Should be and stay zip, zero...> I have not been overfeeding my fishes and only fed as much as they could eat. Do you know why the water gets cloudy? <This and the presence of detectable ammonia leads me to suspect inadequate filtration> Also, do you know any thing I can do or add any good chemicals to prevent it from fogging up. <Not a good route to go... Improve the filtration, circulation...> Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it. <Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwmaintfaqs.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Community Tank Water Chemistry. 9/5/07 Hi Neale, <Lisa,> I'd appreciate your advice on "community tanks" concerning water chemistry. <OK.> I am "fostering" a 29 gallon tank. In the tank are 3 albino Corys, 3 black shirt tetras, 3 glowlights (I tried to identify them last night - their bodies are pinkish/flesh color with a red marking on the dorsal fin), 3 very pretty orange and red mollies and 1 pleco (plump and about 5-6 inches in length). <Those don't sound like glowlights. Glowlights (Hemigrammus erythrozonus) are transparent with a coppery band from nose to tail along the midline. Need a photo to identify them, as they don't sound immediately recognisable to me.> Due to the tap's very soft water (which I understand is preferred by Corys), my pH swings (as noted from my established community tank). I am not sure how to buffer it as in this situation it doesn't make sense to buffer using peat or crushed coral on either sides of the spectrum to stabilize. <Corydoras couldn't really care less about water pH or hardness. Anything from pH 6-8 and hardness 5-20 dH is acceptable, particularly with tank-bred forms (which is what you have). I've said this repeatedly on WWM in answer to many other questions -- the exact pH and hardness almost never matters: what matters is stability. So, if you have very soft water, then adding some crushed coral to the filter DOES make sense. Maybe you won't need much -- experiment! Perhaps half a cup to start with. Measure the pH and hardness each day for the following week, and plot a little graph. Once you've seen what effect it has, you can raise or lower the amount of crushed coral so that it meshes with the amount of water you change each week. What you're after is around 10 dH and a pH around 6.5-7.5. That's the "sweet spot" for virtually all tropical community fish.> Similarly, where does one draw the line in stabilizing pH and hardness/softness in a community tank where for instance guppies (tank 1: 5 guppies, 5 Corys, 2 bumblebee cats, 2 Plecos, 1 giant danio) and mollies (tank 2: combo mentioned above) prefer more alkaline water and Cory's like neutral, soft water? I also understand mollies prefer brackish water (no salt has ever been added to their tank). <Except for the mollies, what I suggest above will suit all of these. The guppies might prefer harder water, and certainly not a pH less than 7.0. Mollies, unfortunately, just don't do well in regular community tanks with 100% reliability. I know some people are fine with them, and that's cool. But 5 times out of 10, the mollies just don't thrive. So there's no way, ever, you're going to get me say "this set of freshwater conditions is ideal for all your fish, mollies included". Mollies just plain do better in brackish/marine aquaria. End of story.> Also, as you can imagine the pleco in the 29 gallon barely has room to turn around. I'd like to move him to the 55 gallon Mbuna tank. I have not yet moved my other pleco from my established tank to the Mbuna tank because I have not finished aquascaping it yet (I'm in phase 1). The 55 gallon has 11 2-3 inch Mbunas and the nasty CAE. Will both Plecos be okay in the 55? <This is a "suck it and see" situation. If you have two male plecs... don't bank on them getting along. Two females, maybe. One of each... who knows?> At least they'll have room to swim (I watched the video on YouTube you referred to about the Plecos in the wild!)...? <Isn't it cool!> One other question please! Can a tank have too much aeration? I'm running 2 powerheads in the 55 and a "full length" airstone - I have two filters that break the surface with the water flow. I'm trying to equip tanks according to biotope - I haven't been able to find if the Rift Valley Lakes have strong currents or are rather still... <Realistically, no, in freshwater tanks over-aeration and over-filtration aren't usually a problem. Yes, you can supersaturate water with gases, and these bubble out inside the fish, causing tissue damage. But this happens more in marine than freshwater aquaria, I think because of differences in gas solubility between fresh and salt water. Regardless, to get to this point you need A LOT of aeration and filtration, and freshwater fishkeepers rarely run systems with even 50% the water movement of comparable marine tanks. As for water currents in the Rift Valley lakes... it depends! Some parts of the lakes have strong currents, with some cichlids even living in the surf zone. But other parts are relatively still, particularly where there is a thick growths of plants (Potamogeton and Vallisneria, mostly). But provided you're aiming for about 6-8 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour, you should be fine.> Thank you Neale! Lisa. <Hope this helps, Neale> Mollies, Soft Water, Hardness, SG, Corys, Community Tank Questions 7/29/07 Hello from a senior citizen and younger bride in Georgia, <Greetings.> Many thanks for your wonderful efforts on this site. It is superlative and has helped immensely since we transitioned from marine tank to community tank. <Thanks!> Our goal is to have a colorful community tank with high quantity, hence 3 filter systems are in place. <OK. But do bear in mind filters don't really let you overstock an aquarium. At the very least, an overstocked tank requires more water changes per week than otherwise.> We have 8 separate problems/questions, with sub-questions having to do with either water chemistry or Mollies. <Eight questions with sub-questions!? Oh boy...> Forgive my husband's engineering training in outlining our tank and some of the questions. He wanted you to have ALL the parameters and orderly questions with no room for your guessing what we have here. <Good.> From reading your forum, we think that the LFS may have led us astray on Mollies and water parameters and we need a definitive answer and think your advice is what we want to trust. <There's no "definitive" set of water conditions for Mollies; there's what they inhabit in the wild (anything from inland lakes to the sea) and then there's what suits tank-bred mollies in aquaria. All I can say with 100% confidence is that mollies kept in brackish/salt water are less prone to disease percentage-wise than mollies kept in freshwater aquaria. But then, there are people who keep them fine in freshwater tanks. Just not everyone: for every person who has success with them in freshwater, there's another who has nothing but trouble. So it isn't easy.> We thank you in advance for your kindness in replying and apologize for the lengthy email. <OK.> Our tank and tank water parameters: 125 gallon tank, 5' long, est. 115 gallons water <Nice and big tank, always a good start!> Tank operating 15 weeks, popped normally with danios/platys, a few platys survived it all. <Should be mature by now.> Water changes 10-15% (12-20 gallons) a week with gravel vacuum each time. <Bigger water changes would be better, especially if you're after a heavy stocking of the tank. 50% water changes weekly are not out of line. At the least, you want to be doing 25% water changes. Big water changes don't take any more work once you have the bucket and pipe out, and dechlorinator costs very little. But big water changes *massively* improve water quality.> 11 plastic 'plants' & no live plants <OK. Livebearer babies appreciate live floating plants though, or at least, they hide among them well and avoid being eaten.> 4 plastic 'coral heads'-'lava tower'-'caves.' 1 small piece of slate for hiding babies and resting Corys. <OK.> 2 - 2.5 inches thick new white gravel with under gravel filter on 2 large corner power heads (no air bubble venturis in use) <The gravel sounds hideous. Here's a thing people don't realise about fake coloured gravels -- fish alter their colours to match. If you have bright white gravel, the fish will fade their colours. Instead of a rich reds and blues, your fish will gradually become pink and grey. This varies of course -- some fish (like fancy platies and goldfish) can't change their colours, but many can. Without exception, the darker the substrate, the brighter the fish's colours will be. Black is the best, but even plain gravel is good.> Fluval 305 and Fluval 405 canister filters (F-405 added this week to allow our high fish capacity) <Both good filters. But I think you're expecting too much from them. Even together, these will provide *adequate* filtration for a 125 gallon tank, nothing special. Here's the deal. An aquarium with standard levels of stocking with small fishes (danios, platies, etc.) needs about 4 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. Your aquarium has 125 gallons, give or take. The Fluval 305 gives you 260 gallons/hour, the 405 340 g/h. So, all told, 600 gallons per hour turnover. That's a bit under 5 times the volume of the tank in turnover. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? But those turnover quotes exclude two factors: filter media, and head pressure. When you add filter media (which you have to!) the turnover drops. Why do they give you the turnover without media? Marketing I guess. Secondly, when you place a filter under the tank, it has to pump water against gravity back into the tank (that's head pressure) and this reduces turnover further. Bottom line, you can lop 10-25% of the turnover quote for any given filter. By the time the filter has become clogged, that turnover will drop even more. So realistically, you have *adequate* filtration for your tank. More than enough to do the job, but provided you keep a reasonable number of fish.> Fluval's have the usual foam, poly-wool, charcoal, and ceramic. <I consider carbon to be useless in most freshwater tanks. Unless you clearly understand and have a specific reason to use it (as opposed to what the marketing says) I'd recommend putting its space to better use with some more filter wool or ceramic.> Charcoal changed monthly, poly twice monthly. <OK.> 1 air bubbler in plastic lava tower, 2 corner heaters Tank receives no direct sun. Ambient light is average. 2 fluorescent lights are on 8 AM-10PM. <OK.> Water crystal clear, no algae of any type present. <Famous last words.> Temperature 78 - 79 degrees. <Fine.> Salt added (2.25 teaspoons/gallon or 7.5 Tablespoons/10 gallons) to maintain SG of 1.004 (6 PPT) per 2 LFSs. (Leads to a question) <SG 1.004 is ideal for mollies.> pH 7.0 - 7.2 per LFS tanks where all fish are bought. (Leads to a question) Ammonia & Nitrites test zero using reagents, backed up with dipstick readings. Nitrates 20 on dip stick, might be as high as 30 with vagaries of the color chart. <Doesn't matter either way. 20 or 30 mg/l nitrate is pretty low. In a brackish water tank, where the salt detoxifies nitrate to a significant degree, this is basically very good water quality.> Well water only. (Please see Well water parameters below) Total Hardness GH always 75 on dip stick test at pH 7.0-7.2. (This leads to a question) <75 what? mg/l calcium oxide? mg/l calcium carbonate?> Total Alkalinity KH is always 40 on dip stick test with pH 7.0-7.2 (This leads to a question). <Again, 40 what? What's the scale on the test kit?> Food 2X a day: TetraMin Flake, shrimp pellets, and algae discs. <Fine.> Well water from tap: (we have our own well) Usually pH 8.2+ and will not drop over night alone, <For mollies, pH 8.2 with marine salt mix added is perfect, the champagne of waters.> We drive tap water pH down with powdered swim pool acid in a new trash can, let aerate for 3-4 days to stabilize at 7.0 - 7.2. <WHAT?????? You're using acid to change the pH? Look, pH doesn't matter if you don't soften the water as well. Since you're not softening the water, don't mess about with the pH. 99 times out of a 100, people do more harm than good playing around with the pH. Honestly, if you stick with hard water and brackish water fishes, your well water will be perfect for them. Add the marine salt mix, and bang, you'll have water they'll thrive in. Livebearers, glassfish, rainbowfish, gobies, various cichlids, various killifish, Monos, scats, archers... the list is very very long. So please put the bottle of acid down.> DeChlor is used. <Good.> It buffers back only slightly when we drive pH down and eventually stabilizes. <Your fish hate you for this, you know that?> Total Hardness GH always zero on dip stick test <WHAT???? Why on earth do you want zero GH afterwards? Nothing, not even cardinal tetras, appreciate water as soft as this. Mollies want something around 20 degrees dH (~200 mg/l calcium oxide). Even most soft water fish don't want anything less than 5 dH (40 mg/l calcium oxide). Zero hardness is practically toxic.> Total Alkalinity KH always 80 on dip stick test <Oh boy. I've kind of lost track really of what's going on here. What you've created is some weird cocktail of salts that your fish don't want. And then you're adding salt. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. Your well water is fine. Mollies will thrive in it. The harder the better, as far as they're concerned.> Addition of DeChlor and pH Down to make water 7.0-7.2 does not change GH or KH <Don't focus on pH; it's a mirage. The deal with pH is that it moves up or down depending on the hardness salts in the water. In most places, water either lacks hardness salts, and becomes acidic because of organic decay, or else has lots of hardness salts, and becomes alkaline/basic because of these salts buffering the pH upwards. But the pH isn't the "cause", it's a "proxy", a thing that changes alongside the thing that matters, the dissolved minerals in the water. Freshwater fish couldn't care less about pH really, and most will adapt to a wide range of values. What they care about is the "total dissolved solids", the minerals in the water, and the stuff the influences their osmotic balance.> Addition of aquarium salt to make SG 1.004 (2.25 teaspoons/gallon) does not change GH or KH <Don't use aquarium salt. It's rubbish. Use marine salt mix (instant ocean, reef crystals, etc.) Marine salt mix buffers the pH and does a lot more than just raise salinity. Your mollies will love you for it.> After sitting to stabilize for 3-4 days, either in clean 5 Gallon buckets or new trashcan, the GH goes to 75 and KH goes to 40 (Leads to a question) <At this point I've pulled out a lot of hair... so let's move on swiftly...> Live Stock: Total 36 fish, approx 73 inches. 15 Platys, various types. <They will enjoy your well water as it is.> 6 Cory Cats <Assuming you don't have anything delicate, these will adapt fine to well water. Not wild about salty water, but if you adapt them slowly, should be OK. But next time you're shopping for catfish, pick a brackish water tolerant species like Hoplosternum littorale or Hypostomus plecostomus.> 8 Swordtails, various colors <Like the platies, they'll thrive in well water.> 7 Mollies, Gold, silver, black, Dalmatian. (Which leads into a question). <Not only do they like well water, they positively hate the water you're trying to create with all the messing about with pH.> Question\Problem 1: Mollies are dying, mostly the males, all 4 color types in 4 - 14 days. We are selecting good fish at the LFS. The ones that get sick and die don't look any different to us in the store then the survivors. The Mollies that we lose begin to meditate head up, tail down, and stop competing for food or eating, mostly start to shimmy and not swim around, the fins droop and become limp, and then they die. Some settle listlessly to the bottom without shimmy, and then die. There is no sign of rapid gill movement, but the mouth opens and closes a lot (like a carp!) on some. Presently the male Dalmatian and male black molly exhibit this behavior; a gold male died this week, a female black died this morning after 14 days, last 3 days unhappy. The other 6 females (gold, Dalmatian, silver, black) appear normal in eating and swimming and are 14 days in the tank. We have lost about 8 previous Mollies in the last 6 weeks. All other fish are normal excepting two shy swords. No fish pick on other fish. No ich or sores evident anywhere. Pellets/flake food are spaced to give the ill ones equal time for food, which they ignore. The sick Mollies may prefer either the bottom or surface of the tank. We read about the shimmy medicine for lack of electrolytes but that seems a long shot as others posting have not indicated success with Shimmy Block or Molly Bright (and all our Mollies are not sick). Any thoughts so far, considering our pH, GH, KH? We do not know how to change KH if that is needed or what causes it to change from tap to tank. Ditto no knowledge on GH. The LFS (PetS) said they keep (and we should keep) pH at 7.0, slipping to 7.2. The LFS does this for the entire store of all fish except the cold water fish. Doesn't agree with your site. We elected to follow their lead believing the fish would be safer with the same water in our tank as the LFS. I tested the LFS water and it is indeed 7.0 pH and 1.004 SG and 78..degrees in the continuous community tank. <OK, I don't need to read much of this to know why. Knock off messing about with the well water. From now on, just add the well water plus salt plus dechlorinator. For the sake of the Corydoras, aim for SG 1.003 for now. Things will gradually improve and your mollies will recover.> Your forum says Mollies need 7.5 pH and hard water. Is raising pH slowly to precisely 7.5 really necessary? We can do it, but what effect will it have on the Cory Cats, platys, and swords? <Apart from the Corydoras, all your fish actually prefer "liquid rock" well water as hard and as alkaline as it is. It's what they like. The Corydoras not so much, but they'll adapt.> UGH. It appears this would stress all the fish. (If we were answering our own email, here is where we would say "UGH, indeed!"). <Your problem is trying to create water conditions with a certain set of values without understanding what all those values mean. Go read this: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm > What is the lifespan of a full grown Molly? Lastly on Q1, is this shimmy something only Mollies do when ill or stressed, and can it mean many things or only one thing? (My engineer husband threw that question in, hoping for a black and white engineer type answer). If you feel there could be multiple chemistry problems, we would like to try solutions one at a time to reduce stress on the whole community in the order of priority of change KH, GH, pH, SG, etc. <Mollies live a few years, maybe 4 or 5, all things being equal. They aren't really long lived fishes in the wild or in aquaria, and inbreeding hasn't helped.> Question 2: Can we successfully keep Mollies, Cory Cats, Platys, Swordtails in a tank together or are we beating our heads against the tank? We do not want to do an all Molly tank unless we could also do Cory Cats with them. We enjoy Cory Cats (like small puppies!), the graceful sword tails, and the "front of the tank" platy parade and could go Mollyless as an option, depending on your response. You can see we are trying to do it all, and of course LFS sells us all without hesitation. If our current whole combination won't work, what pH and SG do we need for only these two solutions: (1) Mollies and Cory Cats? (2) Cory Cats, Platys, and Swords? Is the SG of 1.004 ok for these fish if we go without Mollies or should it be no salt at all? Our book sez pH of 7.0 for Corys and no salt. Will they die at pH of 7.5 and the salt in the range we have (1.004) or the range your site suggests for Mollies (1.002-1.003)?. What effect is: The soft GH of 75? The alkalinity KH of 40? on either of tank (1) Mollies/Corys or (2) Corys, Platys, Swords? <OK, all three livebearers will thrive in brackish water at up to pH 8, "very hard", and salinity SG 1.005. Corydoras are adaptable, though this depends on the species. Your standard issue peppered and bronze Corydoras really will thrive at anything from pH 6 to pH 8, and from 5 dH up to 20 dH ("very hard") hardness. Wild caught and more sensitive Corydoras are a bit less adaptable perhaps, but still, they're pretty tough little animals. Mollies couldn't care less about the salinity. They can be kept at anything from 1.000 (freshwater) to 1.030 (hypersaline, more salty than the sea conditions). A low to middling salinity (SG 1.003 to 1.005) is probably the best in terms of getting the best health from them while leaving your options open in terms of tankmates.> Question 3: Why does the well water out of the tap, at GH zero, KH 80 (dip stick test, with no immediate change with DeChlor, pH down (to make 7.0-7.2), & salt added), change after sitting 4 days, to GH 75 and KH 40? It remains at these numbers in the buckets and when added to the tank, so it is not a change happening in the tank. If you didn't catch this in Q1 or Q2, Do we need to adjust KH and GH? How do we adjust KH and GH to your specs and not change pH? <I have no idea what's going on with your well water because you're doing crazy stuff to it. Just use it as it comes, and let the fish adapt to it. Adding the marine salt mix will stablise the pH and balance the minerals in the water nicely, making the whole issue academic. Tell me what the pH, GH, and KH are of the water you have STRAIGHT OUT THE TAP, and give me the UNITS on the test kit, not just the numbers. (Without the numbers, it's like saying it's 0 outside without stating if that's Celsius or Fahrenheit.> Question 4. We don't have algae on the tank walls for the LFS standard\common $1.00 gold color snail (Ramshorn or Florida Apple, sorry no species). It died in 6 days after crawling the clean walls and being quite active. It was not on the gravel much, preferred the tank walls. Do you think it was the SG of 1.004 or the lack of food? Was it supposed to find uneaten food on the gravel? If we were supposed to feed it, what do we feed it? Can we keep a snail under the water chemistry we have (salt added)? <Forget about apple snails. They're a poor choice in your aquarium for a whole bunch of reasons.