Beginner - 200L - Aspiring to create vibrant Community Tank

[Kieran Brennan]

Hoping to (eventually) create a vibrant 'community' tank.
Current set up =
200L tank with c.20 Neon Tetras, 6 Platys, 1 Ram.
Filter JBL Cristal Profi e902.

Recently this has started to appear on the gravel floor... anyone have any ideas what it is and how I might remove it?
Many thanks,
Kieran

 

[BigBurgassio]

Welcome to the forum Kieran

 

[Kieran Brennan]

Guys, would anyone have recommendations for what fish I might add to my tank. Currently I have 20 neon tetras and just one 'Ram' I'm told He / She seems to be terrorising some Platy's I've had which didn't last. At least that's what my local supplier is suggesting.
They recommended some "Mollys" ?
Any help appreciated.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello matey, do you know what your water hardness is? As you may be aware, there are hard water fish and soft water fish...so knowing what you're dealing with can help us recommend you some

 

[Kieran Brennan]

Oh sorry no, I don’t. How do I find out?

 

[Naughts]

Mollies are very hard water fish. It might be that the platies, also hard water fish, didn't last because your water is soft? Especially if the neon tetra, soft water fish, are doing well.

Oh sorry no, I don’t. How do I find out?

Check your water supplier's website for a water quality report, you might need to enter your post code to get the right statistics.

It's possible that our supplier doesn't seem to understand the importance of water hardness on fish health.
You can read about it in this article:

Understanding water hardness

Water hardness — not the most exciting of subjects to try and fully understand. The extensive amount of terminology makes the subject seem endless and confusing in equal measure.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Naughts beat me to it let us know but I suspect you have soft water

 

[Sir Guppy]

More options would be to buy a gH testing kit or bringing a sample of water to a fish store!
Although asking the local water supplier does seem more convenient..

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

More options would be to buy a gH testing kit or bringing a sample of water to a fish store!
Although asking the local water supplier does seem more convenient..

And free

 

[Kieran Brennan]

Ok thanks so much guys for the info, I will get testing asap

 

[Kieran Brennan]

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Kieran Brennan]

So if the water IS soft, what friends for my neon tetras would you recommend ?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Post us a photo of your tank for some inspiration

 

[Essjay]

Fish keeping uses two of the several units for hardness.
68 ppm CaCO3 is what we call ppm, so your hardness is 68 ppm.
The other unit fishkeeping uses is dH, an 68 ppm converts to 3.8 dH.

You need to make a note of those numbers as fish profiles will give the hardness range for a species in one or the other.