jlachoff
New Member
Hi and thanks for the great resource! I've been using this forum for the past month or so to establish my new fresh water tank, (10 gallons). It's working well so far, but I have some curious chemistry going on that I could use some help with:
The tank I'm using used to have a crayfish in it, but about a year ago the crayfish died and I dried out the tank and let it sit, dry, for a year. When I decided to start with tropical fish, I scrubbed the tank out since it had a lot of hard water lines on the inside of the glass. I bought new black colored gravel from the fish store, along with a big plastic rock, (don't ask why). Anyhow, I rinsed the gravel as per the instructions on the bag, de-chlored the water, and then put about 10 plants in it. The plants all died. A week later I added some small tetras, and just one plant. (at least that's what I think they are, but honestly, I forgot...)
At first, the pH was about 8.5 and I couldn't get it down. The LFS gave me a tablespoon of neutral regulator powder, but it did nothing. I went back and bought a jar of the same powder, but it took about 4 ounces before the pH started behaving itself. Since then, (about 3 weeks ago), it's been stable at 7.0.
I've also been monitoring all of the water chemistry with a Tetratest kit. I've had what I surmise to be a normal ammonia spike, followed now by a nitrite spike and nearly 0 ammonia, so I'm confident that the tank is on it's way to cycling. But what's weird is that my GH is routinely very soft, (0-1 dh), while the KH is way up at 33 dh! I tested my backup water supply, and it's KH is normal, (5-6 dh).
I'm thinking that the old crafish tank had significant deposits of minerals on the glass, and that this is creating the problem. To test for this I was going to get another tank and transfer everything over, but it's nearly like starting from scratch, so I'm a little hesitant. Any thoughts?
By the way: The third week in we added a little 'shark' catfish and two angel fish. The catfish died in a couple of days, but the angel fish have done fine, (so far). The became noticeably more perky when the ammonia leveles stabilized.
Thanks in advance for any information or suggestions!
The tank I'm using used to have a crayfish in it, but about a year ago the crayfish died and I dried out the tank and let it sit, dry, for a year. When I decided to start with tropical fish, I scrubbed the tank out since it had a lot of hard water lines on the inside of the glass. I bought new black colored gravel from the fish store, along with a big plastic rock, (don't ask why). Anyhow, I rinsed the gravel as per the instructions on the bag, de-chlored the water, and then put about 10 plants in it. The plants all died. A week later I added some small tetras, and just one plant. (at least that's what I think they are, but honestly, I forgot...)
At first, the pH was about 8.5 and I couldn't get it down. The LFS gave me a tablespoon of neutral regulator powder, but it did nothing. I went back and bought a jar of the same powder, but it took about 4 ounces before the pH started behaving itself. Since then, (about 3 weeks ago), it's been stable at 7.0.
I've also been monitoring all of the water chemistry with a Tetratest kit. I've had what I surmise to be a normal ammonia spike, followed now by a nitrite spike and nearly 0 ammonia, so I'm confident that the tank is on it's way to cycling. But what's weird is that my GH is routinely very soft, (0-1 dh), while the KH is way up at 33 dh! I tested my backup water supply, and it's KH is normal, (5-6 dh).
I'm thinking that the old crafish tank had significant deposits of minerals on the glass, and that this is creating the problem. To test for this I was going to get another tank and transfer everything over, but it's nearly like starting from scratch, so I'm a little hesitant. Any thoughts?
By the way: The third week in we added a little 'shark' catfish and two angel fish. The catfish died in a couple of days, but the angel fish have done fine, (so far). The became noticeably more perky when the ammonia leveles stabilized.
Thanks in advance for any information or suggestions!