> Question 5: We notice that our salt added to maintain SG 1.004 is triple the 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons directions on the salt jar and over double your suggested 1 teaspoon per gallon and a higher SG than your suggested 1.002-1.003 in the forum. (We are following 2 of the LFSs with this SG of1.004). When we used 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons, it did not register on our Instant Ocean Hydrometer, which seems accurate in measuring 1.004. How much latitude on SG do we have for the fish we want to keep, knowing the Cory's are most sensitive (at 6 weeks here, Corys are fine with SG 1.004). <OK, I'm not a fan of measuring salt by volume because, as you've discovered, IT DOESN'T WORK. For your aquarium, you're aiming for SG 1.003, which is roughly 6 grammes of salt per litre (about 0.8 oz per US gall.) Make up the salt by adding it to the bucket... and then test the SG using a hydrometer. A basic floating glass hydrometer will cost you all of $5 and make life 100 times easier. SG 1.003 should be perfectly safe for your Corydoras.> Question 6: The LFS operates all community/semi aggressive tanks on the one big tank plumbing system, is that a contagious disease worry on a fish buy? We don't have a hospital tank. Should we set one up and routinely quarantine each new fish from the LFS (PetS) with an anti-bacterial med as we used to do with copper on marine fish? If so, what medicine for routine use? We hope this is not necessary, but it goes back to these Molly problems. <Quarantine tanks are always a good idea. That said, the mollies are dying because of what you're doing to them, not because of the retailer.> Question 7: What medicines can be put in the big tank to prevent contagious disease (ich, bacterial) or cure one fish, without destroying the good bacteria? (Just planning ahead, since we don't have a hospital tank). <For now, don't worry about it. As and when something goes wrong, you simply buy an appropriate treatment. There are any number of brands out there. But for now, I'd sooner you bought/borrowed a book on fish health, and read that. A much better investment of your time.> Question 8: Is there one flake food for all live bearers? The Mollies are said to need veggie flakes in one forum and are said to be omnivores in another forum so that is confusing to see. How about swordtails and platys, veggie or fishy flakes or either? The TetraMin flakes we use says parts of: "Fish meal, shrimp meal, algae meal, rice, wheat, potato, oats, soy" and a list of stuff we can't pronounce or read. Is this OK for fish we have when used with shrimp pellets and algae discs? It seems to be an omnivore food, not entirely veggie. <There is livebearer flake. It's sometimes sold as Spirulina flake or guppy flake. Lots of brands. I happen to use Wardley Spirulina but other brands are just as good. The main thing with flake food I think is to buy *small* pots, as it loses its savour within a month or so. If you must buy in bulk, consider dividing the tub up, and freezing most of the flake you're not about to use.> Many, many thanks and cheers, Rosemary Brekka <Phew! I think we got to the bottom of all of this! Good luck, Neale> Re: Mollies, Soft Water, Hardness, SG, Corys, Community Tank Questions 8/1/07 Hello Neale, <Hello Rosemary,> Many thanks, you are a gentleman and scholar to take care of our questions, and deserve a day off. <Cool.> We are digesting your suggestions and discussing it with the fish. We have read the suggested link on pH and hardness 3x, but could not understand how to apply it to our situation for livebearers (high pH and zero hardness water out of the well). And the PPM measurement Jungle Labs uses for total hardness and total alkalinity is not mentioned on your charts on the pH/hardness article. <High pH and zero hardness will generally only occur where water contains a lot of ammonia. Ammonia dissolved in water raises the pH, but it is of course not a mineral, so does nothing to the hardness. As for the PPM measurement, that's identical to milligrams per litre (mg/l) for all practical purposes.> Apologies for not sending the KH/GH scale fist time. It is PPM. We don't know if this is what you requested (mg/l calcium oxide? mg/l calcium carbonate?) <Doesn't really matter which one.> Here are the well water from the tap stats today and the type of measurement on the Jungle Labs dipstick: pH: 8.0-8.2 Total Alkalinity KH 100 PPM Total Hardness GH zero PPM <OK, what this is saying is that your well water has very low (apparently zero) levels of calcium and magnesium salts (the two usually occur together). But it has reasonably high levels of carbonate salts.> Jungle Labs www site nor instructions tell us how to convert the PPM to dH or the KH and zero is zero anyway under any system. <You don't need to convert between them. The numbers on the table on that web page are to help people compare the results from different test kits. All that matters are the descriptions, "soft", "hard", etc.> So we are at a loss on our soft water, which obviously needs to be hard for the livebearers. <I agree, you have an odd set of conditions here. The water you have here is very similar to the water people get when they use domestic water softeners. These replace calcium salts (which register on a General Hardness test kit) with sodium salts (which do not). Such water is not suitable for fishkeeping. As a simple no-brainwork required solution, add crushed coral to the aquarium filter as a source of calcium carbonate; as this stuff dissolves, it will raise the GH and provide excellent buffering. Of course, such water conditions will favour hard water fishes, but provided you keep the GH between 10 and 20 dH ("Hard" on your test kit) then Corydoras and livebearers should be happy.> We did see the Cory cats topping at pH of 7.5 and livebearers starting there so that seems an intermediate point pH to satisfy all we have. <Corydoras prefer a pH around 7.0, but they are tolerant across a range from 6.0 to 8.0; as with many fishes, what matters is the stability of the conditions rather than the absolute values. Many fishkeepers misunderstand this, and focus too much on the numbers. The numbers are guidelines. What fish want are stable conditions, even if those conditions are less than ideal, they can be expected to adapt to them. But unstable conditions, even within the optimal range, can cause problems.> Crux of this email: We thought the simple way was to ask you what we should do to the well water above, and we will do it. Knowing we have messed up the cocktail, this seems the easy way to be straightened out. <For now, use the well water. Make absolutely sure you are not drawing water through a domestic water softener first. Lots of people make this mistake. Draw the water from the drinking (unsoftened) tap. Install a source of carbonate hardness as described above. Start off with a small amount, perhaps a cupful, and see what effect that has. If, after a week, the GH is still too low, add another cup of crushed coral to the filter.> The duh portion remaining is our soft water. It just ain't hard, even with the pH 8.2. <Check the ammonia levels.> With this well water, the GH is zero PPM out of the tap and pH 8.2. We thought high pH = hard water. <Hard water does have a higher pH than soft water, but not all water with high pH is hard water. A pot of ammonia solution has a high pH, but no hardness at all.> We are confused with our reading on hard/soft water. If we need hard water, we don't know how to get that, with the well/tap pH already at 8.2. Is 'hard water' merely a euphemism for high pH and not related to our GH zero PPM? <Hard water is good, because it is wonderfully stable. A hard water aquarium is far easier to maintain than a soft water one. Admittedly, it's a (substantial) minority of aquarium fish that prefer hard water, but there's still a very broad range of species to pick from, as well as lots of plants. Hard water is NOT a euphemism for high pH; it is just that the two things are commonly, but not always, related.> Apologies, Please tap-dance through this chem. On the plus side, we are now salting to SG 1.003 and DeChlor only to the water changes today, this still leaves our water zero PPM soft. <Salt, tonic salt anyway, has no effect on hardness. Marine salt mix does though, which is why it is preferred when keeping livebearers. Marine salt mix contains both sodium chlorine ("salt") plus a vast array of other minerals including calcium carbonate that buffers the water raising its pH, GH, and KH. Tonic salt ("aquarium salt") is just re-packaged cooking salt and basically useless except for treating sick fish. There's otherwise no reason to add it to a freshwater aquarium. It's mostly a con.> On DeChlor, can there be 'natural' chlorine in well water? Should we skip the DeChlor as well, since we do not treat our water? <There's shouldn't be chlorine in well water, but use it anyway. I add the stuff to rainwater I add to my fish tanks as a precautionary measure. Dechlorinator should treat other things besides chlorine, such as ammonia and copper. So it's always worth using.> On acid to drop pH: Do LFS pH down products work differently than swim pool dry acid we had mixed and used prior? We thought acid was acid. <No, acid isn't acid. There are hundreds if not thousands of different kinds. When they react with the minerals in hard water, they produce different mineral salts. Some of these mineral salts may be harmless, but others might be toxic. You just don't know. Prussic acid, to give one extreme example, is hydrogen cyanide and obviously deadly; carbonic acid is merely CO2 in water and is the stuff that makes soda slightly acidic but obviously harmless.> We have some real (dead) coral in storage. This should buffer the pH to 8.2 and keep it there, as it did this when we set the tank up and I had to remove a dozen pieces of coral. Should we place a piece in the tank again or do we compound problems? <Probably won't have much effect either way. A problem with corals in freshwater tanks is they look kind of goofy, but if you're cool with that, stick it in. Yes, it will slowly dissolve into the water, but not as effectively as crushed coral in the filter because of water flow and surface area reasons.> Thanks for simplifying our self induced problems, we are following your suggestions so far, it is the soft water/high pH starting water that has us shaking our heads. Margaritas on us if you are down this way...... <Cool!> Cheers, we are most grateful. Rosemary <Hope this helps, Neale> Re: Mollies, Soft Water, Hardness, SG, Corys, Community Tank Questions 8/2/07 Thank you, thank you, Neale! Appreciate your help squaring us away. Don here today, Rosemary is off doing real work serving coffee on airplanes. <Hello Don,> We have added a cluster of old purple barnacles to the tank. Gives place to sleep & hide. And crushed some table top coral for one Fluval. It went peacefully into that dark place. <Cool. I hope you cleaned off the dust though from the coral.> On your comments: "....High pH and zero hardness will generally only occur where water contains a lot of ammonia. Ammonia dissolved in water raises the pH.... Check the ammonia levels." <Indeed.> As requested, we tested well/tap water 3 ways; our well water has zero ammonia; it passes thru no filter or water softener enroute from well to us. Just PVC pipes. It shows SG of 1.000 mostly, a smidge over (but less than 1.001) rarely. <Odd. Wonder where the salt is coming from? Perhaps your well water is slightly brackish.> On your comments: ..." as this stuff dissolves (the crushed coral), it will raise the GH and provide excellent buffering..." <Yep.> Will addition of crushed coral raise the pH? If so, how do we control it to keep at 7.6 (where it is now) or stop it by 8.0? (Corys still a worry here). We still don't understand pH movement in this case, given that ammonia is zero. <Corys are fine up to pH 8. If you want to check, go visit Fishbase, and their tolerances *in the wild* for most species are listed as pH 6.0 to 8.0. Sure, they prefer something around neutral to slightly acid, but assuming the tank is otherwise healthy and stable they will adapt to pH 7.6 or 8.0 just fine.> Our tank pH after two 20% water changes over 3 days (before coral was added: 7.6 on reagent test. Married our 7.2 tank water to the 8.2 tap water. The black male molly is out swimming laps a wee bit with top fin up, so someone is happy. Still hasn't eaten in a week. <Sounds promising; but try mixing up the diet a little. Mollies are plant eaters, so some vegetarian flake, Sushi Nori, blanched lettuce, sliced cucumber and all sorts of other things might pique their jaded palates.> Tank GH is unchanged at 75 PPM dip stick. <Still fairly low.> Alas, we were using tonic salt; Top Fin. LFS sells only Instant Ocean in marine type you describe. Pkg brags about buffering for marine tanks so I called the company. They said this salt will take us to pH of 8.2 like ocean water. <Yes, if used at full dose, i.e., seawater strength, it will raise the pH to 8.2. But not at the miniscule doses I'm talking about here. Think about this logically: any elevation in pH is proportional to the amount of stuff used. If I use a half-seawater strength dose, it will raise the pH only half as much as full dose. If I do a quarter dose, only a quarter as much. And so on. Since we're talking about a 10% dose for the benefit of mollies, the pH rise caused by the marine salt mix will be very small. Try it and see! A small box of marine salt mix doesn't cost much, and even if you discover it doesn't work as I say (though it will) you can always use it a Christmas to brine the turkey.> Buh-bye Corys?...... What brand do you suggest? We will just get it on the internet if it will keep the Corys happy buffering to less, and adding to the hardness we need. <The thing here Don is not to concentrate too much on the methods, but on the goal: we want water with moderately high levels of GH and KH and a low salinity around SG 1.002, 1.003. Your job is to experiment: mix up tap water and salt until you get this. If you have a source of softened water, mix some of that in. Play around until you find a combination of factors that comes out with what you want. Mollies *do* need salt 5 times out of 10, which is why I'm recommending adding it. Corydoras aren't wild about salt, but at very low doses it does no harm. Ideally of course you'd keep these two fish in different tanks, since they really have different needs, but since that isn't an option you'll have to see what happens. Aim for SG 1.002 to begin with. That might be enough to support the mollies without stressing the Corydoras. You certainly don't want to go above SG 1.003. Interestingly, there is a relative of the Corydoras, Hoplosternum littorale, that prefers brackish water and grows more slowly when kept in soft water. If you ever get the chance, swapping your Corydoras with a 'Hoplo' instead would be worthwhile.> Our black Molly bubbled thanks at you, Neale for help thus far with water hardness. <Bubble my regards back. I adore mollies, but they simply aren't easy fish, despite being widely sold.> On KH: Our tank KH unchanged 50 PPM dip stick & reagent. The charts we have both say 120-150 PPM for livebearers. Do we leave it at 50 PPM? Does curing the hardness cure the KH at the same time, or is it a different process? How will changing KH affect pH? <OK. Raising the KH should raise the pH somewhat. Crushed coral will raise both KH and GH. What you need to do is add the crushed coral and wait a week to sea what effect it has on the tank. The GH/KH rises won't be instant; they'll take a few days to work through. In the meantime, don't focus too intently on the numbers: if the fish seem healthy and they are feeding happily, leave things be for the time being. Your prime goal is to raise the hardness (both kinds) to a level the mollies enjoy. But once there, you don't need to fuss too much. You do have very odd water conditions, and the ammonia levels are unacceptable in the long term, but provided your fish are happy, let things settle down for a few weeks before deciding on whether to raise the hardness or salinity further. Fish adapt; what stresses them are sudden changes.> Thank you again for your kindness in reply. Cheers Don (and Rosemary) <Hope this helps... I suspect this has all become so complex now we're in danger of arguing ourselves back in a circle. But anyway, good luck, Neale> Re: Mollies, Soft Water, Hardness, SG, Corys, Community Tank Questions... FW qual. 8/8/07 Hello Neale, <Hello Rosemary,> Black molly male getting slowly better, comes out to investigate, nibble food now. Still reclusive. <But at least the trend is upwards.> May we follow-up with minor Q on our low tank KH alkalinity? <Yup.> For reference, our well water tap water is this: pH 7.8-8.2 varies now with drought (or change of test kit) pH does not drop over night. <All good, and perfect for mollies, guppies, and other hardwater fish. Less perfect for soft water fish, but most will adapt fine.> Total Hardness GH always zero ppm on dip stick test from tap. <Not so good.> Total Alkalinity KH 80-100 ppm on dip stick test. Shows same KH on reagent test. <Bizarre. What you have is very soft water [hardness] with a moderate degree of buffering capacity [alkalinity]. In other words, almost no calcium or magnesium salts, but a fair amount of carbonate and bicarbonate salts. Why is this not normal? Because typically the mineral that makes water hard is calcium carbonate, the stuff in limestone and chalk, so you expect to get increasing amounts of both hardness and alkalinity the more limestone the water has passed through. Clearly, your water is coming up from something other than limestone, some other type of carbonate rock.> 125 gallon tank livebearers, Corys. 38 total fish. 2 Fluvals, UGF <Fine.> Following your suggestions, we no longer use pH down acid of any type. <Good. Best to leave things in the "default" setting unless you have reasons not to. Your Corydoras at least should be fine enough in this soft water, but I'm still worried about the mollies.> Well water goes into tank as is with DeChlor. <Good.> We eased SG to 1.003 from 1.004. <Good; this should support the mollies nicely without unduly stressing the catfish. But still, keep an eye open for odd behaviour in the catfish, such as gasping or loss of appetite.> We are 80 miles one way from LFS, so salinity is from aquar tonic salt. Had to make do with the huge container of tonic plain salt we have on hand. (We know you said it was worthless, we'll get some on our next big trip in September). <It is doubly worthless here, because it's adding no hardness (calcium/magnesium salts) to the system, since it doesn't contain any. Real marine salt contains a fair chunk of calcium carbonate, and this will help out the mollies infinitely more than plain NaCl, which is what you're using here. Still, cooking salt is better than nothing, because it detoxifies the nitrate, and that's something mollies seem to respond positively to.> Temp 78F Ammonia, nitrite = 0, nitrate < 20. Over 90% water change total in 7 days raised our acid addition driven 7.0 pH up to 7.8, maybe 8.0 depending on how test kit feels that day. Barnacles in tank & 1/4 C broken coral in Fluval didn't move GH much off zero for 5 days. So we added Epsom salt finally, and GH now reads 250-300 on (Jungle Lab) dip stick. Was the Epsom Salt move OK? <Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate, and as you've immediately observed this raises the GH (which measures calcium and magnesium salts, primarily). So this is raising the hardness up to where the mollies like it. Combined with the NaCl, the two make a reasonable stop-gap solution, I'd imagine.> KH remains at 40-50 ppm in the tank. This is our remaining concern. <Epsom salt contains no carbonate or bicarbonate, hence no effect on the alkalinity (KH).> Reading indicates KH does not offer enough buffering now. Do you agree? <To some degree. But provided the pH seems constant, don't worry about it too much.> I know my baking soda will raise KH. We do not want the pH to rise at all. (Corys again) <The Corydoras aren't the issue here. My concern is messing about with not less than three different mineral salts (NaCl, Epsom salt, and baking soda) is bound to make water changes complicated (and thus, inconsistent). I'd leave things where they are for now, and once you're done with the cooking salt and have access to marine salt mix, switch to that so you can phase out the Epsom salts as well. That way, you'll basically be adding just one substance at each water change.> Here it is: How do we raise the KH alkalinity without raising pH? <Don't. For now, just let things be.> Will this affect GH, which we now think is a tad high (but much improved over the old tank water of 75 ppm before your help)? <It's fine as it is. 300 mg/l (= ppt) calcium carbonate (if that's what your GH test kit is quoting) is well within the tolerances of Corydoras. If you want, you could reduce this slightly, to around 150 to 200 mg/l, but don't go any lower.> Again, our thanks for your superb help in getting us to this point. Cheers, Rosemary <Hope this helps. Cheers, Neale>
