New Member

Posts: 2
From:
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-29-2004 11:19 PM         

---

75g Freshwater community tank (48 fish)
Magnum 350
2x Penguin 330
AquaClear 125g Wet/Dry w/Prefilter w/CAP2200
9w DoubleHelix UV Sterilizer
Coralife 260w P.C. 6700K on 11 hour timer
Nitrate 80 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm Ammonia 0
Total Hardness 75 ppm (soft)
Total Alkalinity 300+ ppm
pH 7.2 - 7.8

I do 20% water changes every couple of weeks and top off as needed with Dionized water from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals filter. Water is clear, mild algae growth(would prefer to have less), no obvious fish stress. I know the Alkalinity is very high and would like to decrease that somehow. I'm wanting to make the tank planted in the near future like I had setup before but now with the new lighting I think i'd have plants last more than 1.5 years. I notice some folks claim trickle filters are bad for planted tanks. Is there anything that you guys see that I could remove or that just isn't necessary and if something needs to be removed.. what tank setup would it best be used for? Any hints, tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and sorry for the long post! I have a 55g tank with 5 parrots 6" long, 1 green sevrum about 5" long and and acara catfish about 6" long. The tank will not have any plants as the parrots dig a LOT. I have an Emperor 400 on that tank. If some of the stuff I have on the 75g would be best used on the 55g then let me know! 55g tank is Nitrate 200+ppm, Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0, Total Hardness 150ppm, Total Alkalinity 40-80ppm, pH 6.8-7.2. I see i have very high nitrates and pretty low Alkalinity and the water is a little harder.. what gives?

IP: Logged

Member

Posts: 66
From:New York, Ny USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-30-2004 01:23 PM         

---

throw in a bunch of oscars

IP: Logged

Member

Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 01-30-2004 05:00 PM         

---

First off your numbers aren't adding up. Your either getting variences in the test due to human error or your test is not of quality or expired.
As far as the nitrates if they are correct readings then that tells you that you need to step up the water changes.
Last unless your a chemist or just bored and have nothing else to do I wouldn't go messing with the ph. If you acclimate your fish when you buy them they will adapt to wide ranges of ph levels. The most dangerous thing that could come from ph is a wild swing due to altering the level that you have coming out of your tap water.

------------------
James (The Grateful One)

IP: Logged

New Member

Posts: 2
From:
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-30-2004 09:44 PM         

---

Gr8ful,
The tests were taken with the Jungle QuickDip 5 in 1 test strips. They're not expired, though poor quality... perhaps being a combo type testing method. According to the tests the tap water is Total Hardness of 150ppm, Alkilinity 180ppm, and pH of 7.2-7.8. What's the preferred testing media that I should use?
I'm not an amateur aquarist. I've successfully raised fish for approximately 10 years or so. I've just seemingly got myself all alarmed over the test results in which until just recently i've never taken. I've always just did gravel cleaning when i remembered, and never water changes and never had a problem. My fish aren't dying, nor have they ever.. maybe i'm just gettin all concerned over nothing. A lfs told me the other day about my high alkalinity 'sometimes i think we all just try too hard [to get perfect water]'. I think she's right.
I've had 2 gallon, 6.5 gallon, 55 and 75 gallon tanks and i've never had bad luck.. nasty water, dying fish, disease outbreaks, etc etc. I've only ever ran 1 small filter.. now i'm filtering 1360gph on a 75 gallon tank. Perhaps it's all excessive.. that's what i'd originally came here to find out.. what's truly only necessary for a healthy tank.
My last question for now would be if a Blue Acara would be a bad idea to put in with the parrots and sevrum and if so.. who would hurt who?

IP: Logged

Moderator

Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-31-2004 12:47 AM         

---

Hi ZK28, Your lfs was correct. Just try to maintain the most critical elements like ammonia and nitrites. If you start trying to adjust alkilinity then you'll mess up GH. Then trying to adjust Gh you'll mes up the PH and so on. You'll end up findig that the more chemicals you add, the more chemicals you will have to add until you end up killing out your bacterial flter from all the chemicals. Also if you try to get it perfect for one fish in your tank it will be detrimental to all the other fish in the tank.

IP: Logged

All times are ET (US)