Mollie Fish

[feefeefreckles21]

ok i shall ask her thanks

nope she ha s none never mind i shall just keep doing my water changes

 

[feefeefreckles21]

hi again i went and got an ammonia kit and also api 5 in one kit my gh is 180 kh 40 ph 7 nitrite 0ppm nitrate 40 i know my gh is way to high and my kh a bit low but in the booklets ive been reading it mentions dh (degrees hardness) i have no idea how to measure this??? can someone help thanks

 

[feefeefreckles21]

p.s never mind done some more research but i definately need to lower my gh and higher my kh will be now using dionized water and getting a water softner pillow im really doing well thanks i now have a well looked after tank

 

[HayzH]

hi again i went and got an ammonia kit and also api 5 in one kit my gh is 180 kh 40 ph 7 nitrite 0ppm nitrate 40 i know my gh is way to high and my kh a bit low but in the booklets ive been reading it mentions dh (degrees hardness) i have no idea how to measure this??? can someone help thanks

please tell me you didnt get the test strips?

 

[KittyKat]

p.s never mind done some more research but i definately need to lower my gh and higher my kh will be now using dionized water and getting a water softner pillow im really doing well thanks i now have a well looked after tank

No! Don't do anything! I will explain in more detail shortly…

 

[KittyKat]

hi again i went and got an ammonia kit and also api 5 in one kit my gh is 180 kh 40 ph 7 nitrite 0ppm nitrate 40 i know my gh is way to high and my kh a bit low but in the booklets ive been reading it mentions dh (degrees hardness) i have no idea how to measure this??? can someone help thanks

Ok, so… GH (general hardness) as measured by aquarium kits as KH (carbonate hardness, aka lime scale) + permanent hardness. KH of 40 ppm (which is 2 degrees) is very low, it means you are likely to have pH crashes. You can buffer this up by adding crushed shells to the filter, or lots of shells and/or some reef bones as part of the tank decor. This is a long term solution and should keep your pH steady.
GH of 180 ppm (10 degrees), which is only 140 ppm (8 degrees) of permanent hardness… is what I class as "medium hard" and is perfect for the mollies. If your water becomes any softer, they are very likely to have problems because of that.
Medium-hard is on the hard side for neons, but the biggest problem this is likely to cause is that they will be more likely to have bacterial and fungal infections, but this is not a problem in a well looked after tank. On the other hand, softer water will make it more difficult for the already inbred mollies to regulate their body salt levels, which is quite likely to cause much worse health problems for them.

I strongly recommend that you do not touch the pH or permanent hardness, and increase the KH slightly using the means I mentioned above. If you start adding buffers to the water, your pH will likely crash when the buffer is used up, which is likely to harm or kill your fish.

If you want to better understand why you should not mess with the water, read about osmoregulation and buffers (especially what happens when it is used up).

If you want a comparison, my tap water currently has a GH of around 350 ppm and KH of around 230 ppm. So our water hardness is almost the same, but my water is better buffered.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

hey FeeFee, I live in Northants and could help you out with mature media and/or anything else you need to get going. I have extra sponges in one of my externals right now, just for starting a new tank. PM or just let me know if you are interested.

we have hard water here, and i never mess with it, just focus on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate right now! thats all thats important.

 

[This Old Spouse]

What a great offer!!

 

[feefeefreckles21]

thanks crazy airborn thats very kind of u i will let u know if i need a sponge but at the moment i have a ppm of 0 so i think that that meens my filter is establised? and thanks kitty kat i shall add some reef bones to my tank. but apart from that do u think my specs are up to scratch? hayz h i did buy the water strips and they seem to be fine y?

 

[feefeefreckles21]

p.s i will also add some shells

 

[HayzH]

thanks crazy airborn thats very kind of u i will let u know if i need a sponge but at the moment i have a ppm of 0 so i think that that meens my filter is establised? and thanks kitty kat i shall add some reef bones to my tank. but apart from that do u think my specs are up to scratch? hayz h i did buy the water strips and they seem to be fine y?

which ppm is 0??? what are the full water specs?
Because strip tests are notoriuos in being inacurate...my strips measured fine...until they tested in my LFS and they measured 0.50 ammonia, mine read 0. the chemicals run onto each other giving false readings...you need to get a liquid test kit, which tests them seperately.
my cycles are currently in week 3 and 4, so i doubt yours is already cycled. sorry x

 

[KittyKat]

and thanks kitty kat i shall add some reef bones to my tank. but apart from that do u think my specs are up to scratch?

They're fine enough don't overdo it on the buffering, you're aiming at 4-6 degrees or so

hayz h i did buy the water strips and they seem to be fine y?

They're very inaccurate compared to test kits. For example, I have had strips give me a KH reading of 1-2 degrees while a liquid kit gave me a 6 degree reading. Strips gave me 7.0 reading for pH, while a liquid kit gave me 8.2. Etc, etc. Basically, you want to avoid them if possible as they're not accurate.

Edit: Hayz beat me too it, stupid train booking website >.<

 

[CrazyAirborne]

thanks crazy airborn thats very kind of u i will let u know if i need a sponge but at the moment i have a ppm of 0 so i think that that meens my filter is establised?

i think some mature media would be like gold to you right now. let me know when you want some.

 

[This Old Spouse]

feefeefreckles21, if you'd like help to get your tank in good shape and keep your fish healthy, you really should pay attention to the advice you're being given. The people on the forum who are trying to help you have a real concern for your fish. So far you're giving spotty information when we ask you for information about your setup and techniques, and that just won't help.

I think you should have your LFS test the water with their liquid test kit. Make sure you're there the whole time and write down the numbers of the test results and let us know what they are. "Fine" won't help. We need the actual numbers.

Do a huge water change, and get some established filter media from CrazyAirborne that he has so generously offered. This stuff isn't easy to come by, and once you put it in your filter your tank will become cycled very quickly, and your fish will have a fighting chance.

 

[feefeefreckles21]

ok i have a liquid ammonia test kit and then for the nitrate nitrite kh gh and ph i have the strips if u are adviseing water kits for these instead then i shall purchase some tomorrow i am getting my water tested tomorrow at an lfs store aswell i have taken peoples advice when i went to purchase test kits at the fish shop all they had was the srips and the liquid ammonia kit.(when i did the ammonia liquid test there was no ammonia found in my tank) so im trying my best and, "this old spouse" i am thankful for your advice but i think u are worrying too much about my fish i have had them for 3 months now and they are all active, feeding, no discolouring and none of them have died, one molly does have red marks but they seem to be fadeing i am doing water changes every day i gave u my tank specs from the strip tests and i shall give u the results from the lfs store. i shall pm u crazy airborne