Art. on freshwater chemistry -- 06/14/07 Robert, It's all practical stuff rather than theory so doesn't take anything away from your (rather jolly) pH article. There are three bits of artwork, I hope they make sense. Do Americans use those Pearson Square things? Or maybe by another name? The only thing to watch for is I've used the 'degree' symbol. In the HTML version it's "°" and should work fine. But cutting and pasting from the Word doc version will probably mess up. Anyway, hope this'll do. Cheers, Neale <Looks good Neale. Will you accept the not-so-princely sum of U.S. $200 (spend it like it's Argentina!) for this work? BobF> Re: freshwater chemistry 6/5/07 Hi Robert, I'll look at doing something about water chemistry next week. <Ah, good... have just added your pc. on water hardness... and moved the bulk of FW water chem. pc.s. to the Set-up sub-index...> In some ways the marine side is leaps and bounds ahead of the freshwater side, with the result that a lot of freshwater aquarists don't really know about anything beyond pH. <Mmm, depends on what ones sample size may be... in mid-Europe and sophisticated parts of the Far East in particular there are a bunch of folks on the up and up...> Anyway, as for meeting up, as and when I have some money, definitely be on my list of things to do. Where's Interzoo? <In Nürnberg/Nuremberg... next May: http://press.nuernbergmesse.de/en/interzoo/ Am determined to get some folks out to there... and if they can help chip in likely... to a dive/adventure trip just following back down to Sharm> Cloudy tank, FW - 6/1/07 > Hello, > Over a period of about 2 - 3 weeks my tank went steadily more and more cloudy, I have no real idea why. <Cloudiness can be caused by a variety of things. Often it is silt, from new gravel or sand. Other times it is a bloom of diatoms, most common in new aquaria, and tends to clear up by itself. Yet other times it is bacteria, again typically in a new aquarium.> > Could it be the addition of a few drops of pH adjuster, I've slowly decreased it from about 7.6 to around 7.2 - 7.3 <Change the water chemistry always has the potential to tip the balance in an aquarium. That's one reason I prefer to recommend people not mess around with the water chemistry, and instead choose fish suited to their water conditions. That way, you can do big water changes as often as you want without worrying about changes in water chemistry. There's no real need to change the pH from 7.6 down to 7.2; that's a pretty trivial change, and any fish that would thrive at 7.6 will be fine at 7.2, and vice versa.> > The water went green and although the staff at my LFS were just being helpful, no one really was able to suggest maybe why it occurred. In the end we bought a chemical which is supposed to clear it in two hours, we gave it > one dose and nothing happened, a day later another dose and still nothing. <The chemical you used only works with silt. It binds the silt into clumps, and those clumps get caught in FINE filter media, such as filter wool. If the problem isn't silt, and if your filter doesn't have filter wool installed, the effectiveness of this chemical is little to none.> > I didn't add any more and yesterday I noticed that it was starting to clear, today it looked a lot better, about 75% clearer. Obviously its nice to be able to see the fish in my tank again but it would be even better to have an understanding as to why it happened in the first place. Algal bloom ? > Relative to high phosphates maybe? <Could be anything. Almost always nothing to worry about PROVIDING water quality and chemistry are otherwise correct. Most freshwater fish are used to murky, silt-laden water and couldn't care less about the clarity of the water. Very few freshwater environments have the sort of transparency we associate with the crystal clear waters of coral reefs, for example. So, do a water test tomorrow and another in a few days just to check everything is OK, but otherwise just let things settled down. Change the mechanical filter media in your filter this weekend, and give the biological filter media a gentle clean as well, since the filter will be clogged with silt/algae by now.> > Thanks. > S.Moore <Cheers, Neale> New Tank, Cloudy water -- 05/08/07 Hi Crew, Thank you for your excellent advice you gave me regarding a previous finned friend. New problem: I read your FAQ's but didn't see an answer that fits my situation. I have a 6.6 gallon heated tank for my gorgeous blue lavender female betta, Nigella. I conditioned the water and added Prime to make sure it was good. I tested the water, waited two days tested again and added my fish. Overnight the tank went hazy/cloudy. Is this new tank syndrome? < Probably, Check the ammonia with a test kit.> Will Nigella be ok or am I suffocating her? < Ammonia is toxic to fish and needs to be dealt with.> She has living plants and a lot of room to swim. On top of that she's very interactive and playful. I have had her for a few months and finally got her a larger tank. Last night the water was crystal clear and this morning it is cloudy. I feel bad that I did something wrong. Thank you, Elizabeth < Excess fish food and fish waste are broken down by bacteria into ammonia. When the biological filtration is established it will be broken down into a less toxic nitrite and then once again into an even less toxic nitrate. If you add Bio-Spira from Marineland the bacteria will go to work right away. If not it will take a couple of months to get the tank established. Feed your fish once a day, and only enough food so that all of it is gone in a couple of minutes. Remove any leftover food. Vacum the gravel to remove fish waste and do numerous partial water changes to keep waste levels under control.-Chuck> Couple Questions; Cloudy FW -- 04/29/07 I've been having a problem with cloudy water...the tank is 4 months old...and it's been cloudy for about 2-3 weeks and I'm very concerned. I used a product called "Clear-Ease" that is supposed to check microbial bloom and clear cloudy water. Worked great. Over the next couple of days, 4 fish died (clown loach, 2 gold algae eaters, and a platy), and a few days later it got cloudy again. What can I do? <Water changes, frequent rinsing of the mechanical media in the filter, replacement of filter wool weekly.> I've been doing regular water changes since I've had the tank, I've been doing them every 3 days since the cloudiness, it's a 46 gallon tank with an Emperor 400 with new filter media, have an airstone for aeration...I'm new at this but from what I've read thus far I haven't been able to find anything else... <Cloudiness tends to come from two things. Firstly, silt. If gravel or sand are put into the aquarium before being thoroughly cleaned, the silt goes into the water. This is worst in tanks with big fishes because these swish the silt up into the water as they root about in the gravel. The second source of cloudiness is an bacterial or algal bloom. Typically, this happens when a tank is first set up, and then goes clear. Since your tank is relatively young, it's possible either (or both) of these causes are to blame. Assuming the water quality is good and the water chemistry steady, cloudiness by itself shouldn't cause any problems. The waters most fish inhabit are *far* murkier than anything we tolerate in an aquarium! So, before blaming the cloudiness for the death of your fish, what are the pH, hardness, nitrite, and ammonia levels in the aquarium?> And my next question, what kind of fish is this? I just got it...I was thinking it was a Jack Dempsey but it doesn't look quite the same as others I have seen pictured. He is probably about 6" and mostly grey with yellow on his dorsal and tail fins, and fluorescent blue spots on his whole body and face. <It's Aequidens rivulatus, a.k.a. "the Green Terror", a gorgeous South American cichlid with a very mean personality. Although a South American cichlid, in temperament it is much more like a Central American, and should be kept only with other robust species. There's every chance it will view your 46 gallon tank as its personal territory and eliminate any other aquarium fish kept with it. Often mistaken (with disastrous results) for the similar but far milder Blue Acara, Aequidens pulcher. Cheers, Neale> Tank is Too Clean 3/30/07 I have no idea what is going on. I cleaned my tank a month ago and two weeks after the water turned foggy. So I washed everything in the tank filled it with new water. now three days ago, the water turned muggy again and my smaller angel fish tail is slightly torn along with her fins and she has white stuff on her eyes like cataracts. Im going to put her into a separate tank put sea salt into it and aqua plus, what else could I do? < When you cleaned the tank a month ago you did too good a job. You removed all the good bacteria that breaks down the fish waste. The foggy water is an ammonia spike. This is deadly to fish. If it doesn't kill them outright then they get bacterial infections such as the one you are witnessing. In the separate tank treat the angelfish with Nitrofuranace. In the main tank add Bio-Spira from Marineland to the bacteria up and going again.-Chuck> Cloudy FW Aquarium - 3/7/07 Dear crew, In my 55 gallon tank the water is constantly too cloudy to see the back of the tank; I looked on your site and found no comments on the subject. (I apologize if I missed something) I have tried 75% water changes, but a couple of days later it's as cloudy as before. I have filtration enough for 400 gallons of water. I have 1 blue gourami, 1 dwarf red gourami, 2 tetras, a lone swordtail, two sharks (the type on these 2 is unknown) and finally 2 Plecos. My nitrate is about 10 my nitrite is 0 my hardness is 75-80, my alkalinity/ buffering capacity is about 40, and my pH is 6.4 (I know the last two are dangerously low, but in my aquarium history this is the best my tank has ever been) I would like to know how and why my tank is constantly too murky to see through. Thank you for your time, D .Throne < Two different things could be going on here. Number 1 is high ammonia levels. If the water is cloudy with a fishy smell then get an ammonia test kit and check it out. High ammonia levels could be caused from dead fish, over feeding or excess bioload in the gravel. I would recommend doing a 50% water change while vacuuming the gravel. You have water that is acidic. Any sedimentary rock like sand stone will dissolve in your water. Sedimentary rocks are lightly cemented by a lime like substance. In your water the rocks may be dissolving and releasing minerals and causing the cloudy effect. Make sure that your rocks and sand is aquarium safe. This may also be the reason that you aquarium is doing better than some of your past attempts. These minerals add a certain amount of buffering that prevent pH swings.-Chuck> Re: Green Cloudy Water, FW 3/11/07 Dear Crew, I apologize that I didn't state this in my last e-mail, but my water isn't the normal," cloudy" it looks very similar to pond water (it's green, instead of the average cloudy), and as stated last time, 2-3 days after a 60-75% water change the water is as pond-like as before, is this due to the reasons you stated last time, or is there another problem? Thank you, for your time, D. Throne < This is caused from an imbalance of the nutrients in the water. Usually the waste from the fish and uneaten food is quickly broken down by the bacteria into less harmful and less toxic components. Under very bright light the algae in the water gets to these nutrients first and causes the green water problem. The algae needs two things, light and fertilizer. Start by doing a 50% water change while vacuuming the gravel. Clean the filter. Feed your fish once a day and only enough food so that all of it is gone in two minutes. Remove any leftover food after two minutes by using a siphon. Turn on the lights only when viewing the fish. If your aquarium is next to a window then cover that side of the aquarium with some paper to block out the window light.-Chuck> Yellow Water Won't Clear Up 2/16/07 Hello, I need to know a way to remove yellowish from freshwater other than doing water changes and using carbon. I already do a 25% once a month and won't do anymore and I use carbon and it clears the water but only for 3 days. I read that a protein skimmer works to take out yellow water for saltwater but it only works because of the salt in the water creating a charge with the bubbles ... so have any other ideas thank you, Anthony This is important to me. Just so you know it's a 29 gallon with an Eheim 2217 and a Pentair fluidized bed filter 300. I do gravel vac with water changes. < The biggest source of yellow water comes from driftwood in the tank. Take any wood out and place in a tub or bucket. Change the water every day until it runs clear. Some fish foods can make the water yellow too. Try a different brand as see if that helps. As you have already found out, good quality carbon will remove the yellow water too. Changing only 25% of the water monthly may not be enough. If you are not able to change more water you may want to consider less fish.-Chuck.> Iron In The Aquarium, FW 2/12/07 Hey Chuck, I have the wire artificial plants in my tank and the metal is actually rusting. I can see it through the plastic and on the bottom glass of my tank. Is this ok for the fish and the water? < A little iron is naturally found in many sources of tap water due to rust found in the pipes. Many newer homes have copper or plastic piping but a little iron will not hurt the fish but would be relished by live aquatic plants.-Chuck> Magnesium for freshwater? 2/1/07 Hi, I just recently moved and thought it best to test my water parameters. A customer at the LFS I work at told me that the water was very hard well water, but a friend told me that he thinks it is run through a softener. <Mmm, by whom? The municipality? You can check with them (look for contact info. on your water bill)... If this was being done at your residence/business you would know about it... see the gear...> My test seem to indicate the later. Here are the water parameters that I tested; kH 5*-6.5* (tetra tested 5, Salifert tester 6.5), ph 7.6, phosphates are low if any at all, MG turned blue before I could even start the test (Salifert) so I guess it's 0ppm, CA 30ppm, and copper 0.06-0.10. my main concerns are the copper and the MG. I should have also pointed out that, while I may do a coral tank or two, my main focus is breeding freshwater. At this time Amazonian species are my main interest, so low MG and CA is a pleasant surprise, but is it ok to have 0 MG? <Mmm... for most FW, yes> also, copper is a major concern for me. In addition to breeding fish, I like to keep plants and shrimp. I have not installed the sink that will be used for my aquariums yet, is there a filter you would recommend installing with the sink? <Yes... reverse osmosis... along with a couple of covered trash cans... maybe on wheels... See WWM re> Also, do you know of a company that would test water parameters that would be helpful to an aquarist, and not just organics? thanks for any help, cro. <See your more local "Yellow Pages" re Quality Assurance Laboratories... call them re. Bob Fenner> FW filtration - white particles 1/12/06 Hello, guys and gals of WWM! I hope everyone is doing well. <<And we hope as is well with you, Nicole. Tom with you today.>> I just have a silly little question that is slowly driving me nuts. <<Can't have that!>> How come any brand of hang-on power filter that I purchase eventually ends up emitting little white particles? I know these diatoms are not at all harmful to the livestock, but I am just wondering if there's anything I can do to minimize them because they just bother the heck out of me! <<Diatoms are unicellular organisms, Nicole. In freshwater aquariums, they usually manifest themselves as fairly short-lived (relatively speaking) brown algae that disappears on its own over time. Doesn't mean a lot except that this doesn't strike me as what your 'little white particles' are.>> I clean the filters religiously every week, using filter brushes, bamboo skewers, white paper towels, a sink sprayer, to force the debris out. I even shine a flashlight in the filters! I kid you not. <<Wouldn't be appropriate to pull each other's legs after so short an acquaintance. :) Out of curiosity, are you cleaning the 'entire' filter, media included, in tap water? If so, don't do that. You'll slaughter the beneficial bacteria. The media should only be rinsed in used aquarium water.>> Except for some hard water deposits which I can't remove, the filters are clean as a whistle. <<Hmmm'¦hard water deposits, eh?>> I have tried filter floss, Chemi-Pure, flocculants, and all of them seem to help for a short while but the particles always return. <<Another 'out of curiosity' question. How 'hard' is your water, specifically regarding your calcium levels, and, what are your pH levels? (Does that count as two questions?)>> I am thinking about switching to canister filtration on my new 55 gallon tank - just because I am tired of eventually having to replace my hang-on power filters every couple of years because these diatoms won't go away! <<If what I'm thinking is correct (collective WWM Crew snickering in the background), a canister filter isn't the answer.>> A brand new filter doesn't emit these particles, so I don't think it is my tap water. <<Not too sure about that one, Nicole. Calcium and magnesium contribute largely to 'hard water' conditions. Calcium, in particular, is held in solution at lower pH levels but 'precipitates' at elevated pH levels, i.e. drops out and lands somewhere. (Bob loves it when I provide 'elegant' descriptions of chemical processes. He'll, no doubt, ask me for permission to use 'drops out and lands somewhere' in a published work. Can't blame him'¦ :) ). Kidding aside, what I believe is happening is that you're accumulating calcium deposits in your filter at just the correct precipitate level where it's still soft/flaky. Once it's built up sufficiently, it begins to break loose and re-enter the tank via the filter. The precipitated calcium may be so 'soft' that you won't even note a real accumulation when you remove your filter for cleaning. Variables involved here, Nicole, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.>> Do you have any suggestions, tricks of the trade? <<I would try to verify what I've suggested, if possible. Even test kits that test for gH and/or kH (more important in this context) would give you an idea if the theory has any merit. We'll work on the 'tricks' when we know more.>> Thank you so much for your time. Nicole <<An interesting 'silly little question', Nicole. I'll look forward to hearing more. Tom>> Re: FW filtration - white particles Thank you so much, Tom! <<My Lord, you are quick, Nicole!>> Sorry for the misuse of the word diatom, that was very insightful. <<I misuse words as if it were a 'science', Nicole. :)>> I guess that I made a wrong connection. Since a diatom filter removed particles I figured that diatoms were at play here. The breaking off of calcification makes much more sense. <<Does to me as well in this case.>> I honestly can't remember how hard my water is, but the pH is in the high 7s. <<Maybe we're hitting on something'¦>> I can't remember any other value such as alkalinity or hardness...I just remember that it was within "acceptable" levels which, I know, tells you essentially nothing! I know it's considered a sin in fishkeeping, but I don't have a test kit right now - otherwise, I would tell you. <<Not a sin by a long stretch, Nicole. Just saves the keeper from running up to the LFS and getting 'questionable' information. You know, stuff like 'safe', 'fine', 'good', etc. Doesn't do us much good.>> I haven't had a problem whatsoever for over a year, since I started doing between 10-20% water changes twice a week for all my tanks, and using lots more biological media in my filters. Which, incidentally, I do only rinse with tank water! :) Thank you anyway for the tip, I know how important that is. <<You've let me off the hook, so to speak. You'd be surprised, though, as to how many people don't realize this.>> Even though I have a slightly obsessive maintenance protocol, nothing is sterile in my tank except the filter units themselves, after I clean them. I just don't like to see gunk building up in filters, or household drains. Say no to gunk! <<Huzzah to that! (Read a post in a different forum from a fellow who hadn't cleaned his Bio-wheel in three years. Hope he's still married 'cuz it sounded like he was close to being single again!)>> I will pick up another master test kit soon so I can write back to you with the info. Would that be ok? <<You know exactly where to find me, Nicole, and that would be perfectly okay. The 'new' generation Master Test Kits reportedly have tests for gH and kH included. Haven't verified this personally, however. I'm due for an upgrade myself, though.>> Thank you again so very kindly, Nicole <<My pleasure, Nicole. Tom>> Cloudy Water 12/31/06 Hello WWM crew! I first would like to say that I am impressed none of you have spontaneously combusted after having to go through so many emails containing that have already been answered several thousand times. The email I sent a few weeks ago was about something similar to cloudy water, but was NOT the same thing. The response I got was this: < If the cloudiness is caused by organics then a good quality carbon should take care of it. Fill a clean clear glass with tap water and look for impurities. The water should be clear and free of sediment. If you notice anything then contact you water supplier and tell them you think there is a problem. If your tap water is OK then we need to assume that the cause is from the aquarium itself. Feed the fish once a day and only enough food so that all of it is gone in two minutes. Do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. If there is still a problem then change fish food because the binder may be getting old and breaking down.> This would have been an excellent response, but I am not sure that it was not referring to the common problem you are sick of reading of. I have been putting fresh carbon in my filter regularly, the flake food I am using is from Tetra and is not more than a month old, our tap water is clear, I am almost positive it is not the filter, the gravel, or the water because the problem showed up in my three separate tanks at the same time. I know that would mean it's obviously the tap water but I checked it and the particles are not in it. The cloudiness in my water is not like the regular cloudiness I have gotten during cycling. I am sure it was not from a bacterial bloom or sediment from the gravel or algae or my tap water because my filter would have cleared up solid particles within days, and a bacterial problem wouldn't have caused the particles to look the way they did. It was almost like underwater dust, and the particles were easy to tell apart from each other and they were nothing like the big solid gray mass that appeared when I didn't realize a plant was dead in time. I tried adding a Accu-clear, but nothing happened. The only organic thing I could think the "dustishness" could be from is a coconut shell in one of my tanks. There is no shell in the other tanks and after removing it, nothing happened. The gravel did throw up some sediment when I first added it but the filter cleared that up and the gravel has not been disturbed since, except for vacuuming, which never caused a problem. I recently left town for 5 days and upon returning, found nothing had changed. I did not put in a vacation feeder for obvious reasons. If I am wrong, and the cloudiness the usual thing, I apologize for wasting your time. If dust-like particles ARE out of the ordinary, please help. John O. P.S. One of the rocks in my 20 g tank has started growing little dark blue-green plumes on it. I do not think it is blue-green algae because the plumes look almost like anemones except for the fact that they are about a quarter of an inch in diameter. They look like small fluffy blue trees. Thank you for any reply you may deem fit to bestow upon me, and sorry for anything I did wrong. < If there are three different aquariums with the same problem then you have to look at the common denominator. What is the same in all three tanks? Or what happened in all three tanks prior to the tanks getting cloudy? You are going to have to do a little detective work to determine the cause, but here is a couple of suggestions. The dust could be from a rock or piece of gravel that is breaking down and dissolving in the aquarium. Sedimentary rocks are clays, silts and sands that are cemented together over time. When wetted up again the cement starts to dissolve and the clay particles break off into solution. In an aquarium with a current they will never settle out. They will remain a cloudy dust and can only be filtered out with a water filter with a very fine micron screen. Water wells sometimes suck particles of dust through the sand filters too. The anemones are probably hydra and are dangerous to small or baby fish.