Bi-carb And Fish

[JenCliBee]

AE sell Potassium Bicarbonate

From what i can make out m8 they are still powders?, to use them i might aswell just use bi carb and keep an eye on it that way.... i would rather do as oldman suggested and use

crushed shells or crushed coral

going from his explanation it sounds a much easier feasable suggestion rather than having to manage powders... well unless the crushed coral and shells etc... are crushed to the point of a powder anyways?

i was reading the post you quoted above, and OM47 only mentioned Calcium carbonate so i thought you wanted powders... anyway:

[URL="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...b66768f86350f9e"]http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...b66768f86350f9e[/URL]

Ahh no sorry m8 the crushed coral seems the easiest option lol, and i do love the easy option

Thankyou for taking the time to find the retailer for me m8, really do appriciate it

 

[buckiejim2]

Hi all, not my strongest point so please any help is apprieciated

Couple of questions for you all.

1. is bicarb dangerous to fish or shrimp and in any quantities?, i mean as in very high amounts added aswell?

2. my tank water drops from PH of 7.4 ish to 6 within hours, it's stalled my cycle however my cycle seems to be complete since ive buffered the water with bicarb, question is though if my cycle slows down if not stops completely when i was cycling it, and the reason been the ph, how does it continue to cycle or the bacteria work when/afetr i add fish or shrimp and my ph drops again below 6 ... i dont want to have to add the amount of bicarb i did add to keep the ph at around 7.4.


Hope that made sense lol, thanks for the help

jen

Hi.
Bi-carb ( sodium bicarbonate) is only to be used as a quick fix to bring up the ph. It is quite normal in many soft water areas for a ph to come down below acceptable levels for the fish we are keeping. Yes we can keep adding sodium bicarbonate but that invloves testing water so often it becomes a chore and a hobby should be enjoyed not be a chore. So what else can we do? No problem at all. Here in the North of Scotland we have very soft water and our water board has stopped using normal buffers to keep ph at normal levels so we must do something to keep ph around neutral. Simple. I use clam shells or coral or limestone. Dont use too much or you will get too high a ph so a little period of regular checks will soon sort out the problem of fluctuating ph. start off with one hand size shell and see how it goes. Best of luck

BJ

 

[JenCliBee]

Hi all, not my strongest point so please any help is apprieciated

Couple of questions for you all.

1. is bicarb dangerous to fish or shrimp and in any quantities?, i mean as in very high amounts added aswell?

2. my tank water drops from PH of 7.4 ish to 6 within hours, it's stalled my cycle however my cycle seems to be complete since ive buffered the water with bicarb, question is though if my cycle slows down if not stops completely when i was cycling it, and the reason been the ph, how does it continue to cycle or the bacteria work when/afetr i add fish or shrimp and my ph drops again below 6 ... i dont want to have to add the amount of bicarb i did add to keep the ph at around 7.4.


Hope that made sense lol, thanks for the help

jen

Hi.
Bi-carb ( sodium bicarbonate) is only to be used as a quick fix to bring up the ph. It is quite normal in many soft water areas for a ph to come down below acceptable levels for the fish we are keeping. Yes we can keep adding sodium bicarbonate but that invloves testing water so often it becomes a chore and a hobby should be enjoyed not be a chore. So what else can we do? No problem at all. Here in the North of Scotland we have very soft water and our water board has stopped using normal buffers to keep ph at normal levels so we must do something to keep ph around neutral. Simple. I use clam shells or coral or limestone. Dont use too much or you will get too high a ph so a little period of regular checks will soon sort out the problem of fluctuating ph. start off with one hand size shell and see how it goes. Best of luck

BJ

Thanks for the info m8

 

[Dave Spencer]

The thing that i dont quite understand is when you cycle a tank and the PH drops like this it stalls the cycle and it stops breaking down/processing the ammonia, but all my tanks even with a PH as low as it would be to casue a stall... are ammonia and nitrite free so it still is processing ammonia even at PH 6..... so why if my tank still processes ammonia at PH of 6... does a cycle stall if the PH lowers to the same level?

All of my tanks are planted, and they all start from day 1 with a pH around 6 (my water has a KH of around zero). None of my fish have shown any signs to say that the filter is devoid of bacteria. It seems a little to me like TFF is the only forum in the world where you have to test like mad, ignore the fact that the fish seem OK, and mess about with crushed shells.

Jen, you know Clive on UKAPS, I believe? He has run a tank on RO water with CO2 and ferts driving down th pH, and never experienced this mythical "pH crash". I know from my fish that the water is stable enough for them. Throw your test kits in the bin and unplug yourself from the matrix, as a certain someone would say.

Dave.

 

[JenCliBee]

The thing that i dont quite understand is when you cycle a tank and the PH drops like this it stalls the cycle and it stops breaking down/processing the ammonia, but all my tanks even with a PH as low as it would be to casue a stall... are ammonia and nitrite free so it still is processing ammonia even at PH 6..... so why if my tank still processes ammonia at PH of 6... does a cycle stall if the PH lowers to the same level?

All of my tanks are planted, and they all start from day 1 with a pH around 6 (my water has a KH of around zero). None of my fish have shown any signs to say that the filter is devoid of bacteria. It seems a little to me like TFF is the only forum in the world where you have to test like mad, ignore the fact that the fish seem OK, and mess about with crushed shells.

Jen, you know Clive on UKAPS, I believe? He has run a tank on RO water with CO2 and ferts driving down th pH, and never experienced this mythical "pH crash". I know from my fish that the water is stable enough for them. Throw your test kits in the bin and unplug yourself from the matrix, as a certain someone would say.

Dave.

LOL, cheers m8, yeh i agree with pretty much everythink you say regarding fish and low ph.. my experience is pretty much the same ... ph 6 or below-very healthy fish with no signs of stress etc etc... was more the concern of actually buying fish which are in a stable environment of say 7.5 then actually adding them to my tank at the dramatic drop in PH... thats pretty much my concern and only concern tbh...... the crush coral etc etc was more a cycle source really and i have expereinced while cycling my tank just basically stoped processing the actual ammonia added, raising the PH with bi-carb has gotten the cycle back on track.. however it was more curiosity to why it does stall through a cycle and stops processing ammonia at MY/that PH but my tanks which are already mature still processes it even at that low PH... just baffled me to why this happens.... maybe as most suggest matured bacteria can cope with the low PH but new establishing bacteria just isnt strong enough to do so?


thanks for the info and the feedback dave, does help to have actaull experience to work from which does co-exist with my tank parameters


Oh and yes i do know clive pmsl