First week water results

[Characf]

What are killifish requirements? If this tank stays stable for a month or so I'd be interested in getting some. Missing a splash of blues/greens in this tank

 

[Essjay]

Replacing nitrate with chloride is not a problem. There's chloride naturally in water, adding a bit more does not cause problems. Thiosulfate is in many water conditioners to remove chlorine by turning it into chloride so we 'add' chloride on a regular basis.

 

[Characf]

Replacing nitrate with chloride is not a problem. There's chloride naturally in water, adding a bit more does not cause problems. Thiosulfate is in many water conditioners to remove chlorine by turning it into chloride so we 'add' chloride on a regular basis.

It's all beyond me, I've only just learnt the nitrogen cycle tbh. Us plumbers aren't known for being smart, but I've actually learnt a lot from this forum and the fish seem happy apart from the black tetra mix up that could backfire but apart from that we're sailing full mast

 

[Essjay]

I have a very old (40 year old) degree in chemistry so I understand about ions. But if I ever tried to fix a leaking tap we'd be ankle deep in water in next to no time As for anything more complicated.......

 

[Characf]

I have a very old (40 year old) degree in chemistry so I understand about ions. But if I ever tried to fix a leaking tap we'd be ankle deep in water in next to no time As for anything more complicated.......

Your degree is almost double my age and it's all very interesting, being from the UK how do you manage your water or are you fortunate?

 

[Essjay]

being from the UK how do you manage your water or are you fortunate?

Do you mean tap water for the tank?

I am lucky that I live in north east England with soft-ish water (7 dH/122 ppm) and nitrate below 5. So I can keep soft water fish and because I have plants, they stop nitrate increasing in the tank.
But I know that many places in the UK have hard to very hard water, and nitrate near the legal limit of 50 ppm

 

[Characf]

Do you mean tap water for the tank?

I am lucky that I live in north east England with soft-ish water (7 dH/122 ppm) and nitrate below 5. So I can keep soft water fish and because I have plants, they stop nitrate increasing in the tank.
But I know that many places in the UK have hard to very hard water, and nitrate near the legal limit of 50 ppm

Yeah it's a bit of a nightmare

 

[AbbeysDad]

Abbey, quick question as I didn't see it anywhere on your article, does this nitra zorb filtering process remove some hardness from your water? As my water is very hard and if I can bring it down to around 190 it'll open the window for more species of tetra

To my knowledge, API NitraZorb only adsorbs nitrates and has no effect on water hardness.

 

[Characf]

To my knowledge, API NitraZorb only adsorbs nitrates and has no effect on water hardness.

Will these tetra suffer long term then? Because they're one of my favourites in the tank. May have to get another filter to remove hardness after the nitrazorb process

 

[Essjay]

Besides the tetras, you have also mentioned platies and guppies. Both these species need hard water.

You may end up with 2 tanks - one with hard water, one with soft

 

[Characf]

Besides the tetras, you have also mentioned platies and guppies. Both these species need hard water.

You may end up with 2 tanks - one with hard water, one with soft

Don't tempt me, I've been looking at discus a lot lately.

 

[Characf]

I've done two ammonia tests today, to keep an eye on the levels now it's stocked, one earlier an hour after feeding and I had a spike in ammonia to 0.25ppm, which isn't ideal but I wasn't panicking. 12 hours later before going to bed it's back down to 0. I presume that's a good sign really? Or should I be concerned with that .25

 

[Essjay]

I would not be concerned just yet as it clears quickly.

How much are you feeding? Fish need a lot less food than you'd think as they don't burn food to keep warm like we do. At this stage, you could also feed every other day while the tank settles.

 

[Characf]

I would not be concerned just yet as it clears quickly.

How much are you feeding? Fish need a lot less food than you'd think as they don't burn food to keep warm like we do. At this stage, you could also feed every other day while the tank settles.

Tiny pinch every morning

 

[Essjay]

That's good, so many newcomers to the hobby over feed their fish