-Chuck> Cloudy Water 12/29/06 Yes, this subject again! <Ok> I haven't seen a question pertaining to a brand new fish tank. There are no fish in the tank, no live plants. The tank has been sitting for two days. It is cycling through a filtering system. I have two air pumps running. I dechlorinated the water and added pH down because the level was about 7.8. <Ok for many fish.> The tank is cloudy. I don't know whether to add more chemicals, do a complete water change, or wait. Any suggestions? <It could be from the chemicals if you added too much. Also if you are feeding/cycling the tank it could be a bacterial bloom. But most likely it is dust from your substrate. Either way cease using the chemicals and give it a couple more days and see what happens. Most likely nothing that won't pass soon.> <Chris> Cloudy FW 12/8/06 Hello WWM crew! The last time I asked a question, it was answered in less than a day. Thank you! I have a 20 g aquarium with a heater that is a shade too small but still works, and an Aqua-clear filter rated for 20-50 gallon aquariums, so I don't think under-filtration is the problem. I have a swordplant and it's offspring, some Cabomba, some water wisteria, 2 zebra danios, male and female, a pair of distressingly prolific guppies, a pair of platies, 3 Corydoras catfish, a small "pleco" (no idea what kind it is), a single cherry barb and a single kuhli loach. I am working on getting the schoolers some more friends ASAP. I also have a separate 10 gallon tank with two goldfish rescued from my sister's Bowl of Death. About a week ago, I noticed that the 20 gallon tank had something in the water. I have experienced cloudy water, and it wasn't quite as cloudy as that. There were a lot of tiny, tiny particles in the water, almost like what is in tap water after you turn it on really, really hot. They are kind of hard to describe, they looked kind of like really really small bubbles. They did not look like the usual bits of poop and food and plant debris floating around in there, they were smaller and more dust-like. A few days later, I noticed the same problem in the goldfish tank, so I turned off the filter and aerator for a few hours to see what would happen. The particles did settle to the bottom, a little, but there were still some left, and they all came back once the water was stirred up again. Water changes do nothing that I can see to help. I tried adding Accu-Clear, but all that did was turn the water gray for a day. The male guppy looks like he has a few black spots on his tail, could that have anything to do with it? The black spots looked similar to the ones that have caused every batch of platy fry to die off... they never affected the guppy babies though, who were sharing the baby saver at the time. This next bunch of information is probably irrelevant, but here goes. I have a half of a coconut shell that the bottom feeders hide in, a rock that I have seen in pet stores, it is white with an orange stripe and porous. I am growing parsley with the roots in the tank, but there is no soil, so no soil contamination. The gravel was thoroughly washed, and the tank has been running since mid-summer, with no particles from the gravel in the water. I have been less-than-religious about water testing besides the pH, which is about 6.8. The tank has no odor, one aqua-Glo bulb, and close inspection of the sponge in the filter has revealed that stringy things connect the holes in the surface, like a spider web. The ten gallon used to be a warm water tank for several years, and I noticed that whenever I messed with the filter, stringy things just like I mentioned, except bigger, would pour out. That particular problem has not occurred in the 20 gallon tank, as I clean the filter more often. Sorry about the long email and rambling, I tried to include as much information as possible. Many thanks, John - P.S. The reason the heater is too small is that is was my spare. The right sized one wouldn't turn on unless it was turned up way too high, and after having heated the aquarium to about 82 degrees, it would turn off and not turn back on unless I pushed down on the dial. After my fish went through several cycles of not moving at all and gasping at the surface, so the heater went bye-bye. < If the cloudiness is caused by organics then a good quality carbon should take care of it. Fill a clean clear glass with tap water and look for impurities. The water should be clear and free of sediment. If you notice anything then contact you water supplier and tell them you think there is a problem. If your tap water is OK then we need to assume that the cause is from the aquarium it self. Feed the fish once a day and only enough food so that all of it is gone in two minutes. Do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. If there is still a problem then change fish food because the binder may be getting old and breaking down.-Chuck> 10 Gallon Tank Cloudiness 12/6/06 Dear Crew, <Koda> My 10 gallon aquarium is constantly getting cloudy. I know I am not over feeding due to the green 'fuzz' growing on my gravel and the green colored cloudiness. I have tried repeated water changes, but only 2-3 days afterward the water gets cloudy to the point were I can't even see the back of the tank. <A common situation... likely an out-of-balance equation with too little filtration, non-cycled circumstance, mis-over-feeding...> I would like to know the constant cause of the cloudiness and what the 'fuzz' is growing on my gravel; I also think the fuzz is the cause of the cloudiness, <Kind of> also due to the fact that my water is tinted green when cloudy. <An algal component> If this helps, my tank contains, 1 blue gourami, 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 tetras( these are unknown , they are roughly ½ the size of my dwarf gouramis, and have 2 black stripes down their sides) 2 swordtails, and 1 sucker fish( I cannot spell this name correctly, it's name starts with 'P'). <Mmm, likely a Plecostomus of some sort/species... needs larger quarters> It also has a waterfall filter, <Take care to not "clean" this till your water clears permanently> a triangular rock with 3 'caves' in it that reaches 7/8 the way to the top, two fake plants and a bubble wand (the 'fuzz' is more abundant here). My tank is constantly getting cloudy and I do hope that you can help me out. Thank you, for your time. D.Throne <Mmm, what are you feeding? Your answers are posted here on WWM: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oqualfaqs1.htm and the linked files... Bob Fenner> FW ORP readings 11/28/06 I
would like some advise <advice> regarding ORP readings on my
fresh water tanks. <Plural...> My first tank is around 1200l
housing only 1 Arowana, ORP reading on this tank is 442 mv. My second
tank is around 800l also housing 1 Arowana ORP reading on this tank is
549 mv. <Mmm, too high> The readings are obtained from AM pin
point monitors, both probes have been calibrated using pin point 400
fluid. <An important clue> Please note I am using no agent in
either tank to increase the ORP. The PH on both tanks is around 6.5,
reading obtained using calibrated AM pin point monitors. After checking
some spec on various expected ORP readings, it seems strange to have a
high reading of 549 mv. Thank you for all the help that you have
previously provided. Alan <Is high... what is the ORP reading for
your tap/source water? How is this treated before your use? Do you use
UV, Ozone? Bob Fenner> Help with smell/y liner pond/FW system - 11/02/06 Hi, <Hello> I am sorry to bother you but I searched your website but did not find exactly what I was looking for. I have an unique situation and hope you can help. I built an enclosure for several animals and marine life and the pond has a smell to it. I built a cage that is 6.5 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet high. The main compartment is 4 feet X 2.5 feet X 8 inches. I have a pond liner in it and filled it with just over 100lbs of potting soil. I then put in plants, rocks and decorations. <The soil is trouble here> In the last 2.5 feet I built a wooden box that is 9 inches high with about a 2 foot round hole in the center. I then bought a 2 foot round 10 inch deep pond tub (one of the round black tubs sold at local Lowe's made for ponds) and put that in the hole. It holds about 15 gallons of water. I placed rocks all around the pond and built a rock water fall up the far end of the cage. The cage is made from wood and chicken wire on the rest of the sides and the lid. It has one small aquarium filter, and one small pond pump. I have (4) medium sized Anoles, (1) 2.5 foot Iguana, (1) Blue Tailed Skink, (4) small Mud Puppies, (1) large Golden Gecko, and (1) large Salamander (not sure what kind it is green with black spots and about 8 to 10 inches long that all live happily in the dirt and plants and under some of the rocks. In the Pond I have (2) Gourami, (1) Fan Tail Goldfish, (1) Algae Eater (not sure of the name always called them sucker fish), and (1) common Water Frog that lives in the water fall and the pond. The problem is that I have to drain the water once a week and clean the bottom and sides of the pond and then refill it or it gets a smell that really stinks. <Yes... organic portions of the soil are decomposing> It is a cross between a fishy smell and something dead. I also clean both the water fall pump and the aquarium filter about three times a week. The water fall pump has no filter type material just take it apart and clean the plastic parts. The filter has two small sponge like things and one small charcoal container. I take it all apart and wash everything. I have also bought a medium sized bag of charcoal that I keep up against the inlet side of the filter. <May help some...> I know part of the problem is that the iguana gets in the pond and goes to the bathroom before he gets out. Is there a better filter that I can use? <Maybe... an outside, sealed unit... like a large size canister filter... with a good volume of high quality carbon... But, in all likelihood you will continue to have this smell...> Is there something else I can do to help? I don't mind cleaning it once a month or so but once a week (and by the time it gets to Saturday, the day I clean, it REALLY needs it) is quite a bit I feel. Are there other fish I can put in that will help clean it? <Not really... even with removal of the soil, this volume will be stinky into the future... more frequent, even daily partial water changes, the addition of a "bog filter" with live plants, and the canister filter or such are moves, actions that can/will help. Bob Fenner> Any help you can give would be much appreciated. Thank you, Kevin L. Harris Not urgent. Calcium, and worms. 11/01/06 Hello Crew! <<Hi, Rachel. Tom>> I know you're all terribly busy, and this isn't terribly important, so please feel free to skip over this one! <<Can't do that Rachel. Your's is important to you which makes it important to us.>> I have a 2.5 gallon tank with a 25-watt heater, 10-watt fluorescent lighting, and in-tank Whisper filter set on low, in which I keep a spoiled-rotten Betta of about a year and a half old. The system was started about a year ago, and was moved/remodeled two months ago. About a month ago I added a Java fern and some red Ludwigia. I added a lovely blue mystery snail (Pomacea bridgesii) a week ago, and he is doing a remarkable job on eating the algae (working on getting the plants to thrive instead!). <<I completely understand'¦>> Temperature is 80, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate usually under 5 now since adding the live plants... I think the pH is 7.4, though I'm not at home right now to look it up. I try to do 25% water changes every week or two, though I've been lax lately. Anyhow, my water is on the soft side, and the snail's shell is already looking a little worn. I am planning to add "something" to the tank for calcium. I've heard of crushed coral or marble. However, since I also keep a cockatiel, I have cuttlefish bone handy as a source of calcium for the bird. Could I put a well-rinsed (and obviously unused) piece in the aquarium? <<I've not run across this for aquatic snails but I have for land snails. Frankly, I find it a good option to try especially given that your pH is already at ~7.4.>> And how big a chunk are we talking? <<Try a piece with a surface area of about one square inch, or so.>> The bones are about five inches long by two or three inches wide, half an inch thick, and can easily be snapped into smaller pieces. Was just planning on tucking it behind a rock somewhere with a little water flow to help it dissolve. Right? <<You might find that your snail will actually 'feed' on the bone as land snails do. (I'm somewhat curious about this myself.) Obviously, you'll want to monitor pH levels though I don't believe that this should prove to be a problem.>> Secondly, I've noticed "the little white worms" floating around and wiggling on the tank walls. White, threadlike, about 1 cm long. I had these once maybe nine months ago. Up until yesterday I was assuming they are harmless Planaria, and I was stepping up the water changes as I know these are a sign of excess nutrients. However, yesterday I noticed Terrence the Betta eating them as they floated by. If they're just free-living Planaria I'm pretty sure this is harmless, but is there any chance these could be parasitic worms which Terrence has passed and he is re-infecting himself somehow? <<Parasites, by definition, require a 'host' in order to survive. In all likelihood, they're Planaria.>> His feces are never stringy-white, but very occasionally his normal feces will include some little clear sections that look like mucus. I believe I'm just paranoid, but better safe than sorry! He is acting quite normally, swimming around, flaring and nipping at the snail, eating voraciously -- he has even started to pick at the algae wafers for the snail, and will steal them out from under him! <<Don't be overly concerned about the occasional clear sections in his feces. This isn't uncommon or an indication of a problem any more than a very occasional sneeze means you're getting a cold. Just happens'¦>> Thanks for all your hard work! Rachel North Carolina <<Thank you kindly, as well, Rachel. Best regards. Tom (Michigan)>> Hard Water With High Phosphates Won't Soften 9/6/06 I've spent a good deal of my morning reading through www FAQ pages as well as any other source I can find online to help with my high phosphates. Here's the deal, I have two 55 gallon tanks, one is a planted discus tank, the other, a nice little reef tank. I've managed to keep the water quality on my reef tank at optimal levels by introducing Chaeto to my refug. Works like a charm. The freshwater tank is another story all together. I have about half the 55 gallon planted, DIY CO2, 4 various sized discus, 10 cardinal tetras, 5 Glo-lights, 5 black neons, and 3 Cory cats. I am currently using PhosGuard (SeaChem) and it works very well, but the problem is my source water, everything out of my tap runs phosphate, ammonia, and pH off the charts (literally), because of the poor water I bought an RO/DI unit, the phosphates and ammonia still come out off the charts. I've thought about purchasing a better membrane but seeing how I have to replace current filter cartridges every 2 months to keep them working, I'm looking for alternatives. I could always purchase water from a LFS but I'd rather have access to my own source in those times where we need alot of water quickly. I'm open for any ideas you guys might have for me this time. Thanks! <You need to do some detective work here. Run your water quality tests on the following: 1)Distilled water. You know that this water is distilled from the store and has no minerals in it. The phosphates and ammonia should be zero. The pH should be close to 7.0 but can vary depending on what it can pick up in the air. If your tests show anything then you know the test kits are bad and need to get a new kit with fresh reagents. Powdered reagents work best for me. 2)Now that you know how the test kits are performing then you need to check your tap water. Many areas of the country have high phosphates in their tap water. This is a naturally occurring mineral that come from sand in the aquifers from which well water is pumped out. High nitrates can come from some minerals, but much of it comes from the agricultural practices of using high nitrogen fertilizers. If your tap water still reads high then we now know that the numbers are accurate. 3)Check the R/O water. The readings should be very close to the distilled water (O ppm). If they are not then replace the R/O cartridge. Measure the R/O water weekly. It should start out at zero ppm for both. See how many gallons needs to flow through before the readings start to climb. As they start to climb you may need to back flush your R/O unit more often. If you don't have a back flush valve then the membranes won't last too long. You could try getting a bigger R/O unit. If you have a 5 gallon per day unit then a 50 gallon per day unit would take longer to clog just by simple increased surface area. Check out the different R/O units for sale online. 4) Check the tank. These are the most important readings. If the water going in, is pure and the nitrates and phosphates are going up, then the source of the phosphates and nitrates are from the tank itself. The nitrates are from the fish and the phosphates could be from the rocks or sand. Put the rock or sand in a container with distilled water. Check the water in the container in a couple of weeks and compare the test readings. If phosphates show up in the water then you know they are from the rock or sand. Remove the problem materials and replace with inert materials like Fluorite. Do more water changes to dilute the nitrates.-Chuck> Cloudy Water - 08/05/06 Hi. <<Hi, Sal. Tom>> I have a 55 gallon aquarium with two full grown silver dollars, three giant danios (not full grown), a 2 inch pangasius <<Pangasius, perhaps?>> catfish, a two inch striped African glass cat, a three inch pictus cat, two orange barbs (they're about two inches each, not sure of the species. They look a bit like goldfish, but they're not) and two high finned tetras. It's been set up about a year. <<Your Pangasius catfish (aka Iridescent shark (catfish), Iridescent catshark) will grow - given the opportunity - to leviathan-like proportions, relatively speaking. Even your 55-gallon tank won't be a fraction of the size this rascal will need down the road. Not talking hundreds of gallons but thousands. Healthy, full-grown adults may easily reach 40 inches in length. I ran across an article quite a while back that cited one instance of a 55-inch specimen. That's over a foot long! :)>> About three months ago, I started experiencing cloudy water. This may be a coincidence but it coincided with my changing brands of fish food. <<You and I don't really think this is "coincidence", do we?>> I feed them once a day and I don't feel like I'm overfeeding. PH, ammonia and Nitrates are fine. The fish appear healthy. I can't get rid of the cloudy water. Water changes help temporarily. <<Good old water changes...>> I vacuum the substrate every other water change (when I'm not changing the filters). I use a Penguin Biowheel 350 filter. <<I'm familiar with this filter, Sal, so am I correct in assuming that you're merely "rinsing" the media in old tank water and putting it back into service? Under normal operating conditions, there shouldn't be a need to actually change this...ever.>> I tried using Biozyme, to no avail. <<Won't be effective.>> My water was crystal clear before this. What gives? <<Let's discount dissolved particulates from new gravel, rock, etc. based on the length of time that your tank's been up and running. I'd also write off an algae bloom since the cloudy water would be green(ish) and this isn't mentioned. Last at the top of the list is a bacterial bloom and this is the one I'd, personally, hang my hat on. Since all aquaria contain bacteria, both good and less-beneficial types, I'd wager that the food change sparked a "feeding frenzy" that wasn't occurring with the old food. Worst case, the bacteria responsible may be "in" the food itself. Hard to know this for sure. In any event, I'd switch foods since this seems the likely culprit to me.>> Thanks. P.S. I do a twenty percent water change every 2 or 3 weeks. <<I'd increase this to every week, Sal, which is what I do with my 50-gallon tank. Also, I'd vacuum the gravel with every water change, regardless. The substrate is where bacteria of this type take up residence and it's not simply on the surface of the gravel. You need to push the vacuum deep into the gravel right to the bottom of the tank. I'd be surprised if you weren't shocked at what comes up! Best of luck with this, Sal. Tom>> Cloudy
Tank - 06/17/2006 I've Googled and searched and can't find
an answer. I've a 29 gal. with some plastic plants and a few
