Smokey Blushing Angels

[Akasha72]

oh okay ... perhaps I didn't wait long enough. I shall keep that in mind should I ever decide to re-scape my tank into a proper biotope. Thanks very much

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The beauty of the rooibos is that you actually 'brew' the tea as if you were going to drink it and just add the brewed 'tea' directly to the tank... and you can add as much or as little as you like to get the color effect you are looking for.

Instant blackwater!

 

[Akasha72]

oh okay ... perhaps I didn't wait long enough. I shall keep that in mind should I ever decide to re-scape my tank into a proper biotope. Thanks very much

The beauty of the rooibos is that you actually 'brew' the tea as if you were going to drink it and just add the brewed 'tea' directly to the tank... and you can add as much or as little as you like to get the color effect you are looking for.

Instant blackwater!

 ooh thank you! that's good to know aswell! I'll have to look and see if this tea is available in the U.K

 

[betta fish]

oh okay ... perhaps I didn't wait long enough. I shall keep that in mind should I ever decide to re-scape my tank into a proper biotope. Thanks very much

The beauty of the rooibos is that you actually 'brew' the tea as if you were going to drink it and just add the brewed 'tea' directly to the tank... and you can add as much or as little as you like to get the color effect you are looking for.

Instant blackwater!

 ooh thank you! that's good to know aswell! I'll have to look and see if this tea is available in the U.K

Hi, it is available 

also known as red bush tea most big stores will sell it, I don't like drinking it as the flavour is too floral for me but I may give it a try in my tank too! I have large almond leaves or catappa that I buy online that my fish like and have access to plenty of oak leaves too.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi Betta fish and thank you for letting me know. I'll have a look when I go shopping this week as I might try it in my tank. My set up currently is just a basic scape, not blackwater inspired by any means but my fish are all amazonian and so they might like the stained water. In fact I think curviceps will love it as they tend to be very shy fish - my female spends all her time hiding in plants and only really comes out to grab a mouthful of food before darting back into hiding. She might prefer the dark water ... it's worth a try anyway

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Incidentally, unlike oak leaves, rooibos also has no affect (or at least, absolute minimal affect) on pH and minimal impact on TDS.

 

[Akasha72]

Incidentally, unlike oak leaves, rooibos also has no affect (or at least, absolute minimal affect) on pH and minimal impact on TDS.

 
 
Oh that's good to know too cos my Ph is low anyway due to my super soft water. I can do without it going much lower ... even though the fish wouldn't care it does make my life a little complicated!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I believe at most the pH might rise 0.1 from rooibos.

 

[Akasha72]

it might rise? oh that might be good then. Currently the tank is Ph 6 which is fine for my stock but it comes out of my tap at Ph 7 so water changing has to be done in smaller quantities more often. The tap Kh is only 2 but it falls to 1 in the tank so that's an issue too.
 
I've had some crushed coral in my filter for about a year now in the hope it might help the Kh stay up at 2 and keep the Ph up a bit too but it's doing nothing. I got myself some ocean rock last week though and I've currently got it in a bucket of water for a week and I'm testing Ph and Kh daily to see if it does anything. If it does I'll change out the coral for this ocean rock instead.
 
I refuse to add chemicals and I'll always try to find a natural answer where possible. The good news is the Ph is stable and has been for as long as I've kept these fish (over 3 years with some of my stock, they're getting old now)  and so the likelyhood of a Ph crash now seems unlikely but we never know!
 
Anyway .. I'll shut up. I can't face another telling off for having to work with a low Ph 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I don't believe there's any reason to be defensive about your pH. And the rise would be 'insignificant'. 0.1 isn't really worth noting.

 

[Akasha72]

thank you Eagles

 
I'll have a look for some and let you know if it does anything much to the Ph. I'm guessing it will depend on how much you add per litre. At 240 litres I've got a lot of water to stain lol

 

[Byron]

it might rise? oh that might be good then. Currently the tank is Ph 6 which is fine for my stock but it comes out of my tap at Ph 7 so water changing has to be done in smaller quantities more often. The tap Kh is only 2 but it falls to 1 in the tank so that's an issue too.
 
I've had some crushed coral in my filter for about a year now in the hope it might help the Kh stay up at 2 and keep the Ph up a bit too but it's doing nothing. I got myself some ocean rock last week though and I've currently got it in a bucket of water for a week and I'm testing Ph and Kh daily to see if it does anything. If it does I'll change out the coral for this ocean rock instead.
 
I refuse to add chemicals and I'll always try to find a natural answer where possible. The good news is the Ph is stable and has been for as long as I've kept these fish (over 3 years with some of my stock, they're getting old now)  and so the likelyhood of a Ph crash now seems unlikely but we never know!

