Scale Inhibitor

[gennine]

hello fish gods!

i have a scale inhibitor built into my pipes.
i believe it is to reduce scale build up?something to do with de-ionising maybe?i dont know!
does this affect the ph of my water?

my ph is 8. i shall test the water outside the flat from the fire hose..
.. ah ha!! the ph fro the hosepipe outside the door is ph 7.4!!! (in register on ph kit)
ammonia 0.6. because i have such a high ph it doesnt register on the chart (i have a nutrafin liquid test kit)
i think it is in the yellow not the red.

all the fish are and have been fine , the two new goramis are showing early signs of problems.

i shall fast the fish for a couple of days and test again..

also would having alot of oxygen in the water help at all? i have a air curtain.
your advise would be much appreciated!

genie x

 

[Lateral Line]

"Scale inhibitor" - hmmm. There could be a load of things in domestic plumbing that could claim to be so, but am not aware of any "plumbed in" scale inhibitor which does not claim to be something else.

If you mean a domestic water softener, which will, of course, reduce scale, these things are pretty obvious, needing to be fed with salt and stuff. If you are using a domestic water softener for your appliances, (washing machine etc.), you should have a seperate tap for drinking water. If you believe, after reading this that you have a water softener, then you should not use the water from such a device in tanks. They work by replacing Calcium and Magnesium ions in the water with non-scale forming Sodium ions. The reasong there is a seperate drinking water tap is that excess Sodium can kill you, and will just as suredly kill your fish as well.

There are also a whole load of "magnetic" scale inhibitors which are not exactly plumbed in, rather they are strapped onto the pipes to impart some magical property onto the dissolved salts. If that is what you have, then they will not affect pH or any other measurable parameter. PS. They also do not work as scale inhibitors.

More generally, you have a lot of fish in a very small tank, and hex tanks are notoriously difficult to look after, (large volume, small surface area). Gourami's are still water fish, if you have a lot of aeration in the hex, that will create vertical water movement which is not normal for that family of fish. You might want to ask the gourami people about that.

 

[gennine]

thank you for your advice, i shall get a small airstone..

the thing is on my pipes entering the flat, is an electrolytic scale inhibitor!

i guess thats fine then. thanks for the advice.

genie x