natural. Stock is 2 Mollies 1 ½'; 1 Platy 1
½'; 3 Cory cats 1'; 4 tetras under 1
½'; 1 small CAE, 1 ½'. The water is
cloudy and it doesn't clear. Ph, ammonia, everything test ok,
<At what levels? "Ok" doesn't help diagnose
a problem like this....> I do a 10-20% change every week or ten
days, and still cloudy. The fish are all active and appear quite
healthy. Any guesses? <Probably an algae or bacteria
bloom.... either way, from an excess of some sort of
nutrient(s) in the water. Please do take a look through our
freshwater algae control articles and FAQs, especially regarding green
water, as it may be a sort of free-floating algae in the water which is
causing the cloudiness.> Thanks Carlo <All the best to
you, -Sabrina> Yellow Water - 5/11/06 I was just wondering what cause the yellowish tint to my water. I have a fresh water planted tank. I have done water chances twice a week because of my discus fish. But I can't seem to get my water sparkling clear.. What do I need to do different?? Thank you for you time. Bobbi < Driftwood can leach tannins into the water. Some amendments to the substrate that you may have added for the plants may have organics in them that will turn the water yellow. Add a good quality carbon to the filter and it will remove the color.-Chuck> Regulating of pH - 4/11/2006 Hello there wise ones! I have a 55 gallon tank with 6 Gouramis a few scavengers and sundry danios. I have not been able to effectively manage the acidity in the tank for the past 18 months. No matter what I do, it returns to pre-treated levels, what am I missing here? Help. Thanks, Lee Stickle <Perhaps just a simple understanding of pH/Acidity-Alkalinity. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwph,alk.htm Bob Fenner> Cloudy White Water among other Problems 3/28/06 Dear WWM Crew, <Tom with you today> I started a 20 gallon tank about 2 months ago. After about 3 days of having the tank I added 3 giant danios <Too soon> and about 4 days after that I added 3 red-tailed sharks. <Again, too soon, will grow too large for a 20G and very likely won't get along well with each other in the future> Later I received 5 smaller tiger danios, and bought a Pleco algae eater. <Kyle, you're way over-loaded for this size tank!> For as long as I can remember now the water has been cloudy white. <Not surprising given what you've shared> From going to my local fish store (Aquarium World) I was told that this was due to bacteria bloom <Would be my call as well>, after I told him that I had been changing the filter and rinsing out my bio-fiber to try and remedy the problem. He told me to leave the water alone so that bacteria could build in the filter and the tank could cycle. <As a general rule, this is the way to go> It has been two and a half weeks since he told me this. My fish are all acting weird, there is white buildup swirling around on the top of the water, the water is still cloudy white, and there is algae buildup like no other. There is all kinds of junk on the bottom of the tank, and I don't believe I've been overfeeding my fish. <The evidence would indicate that you have been over-feeding, though. An algae bloom suggests, in part, that the water is nutrient-rich which typically comes from food being left to decay at the bottom of the tank> I changed the filter last week because the water couldn't go through it anymore and was going over the edge by the intake tube as opposed to through the tube, and it is close to this point again. I've no clue what to do. Please help. <Start with water changes in the range of 20%-30% every few days including, at this point, superficially vacuuming the substrate/gravel to remove uneaten food/detritus. Additionally, do NOT "replace" any of your filter media. Rinse the media in water removed from the aquarium only, just enough to clear the media of mulm/debris. Do not tap water as the chlorine/chloramines will kill your beneficial bacteria. Make certain that your tank lighting is minimal, i.e. out of direct sunlight, etc., to reduce/inhibit algae growth. Go easy on feeding. No more than will be consumed in two to three minutes. Let's start with this and see if we can't get things cleared up. Tom> Sincerely, Kyle Strange smelling from my Freshwater Aquarium 3/22/06 Hey there, <Hi, Steve. Tom here today> got a quick question for you. My 20 gallon freshwater aquarium has had a very strange smell lately. For the past two weeks, the water has literally smelled like bad BO, and it's cloudy. <Can go hand-in-hand with one another> I keep doing water changes but that doesn't seem to do anything. <Water changes alone or are you vacuuming the substrate, as well?> I have 5 other tanks (2 other freshwater, a 55gallon Saltwater, and a 10 gallon newt), and none of them exhibit the same conditions. <Thank goodness> The pH is 7, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia are all 0, temperature is 75 F. <Excellent> Is it an algae or bacteria bloom? <Possibly either. Both will cloud the water but my thinking is that the foul odor is more consistent with dissolved organics, i.e. livestock detritus/decaying matter> I've had 2 fish die in the past month, but I've immediately taken their bodies out and did a 20% water change. Any ideas? <Deeply vacuum your gravel. Superficial vacuuming will not clean the substrate of built-up detritus/sludge that will settle deep down over time. Also, rinse your filter media in used aquarium water to prevent overloading and reintroduction of particulates into the tank> Thanks, Steve <Happy to be of assistance. Tom> Cartoonist- See my art at http://sunspot01.deviantart.com My aquariums at http://www.angelfire.com/planet/sunspot01 Cloudy water, yuck! 3/10/06 Hi. Me and my Mom like your website. We have 7 Gouramis. They are 1- Moonlight Female, 1-Gold Female, 1-Opal Female,1 Three Spot Female, 1-Pearl Male, and 2-powder blue Male. (When they get bigger we might get a 50 gallon tank)! We also added a baby albino algae eater last week who is already getting bigger but doesn't look like he eats the algae at all. But he is fun to watch because he scurries around the bottom of the tank like a freak. It is a 29 gallon tank. We have many live and fake plants and float some on top and also plant some on the bottom. They all seem happy. The water temperature stays around 76 degrees and the test strips show: no chlorine, 0.5 nitrite, <Mmm, this is a clue... you want to have 0.0...> 120ppm for total hardness, and now 7.2 for ph. When we tested a few days ago the ph was about 8.0 so we bought Seachem ph 7.0 which is a white powder "ph regulator." The problem is the water is real cloudy now. <Best to adjust the pH slowly... by adding such products to new water that you intend to use during water changes> Is that normal because of this or could there be another problem? <Likely both the treatment and insufficient filtration (hence the detectable nitrite)> My Mom did a water change of about 20% but it is still cloudy. <Best to limit the amount changed any given time to about this %> Savannah G. <Do consider adding more filtration, circulation, aeration here... maybe by way of an added power filter (hang on, canister, internal...) and in the meanwhile be very careful re feeding... until the nitrite is zip. Bob Fenner> Ammonia, water changes (now pH, too) 2/22/06 Hey crew! <Hey, Andrew!> I've already sent in a question similar to this once, and it could still be getting answered (in which case I apologize for sending this), but it's been 4 or 5 days since sending it without a reply, and this email explains the situation more fully, so I thought I'd try again (along with updates, so it is a different email) in case the original got lost in the shuffle. <Oops! Happens sometimes. We get quite a bit of spam, sometimes real E-Mails get lost in the shuffle...> In the latest installment of my first time aquarium/didn't know about cycling fiasco, after doing 2x daily water changes for a couple of days like Jason recommended (which has diluted the ammonia back down to sub 1.0 levels), <Good! You may want to back off a bit on the water changes, just enough to keep below the 1.0 PPM threshold.> my pH is now at 5.0 (could be lower, but my colorimetric assay doesn't go below that). My tapwater is at pH 7.0. The tapwater is also VERY soft (KH 1.5, GH 2). <Your KH is very low, you don't have enough carbonates to absorb the acids that come from the waste, carbon dioxide your fish produce.> I realize that with such a low alkaline reserve, the water's pH is subject to bigger/quicker swings in pH, but I don't understand what could have triggered the swing (was at 7.0 before water changes). <When KH is very low, it doesn't take much.> I have normal, natural gravel (from Wal-Mart), a fake log/plant, a fake rock/plant, two more silk plants, and some Cabomba planted in my aquarium--no peat or driftwood in this little 5 gallon. I condition the replacement water for the water changes with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Conditioner (eliminates chlorines and breaks the chloramine bond), and testing the conditioned water right before putting it in the aquarium shows a pH of 7 and the same hardness levels as the tap water. Any idea what's causing the pH to bottom out and what I should do to fix it? I realize changing pH all the time is a bad idea, but I feel like if it's this low, the nitrifying bacteria will never grow because I'll have all the ammonium I could wish for but no free ammonia for them to eat. Should I start adding baking soda to my water changes (if so, how much proportionally?) or possibly use the pantyhose w/ crushed coral in the filter box approach (if so, where do I find crushed coral, etc)? I also have Seachem's Neutral Regulator, but it says it works by softening the water (precipitating calcium and magnesium), which I don't really need, and it locks up ammonia just like low pH does, which I've been trying to get away from so that I can get an accurate ammonia test result and start cycling my tank. As much as I'd hate to do it, though, I was thinking of using the neutral regulator and then continuing 1x daily water changes but adding in the baking soda or pantyhose ideas. Anyways, I'm getting really bad about these long emails, so I'll apologize and stop here. Thanks again for the help so far! <It sounds like you've done quite a lot of research on the topic, took the time to understand alkalinity and buffering before you asked any questions. Because of this, you have answered most of your own questions. I would use Baking Soda to slowly bring KH and pH up over about a week if you can -- this will be hard, since you are doing daily water changes -- and use crushed coral to act as a more permanent buffer in the future. A good target for KH is between 5 and 10, which is still pretty soft but much more stable. As for proper amounts of baking soda/crushed coral to use... trial and error! Try adjusting a bit of tap water w/baking soda -- say 1 gallon -- and when you find the right amount, add that amount per gallon to your water changes. Likewise, soak some crushed coral in tap water for a few days, and test your KH, see how much is leached in that time. You should come up with a good estimate after a bit of trial and error. Since you are manually adjusting alkalinity and pH be sure to include these (and GH) as a part of your regular water testing in the future.> Thanks, Andrew... <Jason N.> My aquarium looks like it has tiny air bubbles in it! Good intentions, poor information - 2/11/2006 Hello , I have set up a freshwater aquarium (5 gallon tank) that is heated to 75 deg f. I had a problem with high ammonia levels which I am sorry to say consumed a few fish. I have since rectified the problem with 10% water changes. I have since added an ammonia bag and air stone. At the time of the highest concentration which was off the scale I am sorry to say the only fish that survived was my albino catfish. He is known for his constant swimming in front of the tank so when I put the air stone in shortly after regaining control of the ammonia level it place it in the front. I was not happy with the control as it is very cheap and the stone would sometimes put out less air after a while. I therefore removed the control valve and pumped full volume air in. At night I would pinch the hose to lessen the flow and allow the fish to calm. He loves swimming through the bubbles. After getting another fish (calico) which was not very good at the store I bought him from (Wal-Mart) I didn't notice much change in water till shortly before he died. He seemed to be doing better everyday, swimming stronger and such until I added a red cap and black moor the following week. In between the calico and the other two I noticed the water to be getting hazy. <Common... a "break in" phase... bacterial> I expected this as I treated the water with Melafix <... not a good idea> as is suggested when adding new fish. 1/2 teaspoon every day for 3 days. removed the carbon filter as instructed the first time but left it in the second time when I added the red cap and moor. changed it after the second time and rinsed out the bio filter. changed my ammonia bag as well but the hazy look is still there . Got some clearing drops and put them in but no good still hazy. last Saturday the 4th of February a friend said I got to much air going in. It looks just like tiny bubbles so they turned it down to what they set their stone to. Though now a week later its still hazy and looks like crap. The fish appear to be ok so my wife said to turn off the air stone which I did tonight the 9th of February. What am I supposed to do. I have a sample of water to take to another fish store in town . if it is air how do I get it out, as I've heard and read that to much air in the water and a fish can get an air bubble in his body. Please help me anyway you can. Thank you, Ryan <... the haziness is likely mostly due to the system being uncycled... and adding "fix", "drops" is just forestalling this cycling... Do you have a filter? Just waiting, being careful to not overfeed will see this tiny system (ultimately too small for two fancy goldfish)... Please see WWM re FW Cycling, Goldfish Systems... Bob Fenner> Aquarium with bubbles - 2/11/2006 I woke this morning to find my Pleco had died overnight. I took my sample of water in and I have a high nitrite level. <How high?> Lady at the store told me to do 25% water changes every two days via vacuuming the rocks and bring in another sample 1 hr after the third change on Tuesday. <Samples change with time/travel... you should have your own kits> She believes the air is actually from overfeeding the fish and its not air at all. <?> Guess the rest of the fish are going on a diet. See my first email which was forwarded to you from Robert Fenner. Let me know if this is what you expect as well. Thanks for your input Ryan <... is this that five gallon system? It's not cycled... See here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm and the linked files above... Bob Fenner> Another 'Cloudy Water' question (It's a novel!) 2/1/06 Hi guys, 'Sit right back and you'll hear a tale...' <Bob Denver R.I.P.> Once again we are stumped. We've scoured the WWM FAQs and can't find a solution related to our situation. We recently purchased a 60 gallon tank to relocate our pair of Green Terrors (5" female & 6" male), Featherfin Squeaker (5"), Common Pleco (maybe 6-7") and Pictus cat (4") (The GT's outgrew the old tank). We set up the tank as we normally do... with the exception that the 'fish salesman' said that we should also use a bacteria additive. (We first noticed minimal white clouds after we added this) This is something that we hadn't done before... in the past we just let the bacteria grow naturally. <The way I do it...> Anyway, when we moved our fish, we added three small (3") Firemouths and another Pictus Cat to the mix. We set up the tank with all new everything (Using a Penguin Bio-Wheel 350), Stealth heater, bubble walls for aeration, and are using a natural stone gravel (We rinsed it before adding it to the tank). A couple days went by, and we wound up with what we suspect is New Tank Syndrome... major ammonia explosion. Incredibly cloudy water with a smell resembling a dirty litter box. We have the Ammonia pretty much under control. It's now .5-1 ppm and dropping. We used Ammo-Lock, changed the filter cartridges, vacuumed the gravel and did a 25% water change. We reduced feeding even though they like to eat 2-3 times a day. The pH is a bit high (7.2) for what Cichlids like, but nothing to be worried about (we think). Nitrates are at 0. The KH is at 125.3ppm. What concerns us is the GH Test. We use a Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test kit. The GH chart stops at 16 drops (286.4ppm). We were up to 21 drops of test solution before we stopped. The color still did not change. Either our test chemicals are old or there are outrageous amounts of Calcium/Magnesium in the water. <Looks like it> We can't figure out the cloudy water problem. Near the lights you can see clouds of white washing by. We used Accu-clear and it still didn't clear up. <... not advised> What do you suspect the problem is? <Is "just" a bacterial bloom...> Is the Bacteria additive the culprit? <Nah> Can Calcium/Magnesium leech out of the gravel, and if so, would it cause cloudy water? <Not by itself... though could be a contributing cause> If so, how do we clear up the water? <... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm and the linked files above...> Are there too many bottom feeders? <For this new a tank? Yes> Any help you can lend would be greatly appreciated. Our Cichlids are gorgeous... after a $500+ investment it sure would be nice to be able to see them. <Look to getting BioSpira, quick, moving old substrate, water, filter media... don't feed if the ammonia excess 1.0 ppm...> Absolutely Stumped, Ian & Kristin in Los Angeles PS: We upgraded our Community tank into the old Cichlid tank and followed the same process, same gravel, etc. The water in that tank is crystal clear. <Happens. Bob Fenner> New Tank Cloudy Water 1/22/06 Hey all: I went over the questions I asked in my last e-mail. and I found most of the answers on your web-site, so, sorry about that. I was able to find answer to a lot of the questions that I had, a testament to the extensive articles you have here. I did, however, still have one or two "new tank" questions. First, here are the parameters of my tank: I have a standard 29 gallon tank, a Neptune 100 watt submersible heater, a Penguin 200 Bio-Wheel Power Filter, and just a few silk plants, a resin decoration, and garden gravel (thoroughly washed) from Home Depot. I filled the tank up and started everything two nights ago and used Kordon's NovAqua+ to dechlorinate; I put the filter cartridge in, turned the filter on, and started up the heater. The pH of the water tested a bit high after the first day, so yesterday I used Seachem's 7.0 Neutral Regulator to bring it down. The water has gone all cloudy, but I know that this is expected in a brand new (no fish) tank, but I was wondering two things: how long should it be until the water clears up, and what specifically causes the initial cloudiness? Is it just dissolved gasses in the floating around, or is it something else? < You probably have hard water high in calcium. When you added the regulator it replaced the calcium in the water. The calcium has nowhere to go so it drops out of solution as a precipitate. It may go back into solution and your tank may clear but your pH will go back up.> One other question I had regarded the bacteria started that I decided to go with, Hagen's Nutrafin Cycle. I added the standard measurement (2 capfuls per 10 gallons of water) and put it in the filter between the cartridge and the Bio-Wheel, and I'll continue to follow the directions on the bottle (doses again in 7 and 14 days). Again, a multipart question: should I let my tank "mature" for a week or so before putting the fish in? Is the initial cloudiness going to interfere with the bacteria cultures? And, finally, is it necessary to continue to use the weekly maintenance doses indicated on the bottle (one capful per 10 gallons every week)? < Go to Marineland.com and check out Dr. Tim's Library. Look for his article titled "The First Thirty Days". This will help you understand what is going on. I have no experience first hand with the Hagen product. I have friends in the aquarium maintenance business that set up new tanks all the time for clients. They don't want to wait for a month to fill their tanks with fish. They use Bio-Spira from Marineland, so that is what I usually recommend here. I would drain the tank and start all over again with fresh water. Leave the pH alone so it will match the pH of the local fish store. Adding the product weekly probably doesn't hurt, but I don't think it is really needed.-Chuck> Thank you in advance for your help, and I will do my best to make certain to more thoroughly comb the database before firing off questions! Sincerely, Ivan St. John "Red, red wine..." Not in the tank! 1/21/06 Gentlemen, Thank you for the service you provide. I have a 36 gallon tank. 6 fish, 2 clowns, a tang, strawberry Pseudochromis, a blue damsel, maroon clown. Two clusters of green star polyps and a few mushrooms. Coral banded and cleaner shrimp and the usual assortments of small hermits and snails. Tank has been up and running about 6 months. Lots of spectacular dead coral, only live rock in what came with the polyps. I have an under gravel filter with rotating power head, a Fluval filter and an air pump hooked up to a lime wood air stone. I use only Catalina brand real ocean water. Two nights ago about a glass of relatively decent chardonnay got spilled on the lid and most made its way into the tank before I could sop it up. All seemed OK until yesterday. I came home at noon and the water had turned cloudy and greenish overnight. Fish were up at the top gasping for air - the inverts seemed relatively unaffected. Since then I have done the following: Changed 15 gallons of the water immediately. Put a new 75 gallon size charcoal pad in the Fluval. 