 
As I believe we have communicated elsewhere, I have much the same conditions.  I have some observations on a few points here.
 
Currently the tank is Ph 6 which is fine for my stock but it comes out of my tap at Ph 7 so water changing has to be done in smaller quantities more often. The tap Kh is only 2 but it falls to 1 in the tank so that's an issue too.
 
Water changes should not be an issue, even at half the tank.  I have tap pH 7, tanks with 5, some with 6.4, and with several tests now and then there has never been an increase in pH after a 50% change greater than a couple of decimal places, which is insignificant.  However, if you are happy doing smaller changes, fine.  But a larger change is more effective than multiple smaller changes over the same period of time, so personally I would aim for larger volume.
 
The KH is really not an issue at all, especially with your fish.  Mine is zero in tap and tank water.
 
I've had some crushed coral in my filter for about a year now in the hope it might help the Kh stay up at 2 and keep the Ph up a bit too but it's doing nothing. I got myself some ocean rock last week though and I've currently got it in a bucket of water for a week and I'm testing Ph and Kh daily to see if it does anything. If it does I'll change out the coral for this ocean rock instead.
 
Crushed coral is not a good buffer, as it is pure calcium.  I've gone down this road; my pH went sky high with no increase in GH or KH.  I did have success with dolomite (this is calcium and magnesium) which is a better buffer, and aragonite is another.  I've no idea what minerals are in the ocean rock, whatever that is, but be careful of salt.
 
Byron.

 

[Akasha72]

thanks Byron ... I actually trust your judgement 100%.
 
The problem is I'm being hit with so much conflicting advice that as a person with very little confidence I'm feeling very over-whelmed with it all. I'm now starting to react badly when the 'advice' comes at me yet again (as I think you've seen elsewhere on this forum)
 
I really don't know who to believe, who to listen to and who to ignore. All I want is the best for my lovely fish. They give me so much pleasure but this Ph/Kh/Gh thing has given me so much stress lately that there are days I actually consider selling my stock and tank and giving up altogether.
 
I've actually become scared to mention my water stats on forums now.
 
I have no knowledge of chemistry - I failed badly in school at science ... as I also did with maths. I'm not academic, I never have been, I doubt I ever will be. But I have a sensible head on my shoulders and I was handed a good dollop of common sense at birth and it is that that got me through life so far. I'm not thick by any means - my last I.Q test gave me 5 points off being able to join mensa - but when the jargon starts my mind switches off.
 
Common sense says - it's not broke, stop trying to fix it. The fish are healthy, they seem happy - they certainly like breeding that's for sure .... but then I read something that says that fish will breed if water conditions are poor and that starts the doubts going around.
 
I am wary of this ocean rock as I've got cories and 2 ancistrus - neither of which will tolerate salt. It was free ... it's no loss to chuck it in the bin.
 
Right now, I'm thinking ... this tank has been running since August 2013 .... like this, nothing has changed. No Ph change, no Kh change that I'm aware of. If it was bad my fish would be dropping like flies. All my fish are from naturally soft water area's in the wild. They were built for my water. They live happily in the wild in a Ph far lower than 6 and have done for millenia ... where's the problem.
Before this tank there was my Rio180 ... it ran exactly the same as this tank for over a year. Only difference is the substrate (the 180 had play sand, the 240 has proper aquarium sand). Everything else was just moved over.
The tanks before that ran differently. My Ph 'problem' only surfaced when I changed from gravel to sand. I can't really go back to gravel cos that's not fair on the cories. They love spending their days sifting the sand for food scraps they might have missed ... they're displaying natural behaviour. 
 
I think I've made a decision ... I'm going to leave my tank alone. Keep doing what I've been doing successfully for well over 3 years and stop trying to fix something that isn't broken cos some dude on the internet told me to

 

[Byron]

That seems a sensible approach to me. 

If issues should arise, then one can look into options.  But another benefit of the 50% weekly water changes is maintaining a better stability because the pH won't crash as easily as it might if no changes or smaller changes are done.  As I said, my tanks settle at a different pH depending upon the fish load and plants.  But they are stable, and by observation the fish are healthy.
 
I moved from fine gravel to play sand in six of my tanks around four years ago, doing one tank at a time over about a year.  I wouldn't maintain corys over anything but sand now.  That advice, given to me by Heiko Bleher, was spot on.
 
B.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think I've made a decision ... I'm going to leave my tank alone. Keep doing what I've been doing successfully for well over 3 years and stop trying to fix something that isn't broken cos some dude on the internet told me to

If it ain't broke, don't 'fix it'.