5 hours later, after a trip to Petco for more water, I drained 20 gallons out and put 10 back in. I let the tank run over night down 10 gallons so the heater could keep up with the new water. I also thought the reduced volume might make the charcoal more effective. A few minutes ago I added 5 more gallons back in and will probably put the last 5 in night. The tank is clearer but still cloudier than it should be. Fish seem OK, although I haven't seen the maroon clown yet. Could 1 glass of wine do that much damage? Anything else I should do besides drinking only bottled water around the tank!? Thanks again for all you do. >> Hello Bruce, Wine does contain alcohol, which - you may know, is a poison. While it affects you and I only at a reasonably high concentration it is very toxic to fish and many other animals. The water change was a good idea, but you should always have some high end carbon and maybe some Polyfilter pads on hand for cases like these.... you are not the only one that drinks around their tanks. I would suggest you add a pound of carbon for at least 36 hours to remove any remnant alcohol in your tank. A friend had his kids add a 1/4 bottle of bubble bath to one of his tanks at a party, and most of the goldfish survived even that! If your fish are fine now they will be alright, but I would avoid drinking single malt scotch in the vicinity, since you may not be so lucky again. Good Luck, Oliver F Cloudy W 1/20/06 Hi. I have a few questions, for you regarding my 37 gallon eclipse tank. As of now it only has different snails in it. 2 Apple, about 3" in diameter, 8 mystery 1" in diameter , and 2 baby snails acquired from some plants. My questions are: My tank water is always cloudy. I have read that 80% of the reason for this is because of overfeeding, <Mmm, I'd say about this percentage for lack of useful filtration myself> but I believe it is from the algae disks that I put in there. I have also heard that lettuce that snails eat will cause cloudy water....... <Yes, can> Well anyway, I am afraid to underfeed my snails because I don't want them to starve, but then if I overfeed them I have cloudy water? <Not necessarily> How much should I feed them, and should I feed them one or two times a day? <Once is fine> Is there any kind of food that will make all these guys happy, and not get my water so dirty? Will cucumbers cause cloudy water like lettuce? Is it there crap that is turning my water dirty? PS - I am a very good caretaker when it comes to my water..... <I would look into improving filtration here... adding a Dacron bag with activated carbon, or a pre-made one... e.g. Chemipure or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals similar... and leaving it in, placed below the Eclipse filter pad...> I also have a 16 gal tank with Cichlid, and have NO problem, and a 55 gallon with a Red Eared Slider Turtle, and believe me, his poop is WAY bigger, but his tank is WAY clearer. <I... understand> I would also like to add some fish to the snail tank, but am afraid of tentacle loss of my lovies.......... any ideas on some fish that behave, and how many I can add without overcrowding? <Many, yes... most livebearers, danios, rasboras... Bob Fenner> That is when I get my cloudy water under control! <Do move some water from the other tank (not the turtle!) as this will help as well> Thank-You Kathleen FW, toxic/new, bad water chemistry 1/13/06 Hello, Your site is very informative, I like it a lot. I have a 10 gallon tank with 2 blue danios, 2 zebra danios, and 2 black sailfin mollies. Is it okay to have a ph of 8.4, a nitrite level of 10 mg/L, <... I hope your decimal point is off here... nitrites of near 1.0 mg/l (equivalent to ppm) at this pH are deadly toxic> and an alkalinity of 300? <... too high> Everything else is normal. I also add a little bit of salt. Should I add live plants. If so, what kind? <Covered on WWM...> Also, My 2 mollies seem to be eating algae on the side of the tank and they never come up to eat. Could you please answer these questions? Thank you very much. <Your system is not cycled... Please see WWM re... and stop feeding, adding any more livestock till you fix your water chemistry, cycle the tank... Bob Fenner> Cloudy Water 1/13/06 I am having is cloudy water. Now my 55 gallon aquarium has been setup for 3 months and I have treated my tank several times with polywool and P clear, and it has cleared the aquarium in 24 hours, and when I take out the polywool and put everything back in the tank goes cloudy again in a couple of days. Now there are only 20 fish in the tank and I feed them 1 every 2 -3 days. Please HELP. Roger. < First check the ammonia and smell the top of the tank for a "fishy" smell. Ammonia should be zero. If that checks out then remove everything again, do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. With everything out, the water should stay clear. If not then your substrate is leaching minerals into the water and should be changed. Rocks should be replaced one at a time over a couple of weeks to see if the rocks are causing the problem.-Chuck> Super low pH and no alkalinity... aquarist self-flagellating for negligence in FW aquarium "keeping" 1/11/06 Hi all! Hope all is well. I have an odd mixture that I haven't seen mentioned here yet. First, let me give some background... I have never before today tested my tank water as I didn't see any problems, I am a bit lax at water changes and recently any new introductions to my tank have perished within a month (although my original angels, Bala shark, paradise fish, and Opaline Gourami have been doing fine for the over 2 years that I've had my tank). <Classically habituated... and co-socialized> I tested my tank this morning and imagine my shock when my pH read 4.24 (this wasn't though a test strip but through my pH meter at work, I work in a water quality lab. I know, how ironic that I never thought to check the pH sooner). <Happens... plumbers with leaks at home, car mechanics with vehicles that need oil-changing...> The total alkalinity was ZERO (due to the low pH). <... Err...> Total hardness was 600 ppm, Calcium hardness=450 ppm. <Good gosh!> On my way home I finally purchased test strips and my results confirmed (the ones with the appropriate ranges at least, the others were off the chart). Further testing revealed Nitrate at over 200 ppm (yes I am a terrible fish mother... how can my fish have survived this!!??) <Progressive resistance. make sure you start changing water... slowly> Needless to say I have done changes and wanted to run them by you all to see if you can recommend anything else. I took out the driftwood that I had in the tank, took out the carbon in my filter, changed 30% of the water with vacuuming the gravel (my tested tapwater is 0 nitrate and nitrite, hardness of 120 ppm, alkalinity of 150 ppm and pH=7.0). The water that I added was about 60% tap water (treated for chlorine of course) and 40% DI water with 1 tablespoon baking soda dissolved in it. I did this over an hour ago and now my readings are Nitrate =200 ppm, <Yikes...> nitrite=0, hardness=250 ppm, alkalinity=180 ppm, and pH approx. 6.4 (I know that probably will shock my fish to oblivion, but I have to raise that pH . <Go slow... you have time... change some/more every week...> I have also added coral decor to the tank (it has an established aeration wand, powerhead filter and outside Penguin filter). I am also planning on changing the water again in about 4 days to keep trying to get those nitrates down (me thinks this will take a while.) Anyway, any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Maegan in CA <The existing nitrate is not an issue... dilution will take care of this in time... I would add a bit of "floating grass"... Elodea/Anacharis is my first choice here... to ameliorate some of these differences... toward where you want to go. Bob Fenner> Possible Water Quality Issues/Goldfish 12/20/2005 Crew-- <Jason> Before I begin, my water parameters are listed at the bottom. I have 4 Fancy Goldfish in a 55 gallon aquarium. In the past few days, two of the four have spent most of their time in the upper corners of the tank, fins clamped. They also occasionally, but not always, breathing near the surface. When I approach the tank they begin to begin and behave normally (begging, etc), but still with fins clamped. I see no redness in their gills or on their bodies. I understand that these could be signs of Nitrite poisoning, <Mmm, not only> but my Nitrite kit gives me 0.0. The tank is well aerated, with lots of surface motion. My first reaction was to do a water change, 50%. <Good> In case of nitrite that I am not detecting, I have added aquarium salt at the rate 1 TBSP/5 Gallons. The only other chemical I added was dechlorinator. Although my experience with fishkeeping is still limited with only little more than six months, that experience points me in the direction of some sort of water quality issue. <Yes, most likely> However, my water parameters seem to be those of a healthy tank. So, what else could be wrong? Jason AMMONIA: 0.0 PPM NITRITE: 0.0 PPM NITRATE: 10.0 PPM (approximate, hard to read the card that low) pH: Between the 7.2 and 7.6 mark, same as tap water Temp: 76 degrees <Likely some other (non-tested) aspect of water quality... An aerosol, cooking oil/surface scum on the tank surface... Perhaps something as simple as low oxygen concentration... I would increase aeration, surface disruption, skim or wick some water from the surface. Bob Fenner> Little white things and cloudiness 12/20/2005 Hello, I was browsing over your site and think it is much better than the others I have looked at. I have had a 45 gallon tank that used to hold several newts, waterdog, salamander, Cuban tree frog, guppies, reed fish, and other various things. <Hopefully not all at the same time!> It has been up for about 7 years now. I stupidly didn't bother to learn about fish tanks until more recently. Before everything just worked itself out. I had problems several times but managed them alright until now. All I have left is a warty newt (or something very similar to it). In the past 2 months I have had a water cloudiness issue. And a problem with little white bug things on the glass at the water line. I have had both these before but this time they won't go away. <Likely a filtration and/or maintenance issue...> I do have snails that are in my tank (not by choice they just appeared). I feed my newt black or bloodworms. I thought it was overfeeding because they would get all over the tank but have since cleaned the majority out. I may have don't too many water changes and messed up my biological filter. And I treated my water (incorrectly for ich). <All possible to probable influences here> I am using an underwater filter and also using polyester, foam, carbon, and ammonia reducing media. I use cycle and Amquel and Kordon ammonia/chlorine remover. I live in long beach CA they use chlorine and chloramine in our tap water. <Sometimes a lot more than usual> I don't know what is causing the cloudiness! Or what those little things are. Please help!!!! I am beyond frustrated. Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you very much!! Jason M <Is the lack of filtration (need more than UG) and your maintenance... Issues covered on WWM... Please read there. Bob Fenner> Surface scum - 12/20/05 My Elite 799 (I Think) air pump leaves many small air bubbles on the waters surface. <Due to organic (protein) build-up at the waters' surface.> This happened four days ago when I added 2 new sacks of gravel. (They were washed well.) I also added two ornaments. I have a 10 gal tank with two 4-5 in. Ryukin goldfish and one 1-2 in Red Cap Oranda. I know I heard all of you GASP!!!) <Gasp!> I'm buying a new 60 gal soon. I also have an AquaClear 20 filter. <Water changes may be in order. A bit of paper towel laid flat over the water surface and quickly removed may also help mop up the surface layer. Adjusting the filter such that it breaks up the water surface, and adding carbon, may also help somewhat. Best regards, John> Stinky Cloudy Tank, "It's Not a Good Thing," says Martha 12/10/05 Why is the water in my aquarium so cloudy and smells with an odor. It has been running for almost two months now and has had fish in it for about the past five weeks. I have done a partial water change twice now trying to clear up this problem and also rinsed the filter. Nothing seems to be helping, the cloudiness and odor only seem to be getting worse not better. Why? <The odor and cloudiness is probably excess ammonia. Do a 50% water change, clean the filter and vacuum the crud out of the gravel. Feed you fish only once each day and only enough food so that all of it is eaten in two minutes. Any food left over after that needs to be removed. Do a routine 25% water change each week. Vacuum the gravel every other week. On the weeks you don't vacuum the gravel you need to clean the filter. You should already have enough bacteria established to break down the fish waste.-Chuck> Improving Water Quality, Follow-up? 12/1/05 Sorry for all the questions but I have one more; what did you mean by improving the water quality and how would I do that. Thanks for all the info you guys been a great help. < What this usually means is reducing the nitrogenous wastes in the tank by water changes or by chemical resins.-Chuck> Guppies, Water Quality, Cycling - (IV?) - 09/13/2005 Replies threaded in... <<Ahh, okay.... it's going to get a bit tough for you/us/our readers to go through, but we'll try these double-carrot-thingies for my current replies>> WWM FAQ Crew wrote: > Guppies, Water Quality, Cycling - (III?) - 09/11/2005 > As a follow-up to my below message, > <I do realize it's a follow-up, but I can't quite discern from your previous correspondence who was helping you.... so ya get me (Sabrina) today! I hope to be of service.> Bob answered my first post. I'm awaiting an answer on post #2. This is #4. I take it you don't see all the quoted text? <<Nope, it didn't come through intact, apparently. I'll blame this on our Webmail system (grin)>> The previous topic (post #1 and #2) was "Guppy food question & a few other Guppy questions" <<Okay>> > I got a water test kit today. It's made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc and is a Freshwater Master Test Kit. Everything seems good (well, acceptable) except one item that really sticks out. Here are the specs: > pH 6.6 > <Probably low for guppies, but do-able. Is the pH from your tap this low, as well? I'm not a proponent of augmenting your pH when avoidable, but I'd really like to see this a bit higher.> My tap water specs are as follows: (all ppm except pH) pH NH3/4 (Ammonia) NO2 (NITRITE) NO3 (NITRATE) 7.1 0.10 (almost 0) 0.00 2.00 So I think that's pretty good. Before I got your reply, I did a 50% water change which lowered the NO3 to 20, but that still seems too high. I'm not sure what is causing this. The gravel was also cleaned (which I do every time I change the water). <<Yes, agreed. I begin to think that your tank has some "stockpile" of organic waste somewhere.... I'd like to see that ammonia hit zero, as well.>> > NH3/4 (Ammonia) 0.25 > NO2 (NITRITE) 0.25 > <Any ammonia or nitrite above zero should be considered toxic.... Please bring these down with water changes.> As I mentioned above, this is already started. <<Quite good.>> > NO3 (NITRATE) 40 > <Pretty high, indeed.... Again, water changes....> Will do. <<Cool.>> > Also, water temp is about 79-80 degrees. > <Not too terribly high, this is okay.> I had it a little higher for the fry. <<Yes, no worries on the temp at all.>> > The pH is a little low, but I don't think it's way out there. The NH3 and NO2 specs are pretty good. > <As above, bring these to zero.> Will do. These test kits never really say what things should be. I just thought low was good. <<Yeah, I do wish test kits could be a little more clear/obvious on this point.>> > But the NO3 seems high. Could this have been caused by a algae tablet I put in for my Plecostomus a couple hours before the test? > <Unlikely. Nitrate accumulates over time from dissolved organics (fish waste, dead plants, etc.) and of course can be influenced by stocking too many fish and not having the biological filtration capacity to handle them.> Until the latest fry, there were 10 guppies - 6 adult and 4 fry (or was it 5 fry...). I was going to save this until later in the post, but I just got a great deal on a 30 Gallon tank complete with an oak stand (base and top) that looks like a piece of furniture much more than most wood stands I've seen. It was $89 complete! <<Ooh, rock on!!>> The tank was made in April, 05, so it's not very old. The stand looks about the same vintage. <<Sounds wonderful.>> I filled it last night with tap water and started the filter (also used but better than my current one). It's made for up to 60 gallons, I think so it should handle the 30 fine. It has a dual outlet. It's a Whisper model 60. <<This is fine.>> Anyway, I've started it and will wait until it gets cloudy then clears up which should indicate that the bio cycle is up to speed (or close). <<Mm, usually the cloudiness (and clearing thereof) is just a bacterial bloom.... Test results will tell you the real tale. Try to get some "filter goo" and/or gunky, used gravel from your current tank to add to this new tank. That'll help the cycle immensely.>> Then, I'll transfer the adults to the 30 Gallon and leave the fry in the 20 gallon tank (although I'll likely upgrade the filter on that one, too - 16 is a lot of fry). <<Sounds great.>> > In hindsight, I know - I should have done the test first. I put the tablet in because it seemed the Pleco was doing such a great job on the tank it may have been underfed the last couple weeks. > <Ah, no worries.> > After I put the tablet in, I noticed algae starting to build up on the glass again. The Pleco seems OK with the tablet, but the Guppies seem to really like it. > <There's no accounting for tastes! Have you SMELLED those things?? Yuck!> Honestly? No. :-) I don't think I want to from your question. <<Heh! Completely understandable!>> > OK, the questions: > <Okay.> > 1. Due to the algae build-up on the glass that I didn't see (you have to get really close to see the small algae spots), was the algae tablet a mistake? > <Nah. He'll get to it. Furthermore, please consider foods like blanched zucchini or cucumber for the Plec, as this is a better nutritional option.> For the Pleco or the Guppies, too? <<Sure. Err, yes? Uh, that is to say, the guppies will probably appreciate the veggies you feed the Plec.>> As for the algae, I tried to wipe some off while the water was low. I can't wipe it off with my finger. It must be some kind of super algae! I did get some off with a scraper. <<Sounds like normal. If the tank is glass, at least you need not fear scratching it with your algae scrubber. A bit of "elbow grease" will help. Just use caution if its an acrylic tank, as acrylic is so easy to scratch.>> > 2. Is the tablet OK for the Guppies? > <Sure. They like their veggies.> > 3. Is the NO3 level something that I should be concerned with? (will it > drop on its own?) > <It won't drop on its own, but you can (should) lower it with water changes. Try to maintain it below 20ppm, if possible.> > Note that I change the water about 10% every 3 or 4 days. That seems normal (works out to 20% per week). Should I be changing more? > <Mm, in this initial/cycling stage, yes, probably. Anything to get those levels down.> How long (roughly) until the cycle gets stable? (rough estimate) <<Highly dependant upon your system.... all are different. And, again, I am starting to think there may be something "wrong" to be causing you so much trouble with nitrate.>> > Also, I have no live plants, but have 5 adults, 5 near adults (almost a month old) and 16 fry that are almost 2 weeks old. > <I don't see tank size listed in your previous correspondences; please just try to ensure that the tank is not overstocked.> 20 Gallon, but adults will be in the 30 gallon tank in a few weeks if all goes well. <<That's quite a few guppies, but you should be able to keep up with these, especially with your maintenance.>> > (oh, and the 2" Pleco as the maintenance engineer for algae control - he was only about 1.25" when I got him a few weeks ago) > <He will reach a couple feet given proper space, care, time.... You might consider trading him for an Ancistrus "Bushynose" Plec, which also eats algae, and stays a more manageable 4-5 inches.> I wish I had known that a few weeks ago. I asked several LFSs about a smaller one that would do the same job. None knew of any. One LFS owner wasn't sure about the Chocolate Pleco, but said it was possible it might stay smaller. I would have certainly gone with the Ancistrus "Bushynose" Pleco. Do they look the same as a young regular Pleco? (so I can more easily find them in the stores) <<They're actually a bit more nifty. They can be found albino or "plain", and have "fronds" on their noses.... hence "Bushynose" or "Bristlenose". Try a google search on either of these for images.>> When I had an active tank 15 or so years ago, I had a variety of fish (guppies, mollies, kissing fish, angelfish, and a Pleco). My Pleco outlasted everything and grew over a foot in the same 20G tank, so I'm familiar with their size issues (and waste issues). Back then I didn't know anything about checking the water conditions. I only came to know that through your site. Without that info, I might have well lost the entire tank. THANK YOU! <<I can't tell you how glad I am that you have gained this information. Water quality is perhaps the single most important thing to understand, with regards to fish. Thank you for these kind words!>> BTW, I'm not interested in anything but Guppies now. Not showing them or anything - just as pets. I have the Pleco for housekeeping and since they are usually not aggressive. <<Sounds fun!>> > 4. I understand Guppies would rather have a higher than neutral pH rather than lower. If the pH is too low, what is the best way to raise it? Is 6.6 too low? I know it's not that great a figure. > <Check the pH out of your tap.... if it is higher, try to determine what in the tank is dropping it. Driftwood, overly gunky filter pads, an un-vacuumed substrate, undergravel filter.... Otherwise, consider using a buffer or adding a small filter sock of aragonite sand in your filter.> It's 7.1 out of the tap, so something must be an issue. <<Agreed, very much.>> No driftwood. I do have undergravel filters in everything I've ever had - including the new one. While I'm on the topic, how do you clean those without total removal of everything? <<AHH! I fear the undergravel filter plates may very well be the culprit - not only of your pH issue, but of your nitrate issue, as well. Organic material will build up under the filter plates over time and make a pretty awesome amount of "gunk" which, as it decays, can and does increase nitrate and acidity (drops the pH). You could *try* feeding an airline hose down your lift tubes and start a siphon, and try to pull some of the "gunk" out that way, but in all honesty, when you have that 30 up and running, I would move everyone over and pull those undergravel plates out. You will be seriously amazed at what you find. I can almost promise that.>> Filter pads are not bad, and were replaced a couple weeks ago. I'm getting ready to change it again soon. My bio filter is the air type that uses air to draw the water through the filter. I thought this was better than the power filters I had in the past that put out a huge volume of water out into the tank. I wanted to keep the currents down. This new filter does that but is a power filter. <<.... is this like a Duetto filter? Or....?>> Unvacuumed substrate? Is that the gravel filter plastic? <<?? I'm getting lost, here.... Err, I guess I'll rephrase: Do you use a gravel vacuum (a big, clear tube attached to a siphon hose) to clean the gravel when you do water changes?>> What is a buffer and what would the sand do? <<A buffer is any material that will (safely) raise and maintain pH.... Aragonite sand is made of calcium carbonate, and is a good option for using as a buffer for this fact. I do not believe you will have need of it, or any buffer, once you fix the root of your problem (the mulm under your undergravel filter plates).>> > 5. Do you think these numbers had anything to do with the adult female I lost (reference previous message quoted below)? They don't seem that bad all things considered. > <Entirely possible the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate contributed. The gill irritation may have been evidence of this, as well.> > Any comments on how you would deal with these figures would be appreciated (if you feel it's necessary to deal with them). Would just more frequent water changes do the trick? > <Or larger water changes. Probably better to do larger changes right now to get those readings down.> OK. I was concerned about the chlorine. <<Just be sure to use a chlorine/chloramine neutralizer when you add new water.>> I didn't want to make too drastic of a change all at once. How much of a change and how often would you recommend? (what % water change and how often?) <<With the major different in pH from your tap to your tank, you'll want to make sure you don't alter the pH more than 0.2 per day if possible.>> > I don't want to change the water too often (is that even possible?) > <Mm, not really.> You can't stop the bio cycle once it's started? <<Well.... If you do something that kills a bundle of your bacteria, you can. Medications, HUGE changes in water chemistry....>> > 6/7/8. As I understand it, the cycle is NH3 --> NO2 --> NO3. Then what? > <Then either a water change to dilute NO3, or plants consume NO3, or denitrification (very difficult to achieve in typical freshwater tanks) breaks it down into nitrogen and oxygen.> I think the live plants are starting to look good if I continue to have high NO3 levels in the new tank. (if the filter doesn't take care of it) <<Live plants are great. Look into java moss, java fern, and Anubias sp. These are low-light, easy maintenance plants. Your Plec won't eat them, either.>> > Is the NO3 the last step before the fish turn the NO3 back to NH3? > <The fish don't use NO3. They're too busy turning fish food into NH3 (grin).> Understood. ;-> > If that is the case, wouldn't abundant NO3 be a good thing? > <'s not the case.> > 9. Is it NH3 that makes the water cloudy? > <No.... usually algae or bacteria cause this.> Visible algae? (I have very little visible, and what is visible is very small and sparse) <<Visible, yes, inasmuch as microscopic floating algae can be when massed together. Usually a pale or greenish cloudy tinge to the water.>> How could I test for bacteria? <<Mm, can't, really; but can look at 'em under a microscope.>> > Mine is slightly cloudy, but nothing like the first startup about 7 weeks ago or so. > <Probably just bacteria feeding on excess nutrients in the water. Larger water changes are in your future!> Yep. So, you can be overly conservative, as witnessed by my tank. <<Yes.>> > Sorry for all the questions, but I'm sure I'm not the first nor will I be the last with them. :-) > <True on both counts, my friend!> > BTW, I'm one of those "don't really care for chemicals unless absolutely necessary" types (even for myself). > <I as well.> > But, I will go with whatever advice you give. > <Hey, that's a lot of pressure! Definitely feel free to shop around and form your own opinions after you've accumulated information.> I will once I learn all this stuff. Until then, I'll be relying on your (collective) advice. <<Do please make use of all resources available to you.... there is so much information out there....>> No pressure - I trust you much more than I would trust my own judgment at this stage. <<Yikes!! Uh, I mean, thanks!!>> > Would adding salt help? If so, how much? If not, when would you add salt if ever. I've read that some people like that solution since it's OK for the Guppies. I know - salt is a chemical. But, it doesn't seem as bad as some of the other solutions (pun intended). > <I don't use salt most times. Guppies tend to do well ("enjoy?" Dunno) with it, but I don't use it in my guppy tanks. You could. Might be worthwhile.> What exactly would that do? (raise this / lower that - wise) <<Might increase the buffering capacity of the water a bit.... but.... I really wouldn't do anything until the fish are in a more stable environment (minus the organic sludge under the filter plates).>> How much would you add per gallon? <<1-2 tablespoons per ten gallons, and no more. Keep in mind, salt does not evaporate, so only replace when you do water CHANGES (and only for the amount you change out), not just when you top off for evaporation.>> > Well, back to trying to absorb all the info on your great site! > <Good luck! Three years after stumbling upon WWM myself, and I STILL haven't found the end....!> OK, but you're way ahead of me! <<You're getting there - just keep going.>> > Oh, one more question. Should I test all the factors every week? Should I test some more than others? (sorry - that was two questions) > <Test until your water quality is optimal, then as often as you deem necessary to monitor levels until you get a feel for how much/often you need to change water to keep up.> > As always, thank you again! > <Any time, my friend!> > Joe M. > <Wishing you well, -Sabrina> Thanks again, Joe M. <<Good luck with this and all your endeavors, -Sabrina>> Film On the Water 9/10/05 Hey Crew! I have a 55 gallon tank with 1 Oscar, 1 Red Devil, 1 Jack Dempsey, 1 Jaguar, 1 Pleco, and 1 Raphael. All of these fish are between 7 and 5 inches. I know... Crowded... I'll get a larger tank. Though that is not my predicament now. About a month ago I noticed a film on the top of this tank's water, almost like oil, but without the rainbow colors... Do you know why this might be there and how to get rid of it. I was thinking of adding another filter to the tank so the added circulation would break it all up...Your advice would be splendid, Christine < Change fish food. Oils from the food are floating on the surface. Usually from feeding pellets. Switch food and use some activated carbon in the filter. It may won't get rid of it but it will help.-Chuck> Need some help please with cloudy FW 8/18/05
Hi Friends: <Hi there.> I am very new at fish care and I must be
really stupid because I seem to be having problems in spite of reading
a great deal on your excellent site. <Don't feel
stupid...everyone's a beginner at some point.> The problem is
cloudy water. <Very common.> I have a 10-gallon fresh water tank
with approx 15 small Dalmatian mollies. <How small is
"small"? I think this is probably pushing it as
far as stocking.> My filter is a Whisper with a bio bag and I have
an anti-ammonia pillow in there also. All my water tests are good
except the nitrate which is a steady 20. Nitrite is zero, hardness 75,
ph 7.8. <Okay. I'd like to see nitrate lower, but
it's definitely nothing to lose sleep over.> The tank is about
three months old and I had it up and running about two weeks before I
put the fish in there. They came from my daughter who has an identical
set-up except she has probably too many fish but her water is crystal
clear. <I'm guessing hers has been set up longer though,
huh?> My fish are all healthy. I have cut back on
feeding a bit in case it was the problem. <Definitely a
contributor.> They get flakes and then either Tubifex worms or peas
or something like that two times a week. <Do mean they are only fed
at all two times per week? Or flakes daily and then
Tubifex/peas twice per week? You should feed the flakes once
or twice daily, no more than the fish can totally consume in a couple
of minutes.> I have been vacuuming the gravel and doing a 1/3 water
change every week. <Very good.> I noted that I should not clean
the filter with chlorinated water so have stopped doing that.
<Definitely not. Good plan.> The plants are all
plastic and I have only rocks which are for aquariums. I am wondering
if I have not had sufficient gravel as a base. Someone (he was supposed
to be a fish expert) told me that a small layer of gravel was better
but after the things I have read here, I am wondering if I don't
have enough. I have about ½" <Less gravel is indeed
better for freshwater systems, unless live plants are
involved. Gravel beds that are too thick are impossible to
keep clean of detritus and fish waste which leads to water quality
issues.> Oh and temp is stable at 80F. <No problem there.> Any
suggestions would be most gratefully accepted. <Vivienne, your tank
water cloudiness could be a couple of things, neither of which are at
all uncommon in new setups. If the water is a hazy, milky
whitish grey (as I suspect), then this is a bacterial bloom likely
caused by stocking too much too fast. Your tank wasn't
cycled fully when the fish were added and adding a lot of fish quickly
overloaded the fledgling bacterial population with nutrients, causing a
population explosion. The other possibility is if the tank
water looks an almost neon green pea-soup colour. In this
case, it would be an algae bloom which is also generally caused by a
lot of excess nutrients in the system (uneaten food). Since
you vacuum your gravel and change water weekly, I am leaning towards
the first solution. In either case, at this stage of the
tank's maturity, I would honestly leave it alone (continuing weekly
water change and gravel vacuuming of course). The water
should clear on its own on a few days/weeks, once the bacterial
populations are better balanced. Good luck!> Vivienne
<--Glenn> FW water quality, puffer 8/9/05 Bob, <Erik> Update and 2 quick questions for you... My tank appears to be cycled. Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are between 20 and 40 PPM. I did a 50% water change yesterday to bring these down a bit. My tap water is not as loaded with Nitrates as I'd originally thought. Your comment made me rethink my original tests so I did a control and tested straight tap water, only 5 PPM nitrates. <Ahh> But I did notice one strange anomaly, and I double checked it several times to be sure, my tap water does appear to have ammonia in it! I did a control with distilled water, and of course it registered zero, the tank is registering just above zero, but less than .25 PPM, way less. The test tube appears pure yellow until I put a control of distilled water next to it. You can then tell it has a very slight green tint to it which indicates some level of ammonia. Am I correct in assuming that a control test of distilled water will always look a little purer than tank water? <Generally> There will always be trace amounts of ammonia in the tank because of waste that hasn't been converted by the bacteria yet correct? <Umm, no... not detectable amounts in a completely cycled system> Any way, I retested twice and yes, my tap water appears to contain between 1 and 2 PPM of ammonia! <Trouble> I'm going to try a different test kit, I find it hard to believe that the city would allow such high levels. I don't drink tap water anyway but I worry about the fish and my cat. He'll get bottled water until I find out what's going on. <A good idea> Anyway, my important question is this... Is it normal for a Cholonodon patoca (Milk Spotted Puffer) <Mis-spelled... Chelonodon: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=6610&genusname=Chelonodon&speciesname=patoca> to spend quite a bit of time resting on the bottom? <Yes> When he moves, he's moving and healthy looking, but he rests quite a bit. I've seen you tell other puffer owners that they do this, but there is very little info out there about my little guy. As passive as he is, I'd expect the Milk Spotted Puffers to be more popular. Haven't seen him even threaten to fin nip his tank mates to date. I know this will change with age but he's pretty friendly right now, even shares his food with the sharks! Salinity is about 1.008 and I am gradually bringing that up so as not to hurt the other fish. Water temp is about 80 degrees F and the pH is about 7.6-7.8. Thanks Again, Erik <Keep studying... prevention... Bob Fenner> FW tank slime 8/3/05 Robert- <Janett> I own a pet store in Decatur TX, and have run across a problem with a customer's 55 gal freshwater fish tank that I have never encountered before. They have had this tank established for at least two years populated with Cichlids. Around the first of the year they told me their tank was getting slimy, they didn't however let me know this until about three weeks ago. They only have rock, and petrified wood as decorations, no live plants or plastics. They have an Emperor 400 filtration system with a Whisper 50 as a helper. It is located in the waiting room of their dental office. They don't get any direct sunlight in the tank, but the sun may catch just the front corner in the morning. They have put "Slime Away" (made by Jungle) in the tank, and antibiotics as well to no avail and seems it has just progressed rather rapidly to a dead tank. The slime appears to be thick and clear, smells like dead fish and you can actually see this slime floating in the water. They took the whole tank apart at one point, bleached everything and started over. It did return and kind of quickly. Is it possible that the fish food is causing this? <Yes. At least it is a principal cause, co-factor> The food is "Professional Cichlid-Growth Flakes" and is more than a year old... <Time to replace, toss> Any help or feedback you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Janet Smith Noah's Ark Pets and Supplies <Massive water changes... weekly, new food (try Omega-Sea, or Spectrum... very good products). Cheers, Bob Fenner> Milky Water Problem 7/22/05 Hi Gang, <William> I know that
the initial "cloudy/milky" water should dissipate within a
couple of days, but my tank(s) do not clear. They thicken! I have
tried: more light/no light, partial water changes/not changing water,
under feeding/over feeding, over stocking/under stocking, fresh
water/salt water. And of course, all of the available chemicals. I have
started over several times, sanitizing the tanks and lastly purchasing
a new tank. But still no luck. The fish die if left unaided. Have
y'all (Yes I am in Texas) ever heard of such? What else can I try?
<Mmm, to figure out the root cause/s here...> I have carried
hundreds of bottled, purified water up the stairs of my apartment just
to have the same result. Twenty years ago all I had to do was fill a
tank with tap water, add a few drops of de-chlorinator and viola! My
last thought is that there must be something dwelling in this apartment
that adds the milky solution to my water over night. <Heeee! The
evil midnight dwarf hypothesis> Eventually, if left too long, it
will chokes the fish and they die. Currently I am raising cichlids
knowing that they are hearty enough to withstand the water changes. The
last option for me is the Diatom filtration scheme. A Vortex is on its
way. <Mmm, a diatomaceous earth filter might help...> Any new
advice/thoughts will be appreciated. William <What sort of
filtration do you employ? Substrate... do you have some funky
ornament/s, a geode from that trip to Arizona in there? Bob
Fenner> Re: Milky water Problems 7/23/05 Can you send a link to the FAQ or have one that you can send that details the "Cloudy Water Cycle" in a new aquarium? I've looked and can't find it. Thanks again for the help, William <Heee! Is there such a thing? We index/archive freshwater water quality issues here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwmaintindex.htm Bob Fenner> Re: Milky water Problems 7/26/05 http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm <Ah, yes> Here is your article on the cycle. Thanks again for your help. The RO/UV treated water from my local "Windmill" is doing much better in my tank than plain, dechlorinated tap water, although they are from the same water supply. I've left the lights off and fed sparingly and yet to have a cloud, much less a progression toward the Milk! <Good> Thanks again for being such a great help in working with me to solve this problem with persistent and deadly Milky water that developed with each tank in both fresh and salt configurations. <Congratulations on your success. Bob Fenner> New 45 gallon freshwater tank - novice needs
HELP 7/21/05 I have recently set up a new 45 gallon freshwater
tank. I have not put the fish in as of yet and my artificial
coral has just arrived (I know a bit unconventional to set up a
saltwater look for a freshwater tank). I have had the water
in and the filtration system (a Cascade Canister Filter 700) running
for 2 weeks, while I was waiting for the artificial coral to
arrive. The water has a bit of a cloudy haze to
it. I have already taken half of the water out and filled it
back up, but that did not help. <The opacity is to be expected... in
new water... there is a need to "cycle" such systems> I am
concerned that maybe I made a bad decision on my filter. I am planning
on adding my fish this weekend and wondered (HOPED!!!) that you would
have some advice. <Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oqualfaqs1.htm
and the linked files... where you lead yourself> Also, if you have
nay advice on brightly colored tank mates for my 5 inch Bala Shark,
<Mmm, this fish will get too big (and take care... that it
doesn't "jump" out! for this size, shape system. But
other compatible livestock is listed on WWM for this minnow. Please see
here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/minnowshks.htm> I
would appreciate any suggestions for that too! I have really
enjoyed your website and look forward to learning more and more about
my exciting new hobby! <Ahh, good. Keep doing so... Bob
Fenner> Cloudy Water/Algae Bloom 7/14/05 Hello Crew,
<Susan> I can't get rid of cloudy water in my 72 bow since
I've started it (3 months now). We've tried one
dose Algae Destroyer <Toxic... and a waste of time, money> and
25%-50% water changes twice a week since--which have
somewhat helped, but it has never really cleared completely.
<Mmm, is it cycled?> My husband decided to get a canister filter
(Rena Filstar xp3) to hopefully remedy the problem, thinking we
did not have adequate filtration previously. At the
same time, we replaced our lights with two 40w Hagen Power-Glos
because we added 10 plants. Since the new filter was
installed (4 days) we've had a nasty algae bloom
(pic attached) even with daily 10% water changes. I thought we
might be going through the nitrogen cycle all over again
<Me too> since the nitrites started rising, so I went ahead and
did a 10% water change and added two packets of Bio-Spira yesterday.
<Stop doing the water changes, unless ammonia, nitrite approach 1.0
ppm> Our tank is situated in a East facing room, with several
draped windows, but still gets plenty of indirect sunlight
throughout the day. <An algae accelerator> I'm beginning
to wonder if because of this, cloudy water will be a recurring,
never-ending problem. I have cut down on the feeding (small
quantities of pellets twice a day) and I have a timer on
the lights (for 10 hours). Please advise on how to
proceed. I want to enjoy my fish. Your
help is MUCH appreciated! Here are my current stats: Nitrate 30
ppm Nitrite .1 ppm Hardness 300 ppm Alkalinity 240 ppm pH 7.8 Ammonia
.15 ppm <... look into more biological filtration, better foods>
Temp 80 degrees Thanks in advance and keep up the fantastic work!
<Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oqualfaqs1.htm
and the linked files at top. Bob Fenner> Hate that cloudy water 7/11/05 Hi again,
<Hello> First I want to thank you for the site and your previous
responses. Over the last 4 months or so I have written you
several times on the same problem, but have yet to zero in on the
cause. Since you have many readers let me refresh the
stats. The problem is persistent cloudiness. The
cloud, or if you look closely, rolling clouds began a year ago when I
started a new 75 Gal FW tank. The tank started with a
transfer of fish from a 55 gal tank it replaced. Also, was a
move to a different part of the city w/ accompanying change in water
quality. There were 3 fish; 1 silver dollar 4", and 2
Pacus, 6" and 8". Initially, I started the tank
with plastic plants, epoxy coated gravel, UG filter and a whisper
filter, and a 40 watt Oceanic florescent light. The tank
cycled with a lot of hands on to keep the fish alive, but did so
according to plan and without any casualties. Right away, after
cycling, it got cloudy. It has been this way ever since. The
first thing I tried was antibiotics which did nothing. <Likely just
extended the cloudy period> Then I tried clarifiers,
both particle and biologic, neither worked. <Ditto> Then I tried
just ignoring the problem hoping it would resolve itself, which helped
to some degree by replacing the cloudiness with excessive
algae. When the algae was removed the cloudiness
returned. I then decided to replace the gravel and filters
and did with a different brand of epoxy coated gravel, a Cascade 1000
canister filter, and a Tetra-Tec 300 filter. Had to re cycle
and after cycling the cloudiness returned. By this time 8
months had passed. I came home from work one afternoon and
found my tank empty, floor soaked, and fish lying on the gravel.
<Arggghh!> I must have got home in the nick of time because as I
was mourning the loss I saw a gill move on one of the Pacus so I
quickly tossed the fish in a 5 gal bucket, hung the old whisper on its
side, poured in about half a cup of Novaqua and saved 2 of the three
fish. Lost was the biggest of the Pacus. No worry
really since I don't like the Pacus to begin with. <...? Trade
them in... they'll only get larger> Anyway, this
resulted in a new tank the same night (warranty replacement from the
store replaced the broken Oceanic with an AllGlass), also changed was
the Oceanic light for a 32 watt AllGlass. Cycled the tank
yet again, this time being fast. I guess the gravel retained
its bacteria. But no remedy to the cloudiness. It was about
this time I began writing you guys/gal, and got some new
ideas. I got some plants and as I thought my silver dollar
had a nice feast on them. I also got a water report as you
recommended since my water at my new place was very soft with super
high Ph 7.8-8.0. <Too high> I could not make head nor tails of
what the report had to say other than to read that there was arsenic,
barium, and lots of industrial wastes in it, it scared me enough to go
get an RO unit to go under the sink. This being as much for me as for
the tank. I also got some Kent's RO right, Low Ph
controller, and Neutral Ph controller to treat the RO water and to
bring down the Ph. Since getting the RO unit I have made
many water changes and the Ph in the tank is now down to 7.0 w/TDS at
120. The cloud is still here. It is more of a
green color now than it has been in the past, but it still worsens at
night and clears a little bit during the day. I forgot to
mention that I have tried leaving the lights on 24/7 as well as leaving
the lights off 24/7. Lights on did not help, but turning
them off made the cloud horribly worse. The cloud also
worsens after vacuuming the gravel. Right now I have a thick layer of
green algae on the gravel, but am leaving it to see if the cloudiness
will not go away if I let the algae take control. I
don't like my black gravel being green, but if it clears this
$@#%$& cloudiness problem I'll live with it. I guess
I should mention that the ammonia and nitrite are zero and the nitrate
varies between 10 and 20 ppm, and the KH is about 1-2 degrees, GH is
undetectable with my kit, but as I mentioned the TDS is 120. Is there
and other ideas you can give me? I'll pay good money for
a magic wand. SSL <... what do you feed these fishes? Do
you still have the undergravel filters? I'd replace these, add more
gravel... to a depth of 2 1/2 or more inches... Look into more
mechanical filtration rather than the one hang-on unit you list. Bob
Fenner> FW Green water I have a 180 gallon tank and it has been up for 2 years. 2 days ago the water turns green like lime green and is very cloudy. I don't know what's going on. I changed the carbon and sponge and poly filter in the sump and have a large skimmer running. I changed half the water yesterday and I look at it today and its better than yesterday but still cloudy and still green. What is this and what do I do? How's it caused? >> The green water is caused by a free floating algae. The source is likely a change in lighting conditions, perhaps your tank is getting more sunlight than usual, or you have changed the artificial light. Best way to get rid of this is complete darkness for a week or two, coupled with 50% water changes every 4 days or so. You can use a blanket - with the lights off - and keep the tank dark. The algae will die off, so you will have to be sure to do the water changes. Good Luck, Oliver Cloudiness Hi again, I am convinced that there is an invisible barrier around my tank separating it from the laws that govern the rest of the world around it. I have written you twice about my little slice of the twilight zone, but let me give some history since you may not remember. I set up my tank 11 months ago. I had moved to a new house, and setup a 75 gallon FW tank to replace the 55 gallon I had the previous 12 years. After cycling the tank, cloudiness began to appear. First I tried several water changes; no effect. 2 nd, I tried Maracyn Two Gram Neg antibiotic; no effect. 3 rd I decided to just leave it to nature, but after a month I could not even see the fish anymore do to a blanket of algae that had completely covered the entire perimeter of the tank. I cleaned it off and the cloudiness was still persisting. 4th, I decided that sooner or later it would just go away on its own and have just been pretending it's not there and performing my standard maintenance. Almost a year had gone by and still the cloudiness is persisting, so 5th, I changed out all the gravel; no effect. 6th, I changed out the filters from an UG and hang-on-back Whisper to a Cascade canister and a Tetra-Tec; cloudiness is now worse. 7th, I read lots and lots of faq's on your site and decided that maybe my dKH and Ph was too high, 6 and 7.8 respectively. I began adding stuff to reduce it; no effect. I added more, and more and more, but could not budge either. 8th, I wrote you and got some advise. I got a water report, but all I gathered from trying to understand it was that there is too much scary stuff in my water, so I went out and purchased an RO setup. For the last three weeks I have been filling the tank as well as myself with the RO water and although it has changed nothing for the better in the tank, it has been tasty for me. The tank is still getting cloudy. It clouds up at night, worse now than it ever has, and then clears up during the day. My Ph is still 7.6 even though I have brought the dKH down to 3. In total, I have added 12 tablets of Ph-correct 7.0, 37ml sulfuric acid, and 750ml of vinegar over the last 5-6 weeks and the Ph will not move. Even after 5 10 gallon water changes with the RO water. The only thing you recommended that I have not tried yet is adding plants, but if my 12 year old silver dollar is anything like she used to be, no plant would survive longer than an hour or two because she devours them. Since the cloudiness goes away during the day I thought that some light therapy would kill it off for good, so I got the light from the old tank and added it to the current light and ran it 24 hours/day for 2 days straight while the other light remained on the timer. Although the cloudiness remained at bay while the light stayed on, it came back with vengeance when I returned the lighting to normal. I have purchased Kent 's Discus stuff to make the RO water good for the fish, and Kent 's 6.5 buffer and 7.0 buffer to take a different stab at the Ph since the amount of vinegar I am adding is probably becoming dangerously concentrated. Although I've already placed the order, I have not received the new chem's yet, so your advice if any would be welcome before I begin the new phase of operation hopeless. I have given up however on the cloudiness. Unless the Ph has something to do with it, then I can't think of anything else to try except maybe a gram pos antibiotic, but I'd really rather not since previous experience with the stuff wound up killing more than just bacteria. Any more ideas? Scott from the Twilight Zone <Something in your tank is fueling these bacterial blooms. Look for anything organic, even driftwood, that may be breaking down. Got a feeling you are way past this step though. The RO water has got to help. I think that changing 10 gallons at a time may be too little. Get a new thirty or forty gallon plastic trash can on wheels and a power head to pump it to the tank. Try changing 40 to 50% at a shot. Just adjust the pH to the tank. I would not worry about what that pH is, just match the RO water to it and do the change. Then do not feed for two or three days. The other thing you could try is a UV sterilizer. This will clear any algae or bacteria from the water without harming the good bacteria in your filter. Good luck. Don> Cloudy Water 6.7.05 Greetings! I was hoping you folks might be able to point me in another direction to try and solve the cloudy water issue I have been having with my freshwater tank. I've been testing regularly for Ammonia (zero), Nitrites (zero) nitrates (under 5ppm), and PH (7.6). Temp has been around 76-78, but summer is coming and unfortunately will probably rise with the ambient temperature. I've also checked for sediments in the tap water, but there doesn't appear to be any. The tank itself is a 29 gallon freshwater that has been populated for about 2-3 years now. In the past I've had my battles with one type of algae or another, though I thought I had them solved about 6 months ago finally. Then, I began having issues with green water algae during this winter. I've tried reducing the feeding, reducing the duration of lighting to about 8-10 hours per day, accelerated the water changes from monthly to weekly, new filter cartridges every two weeks and added a few live plants. At the time, the filter was a bio-wheel 330. Since then, I've gotten the algae (I believe) under control. I don't get anywhere near as much green slop out of the gravel anymore, and the filter cartridges don't clog up as often. But the water simply will not get clear, it's no longer green but is now just cloudy. I've lately upgraded to a Penn-Plax Cascade 700 filter to increase the media capacity and to try different media, currently it has about 100ml of Purigen and a 10oz bag of Bio-Chem Zorb, along with some carbon in it. (This is in addition to the bio-sponge and white floss). But after about a week and a half of this mix, still no change. I had tried a couple of "clear water" additives in the past, but never had any luck with them and don't want to start resorting to adding chemicals to solve just the symptoms. I'm wondering if there might be something else you recommend testing for, or if there is something I might be doing wrong. I am considering trying either a UV sterilizer in case the problem is still algae, or possibly a diatom filter, but I don't want to start buying expensive gadgets without a reasonable idea what is causing it. -Hans <Wow, sounds like it has been a heck of an ordeal. If all the changes have caused your tank to cycle a few times and you have a large bacteria bloom of sorts, especially if you have been adding bottled bacteria products to help cycle faster. I vote you take a break, leave it alone for another week or so, other than regular maintenance, and see if it clears up. I do not think a UV sterilizer would help the situation. Best Regards, Gage> New Tank Green Water Hi. I received a 6.6 gallon plastic aquarium for my birthday, but I seem to have a problem keeping it clean. The water turns green within a week. I put new filter cartridge in and after a week it's pretty green. I tried the changing 20% of water, it makes no sense to me. I use a bubbler, I have upgraded to a better filtration system. I only have 2 swordtails in it, is this a problem? One pet store told me this is natural process. This is very confusing to me, my mother always had an aquarium & her water was never green! I don't get any joy out of looking at a nasty looking fishtank, when I go to the pet store and they have a hundred fish in 10 gallon tanks & always bright & sparkling water! I also have a Betta in a huge jar & a smaller tank with 3 guppy's. I am already loosing interest as I can't seem to get the problem corrected and I seem to get a different story each time I speak to the pet store. It always costs me more money and I'm not seeing any results! Would I be better off with different fish in it? Is using a plastic tank causing the problem, would I be better off buying a glass tank? Any help would be appreciated, thank you. LLG <New tanks take a little while to get going. To solve you problem you need to feed your fish only enough food so that all of it is gone in two minutes once a day. Extra food needs to be taken out after two minutes or else the bacteria begin to break it down into ammonia that is bad for fish a great for algae. Do a 30% water change once a week with vacuuming the gravel. This removes the excess crud and fish waste that is contributing to your problem. I think you will start to see difference in a couple of weeks as you tank begins to cycle and then stabilize.-Chuck> New Tank Problems Hello, Been reading through your forum and can't seem to find the exact answer I need. As far as I can tell, we are new to Fairbanks AK, there is no one here to ask. Set up a new 10 gallon on May 8, 80%Flourite, 20% gravel. Outside over the edge carbon filtration. Airstone. TetraMin flakes and Tetra Color flakes for food, live Anacharis. Added stress coat with water changes and to zap chlorine etc. Water temp 78. Introduced three guppies on the 11th of May. On the 14th added 1 Creamcicle Lyretail molly male, 5 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Neons, 1large spiral snail with Turquoise tinted shell. Next day, 15th, added Creamcicle lyretail molly female, noted at store neon tank now had ick. Started treating mine with IckClear tablets, removed carbon from filter. On the 16th Neons started Ich spots, over a week spread to the Rasboras and Neons and killed them all (Now know that despite the aquarium starting manual I read those fish did not work well together or with my water readings, to late :^() Male molly developed many spots and swam vertically at times. Added Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt for freshwater, 2 TB to the 10 gallons. Throughout this period had done 10 and 20% water changes daily as directed by ich meds. Followed up with Fungus Clear tablets. Snail died on the 24 (the meds or the salt?). < Probably a combination of both.> As of the 27th Ich finally all cleared out fish seem healthy. On the 19th my water test strips read: pH 8.4 , 300 alkalinity, very hard water 300, Nitrite and Nitrate 0. Performed a 75% water change and again added the Doc salt on the 28 to remove traces of meds, added the carbon filter which I had let dry out all this time, it was a bit gunky and I rinsed it before adding (could this cause a problem?). < Letting it dry out is probably not good. The good bacteria living in the filter may be affected.> Today, the 31st, Ph 8.4, Hard 150, High 300 alkalinity, Nitrite 5.0, Nitrate 4.)!! Please help. I have read the cycling article but am not good with science and do not understand it, I'm trying, what should I do??? < Go to Marineland.com and go to Dr. Tim's Library. Look at an article titled " The First 30 Days" for a more in depth explanation of the nitrification process.> Both molly's and the three guppies are left. Neither the female molly nor the guppies took Ich. The female gave birth and all promptly died or were eaten on the 17th of May. She is of course hugely pregnant again.. and I assume that somewhere around the 17th of June there will be more fry.... Thank you, anxiously awaiting a response. Star < Many of the problems you describe are common with novice aquarists. You will get it all worked out in no time.-Chuck> Cloudy Tank Thanks You Again Chuck. I did put a glass of water aside and as you suggested, lots of sediment at the bottom of the glass now. With one of my fish being impacted by this water since the gravel change, should I do lots of small water changes frequently until it clears, or major water change? Take fish out altogether until water clears? As for UV, just meant that I further committed instead of giving up. A big investment so far and one I had enjoyed for yrs. UV will help with as you say, any free floating algae in the future. Will get through this recent problem and look forward to enjoying our tank and fish again :-)Regards.....Robyn < I don't like the sound of that sediment accumulating in your tank. I would change the substrate to something inert and non-toxic. The gravel and or rocks seem to be chemically reacting with your water. I would replace the substrate and or rocks with artificial or epoxy coated items that will not react with the water.-Chuck> Cloudy Water Chuck, The gravel I just replaced was the epoxy coated gravel purchased at the local aquarium store. As I said, I did rinse and rinse and rinse all day small quantities at a time in placing them in the tank. Something's gone wrong. Actually it has come to my attention that it may be the fact that our town has just gone through a "flushing" of our water system a few weeks ago. It may not be the gravel alone, it may be what they flushed the system with. I don't know how long remnants of anything would stay in the water. I'll have to research this. The goldies are hanging in there. ~Robyn~ < If the problem is coming from your tap water then take the same drinking water glass and fill it with tap water. If the sediment falls out and the glass is clear then it is the water. If this is the case then you could get a black plastic bucket and fill it up with tap water. When the sediment settles out then use the clear portion of the water to do your water changes and try not to disturb the material that has settled out.-Chuck> I Have Floaties in my Tank! Hello all... I have 3 freshwater aquariums... one 30 gallon tank and 2 10 gallon tanks. We decided to try guppies about 4 months ago after having just goldfish in the larger tank for about 4 years. We started with just a few guppies in the larger tank but could not seem to get any to live. We then started the 2 smaller aquariums as well and then added baby guppies into all three tanks from my mom's aquariums. These fish (unlike all from the pet store) have survived very well. A few days ago, I started noticing small floating things in one of the tanks. I didn't think much of it at the time. At the same time I noticed a couple of pregnant females. I set about isolating these females. I then removed all of the other adult fish from this small tank and moved them to the other tanks to make room to put all of the baby fish into this small tank. I again noticed all of the small floating things. They are small tannish white specks that are either truly moving or my eyes playing tricks. I have no idea what these are, they are no bigger than the tip of a pencil and there seemed to be hundreds of them in this tank. We took all the fish out of this tank and completely cleaned and reset it up. There are no fish in it for now until a few days have passed. My question is.. What could these small floating specks be and how did they multiply like that? Should I worry about my other tanks as I see now there are just a few in either of those, probably from moving the other fish around? Any help would be appreciated. <The small specks could be a number of "little life forms"... You've likely heard the term "infusoria"... there are many organisms that are labeled as such collectively. It is unlikely that the initial problems you had with store-bought guppies were/are related to this wee-life... But instead the quality of imported livebearers... is dismal... More the reason, rationale for our encouraging folks to "share the wealth"... for local breeders to sell, disperse their excess to other hobbyists. Bob Fenner> Environmentally Safe Fish Additives Greetings! I am a former Green Guide writer www.thegreenguide.com, and was really surprised to learn, when I set up a small freshwater tank for my children, that so many home aquarium products (algae controllers, fish medicines) contain chemicals considered carcinogenic in the state of California. And I know there are additional issues with acquiring marine fish - cyanide, certainly. So - the Green Guide has authorized me to write and research a very brief 200-word piece of advice to consumers on Earth-friendly and non-toxic aquarium practices. Would you have any time soon to talk briefly, and being a principal source for this piece? < Fish live in water. Almost all tap water has a carcinogen (Chlorine or Chloramine) in it to make it sake for drinking. While humans may be able to handle this many fish cannot, so it must be removed. Chlorine can be removed by aerating the water. If fact in very old fish books it would recommend filling aquariums using a watering can. They didn't know why it worked but they knew that it did make the water better. Chloramine cannot be removed this way so chemicals are added to make it safe for fish. After that the pH or hydrogen concentration of the water may need to be adjusted. This is usually done by adding or removing minerals in the water. The minerals affecting the pH can be removed with reverse osmosis or deionization. The minerals added to the water could be as simple as baking soda. Weak acids used to lower the pH are usually ineffective and only work for a short time. When fish get sick then the world of capitalism takes over with a chemical cure for everything. Unfortunately 95% of these are ineffective and a waste of money because they contain so little active ingredients. Check our FAQ's and you will find most responses come with a water change and a good tank cleaning. I recommend only a handful of medications for specific ailments. I have 40 aquariums full of fish and the only chemicals I keep on hand are some water conditioners and Rid-Ich (malachite green and formalin) by Kordon. The antibiotics I use I buy so sparingly they would expire before I would need them another time. The salt water guys are pretty savvy to the cyanide fish situation and the seasoned dealers that have been around for awhile know who to buy from. The key to a successful aquarium is education and not chemicals and that's what we do here at WWM, educate the novice aquarist. Sorry, no time for calls, need to get to another question.-Chuck> Cloudy water, Ect! Hello, I have
a 2.50 gallon aquarium with a whisper filter it was set up April 30 I
have three Tequila Sunrise guppies in it. Every thing was fine until
today when I finally got a Mardel 5 in 1 test kit I tested the water
and then made the adjustments till the water read in the ideal range
for ph hardness etc. I also used Cycle and a small amount of Easy
balance by tetra and everything read ok. I went outside for
approximately two hours and when I came in the water had turned cloudy.
Forgot to mention I made a 25% water change before I adjusted the ph
ect then adjusted the water to the test. It still reads everything is
ok so why is my water cloudy? Thank you ever so much going NUTS
in Texas....Cherryl Keppler <There is no such word as ect... Ect!
Oh, let's see, please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Cloudy FW New Tank Hi! You have a great site
here, but I haven't found the answer to my question so I thought
I'd go ahead and ask. I am setting up a new freshwater aquarium. It
is a 30 gallon tall acrylic tank with an Eclipse bio wheel filter. On
Saturday, I set up the aquarium and filled it. So far the only
decoration it has is aquarium gravel (which I rinsed before adding) and
a piece of driftwood which I used in a tank about 7 years ago. (That
was a 55 gallon freshwater tank that we had to give up when we moved
cross country.) I kept this driftwood since it was very attractive (not
to mention kind of expensive). Anyway, I put this driftwood in the tank
and filled it up. I used Stress Coat to condition the water and added
freshwater aquarium salt. <Why Salt? It is not needed.> Just
before bed I checked the pH of the water and it was 7.6, or since the
kit only tests that high it may have been off the scale. I added some
pH Down to the tank before retiring for the night. The pH is now steady
at 7.0 . The problem is that sometime during the night, the water,
which was crystal clear when I went to bed, had turned cloudy. It looks
like someone poured a glass of milk into the tank. I have kept the
filter running, expecting this to clear in a few days, but I have seen
no improvement in three days. The water is also taking on a kind of
yellow color (I assume from the wood. I think I remember this from
before, but my water was always clear.) So I am wondering, will this
cloudiness clear up on its own or do I need to do something about it?
< When you added the pH down you essentially caused a single
replacement reaction and displaced the calcium ions which are now in
solution. Sometimes the calcium will rebound and go back. In this case
I don't think it will. If the tank is left alone with no aeration
then this precipitate may settle out where it can be vacuumed out of
the tank. Otherwise you need to clean the tank and start over.>
There are no fish in the tank and I am waiting for the water to clear
before I add any. Is it possible that putting this old driftwood into
the tank could cause a bacterial bloom, even without fish? < If
there is a fishy smell to the water or an ammonia test kit has any
readings then that could be the problem.> Or is this something
totally different? <I still think it is caused by the pH down.>
Also, I was wondering if I need to aerate the tank? < Not needed
with the filter you have.> I saw somewhere that it is not necessary
to aerate when using a bio wheel since the water is aerated by the
filter. The noise from the air pump is driving me crazy and I'd
like to just pull the airstone out of the tank if it wouldn't harm
the (eventual) fish. Regards, Andrea <Pull out the airstone. Think
about what kind of fish you want to keep. A pH of 7.6 may not be too
bad depending on the species. There are better ways to soften the water
than by adding chemicals. Check out the WWM webpage for more
info.-Chuck> Re: Cloudy tank Hello again I forgot to add I do not over feed my fish I am careful not to let any food float to the bottom and it is easy to see as I also do not have any gravel at all in the bottom of the tank. The temp in a tiny tank like this runs 84 I cannot get it to go down unless I leave the lights totally off and then it runs 82 and summer is not even hear yet Texas gets hot early. Thank you for your help. Cherryl Keppler <Mmm, sounds like your tank may not be biologically cycled... Please see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm |
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