What Is The Ph, Gh, And Kh Of Your Water?

[BrownBullhead]

I've got a bit too much time on my hands tonight so I decided to "test" samples of tap water here... and... I'm curious to know the water parameters of people local to me and people far away and compare my local water to yours... I then thought it would be interesting to compare what fishes we keep and how they do in our respective waters.

pH = 8.0

General Hardness [gH] = 180 mg/L (CaCO3) = 10.1 dH°
Carbonate Hardness [kH] = 230 mg/L (CaCO3) = 12.9 dH°

Tropheus Keepers: In your opinion, are my water parameters close to "optimal" for Tropheus? I also "buffer" my water as the pH tends to drop to about 7.6 after it "sits" for a while. I add "SeaChem Tanganyika Buffer" and "SeaChem Cichlid Salt" to my water at approximately the doses directed on the bottle(s).

So yes... if anyone wants to share their water parameters I for one would be curious to see them.

 

[Matty]

yes, you really do have too much time on your hands...hold on and ill try to get the reading out of my tank...dont think i have a kh test kit though...

 

[BrownBullhead]

Matty: I was curious to compare tap-water versus the water I have in my Tropheus 150-gallon aquarium... see this thread I just added: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=121447

 

[fishing4exotics]

Hi BrownBullhead, you might want to try using crushed coral for your substrate, if you haven't already. Cruched coral can buffer your pH to 8.0. If that is not working for you try crushed oyster shells. Adding buffers to increase your pH can produce pH swings in your tank. I have kept and bred tropheus and they do best with stable pH at around 8.0.

 

[BrownBullhead]

Isn't pH in Lake Tanganyika 9.0+++ ? Like I said my tap-water comes out at 8.0 and sometimes drops to 7.8 or 7.6 after settling... and my KH seems very high compared to alot of people who I see post on the forum, so I would imagine my buffering capacity would keep the pH just below 8.0, but I am aiming to keep it closer to 8.6+?

 

[fishing4exotics]

8.0 is good enough for your tropheus. That is probably your pH when you were breeding Kiriza colony. So, it should be fine.

 

[aaronus]

I think crushed coral and oyster shells don't keep the ph where you want it for very long.

 

[BrownBullhead]

fishing4exotics: Same buffering process (similar water parameters thereafter?) though with the SeaChem items even when the Kiriza were breeding. I am just thinking my ratio is off or something else is screwy I don't know about. My Nkonde had a near-death experience a while back where I found them all "dead" during a water change (water in the holding container had fouled extremely!) and upon placing the 19 fish back in the "fresh" setup, only 16 of 19 survived. Perhaps they were damaged during that experience?

Here is more about the near death experience...

Originally posted by BrownBullhead
Tropheus Moorii Nkonde (Near) Disaster...

The 55 which is a "temporary" setup for my (formerly) 19 T. Moorii Nkonde was accumulating waste in some tight spots, so I decided to rip it down, drain off 50% of the water and re-build it.

I moved my 19 Tropheus to a 20-gallon cooler that I always use for this sort of thing along with 15 gallons of water from the tank. I closed the cooler lid as I always do so the darkness keeps them calm and less stress.

60 minutes or so later when I finished maintenance, I opened the lid to find all 19 fish laying on their sides! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I immediately plunged in to literally grab fishes and throw them back into their proper aquarium! As I was doing so, some immediately showed more signs of life and started swimming around, although their colours are whacked out and pale! So as I watch them in the 30 minutes prior to writing this message, 2 have died. I notice the water in the cooler is very yellow!? What the heck!?

I had "vented" them during the move and I had 10 males and 9 females... not a good ratio but what the heck. This was the first time I had ever vented my fish. And now I lost two... but I haven't even taken the dead ones out yet, I am in utter disbelief at the circumstances and at myself!

Why does this happen to one's favourite fishes?

17 of them seem to be making a comeback... only time will tell!

More later...

 

[fishing4exotics]

As you know tropheus are very delicate. They can develope bloat just by being stressed. I wouldn't doubt that they were damaged during that experience.

 

[BrownBullhead]

After a few replies to that thread where I originally posted it, I surmised by writing...

Originally posted by BrownBullhead
In retrospect, there was a couple of variables from my normal routine I would have employed... I didn't insert a pump & airstone this time, and I had also closed the lid completely while I was working, thinking that i could reduce stress by eliminating light and visuals of my movements. I failed to consider the lack of oxygen / fresh air for the container. Also, I had missed a water change previously so I think my water was not so "fresh" to begin with... so all-in-all, I kind of set myself up for failure on this one!

I have had many ups-and-downs in my 7 months or so of keeping Tropheus... I am going to get around to writing about my experiences and posting them on the forum here and maybe I can save a newbie some of the troubles I have put myself through in the errors I have made keeping Tropheus.

fishing4exotics: I am guessing you are concluding that the breeding abilities of the fish concerned may have been permanently damaged or even eliminated during the process then, huh?

 

[fishing4exotics]

No, I wouldn't say that. I think your tropheus will breed when they settle down. Don't dispair. You are not the only tropheus keeper that have lost their fish. I have lost many tropheus through trial and error. And some tropheus through mistakes I have made.

What are you feeding your tropheus? I use to feed my tropheus only spirulina flakes and romain lettuce. I had my tropheus tank near a window and I let the algae grow in the tank. The tropheus loved to graze on the algae. Their natural food source.

I also added Epsom salt at 2 Tblsp/10 gallons. Epson salt helps with constipation. Helps keep them from getting bloat.

Keeping and breeding tropheus is very challenging. Hopefully you will not be discouraged.

 

[BrownBullhead]

Actually, I had never had ANY breeding in my life until Tropheus! I found my Kiriza spawned without ANY special conditioning on my behalf!

My Tropheus get a variety... Wardley Cichlid Pellets... HBH Super-8 Veggie Flakes... Nutra-Fin Spirulina Sticks... HBH Super Colour Pellets... more stuff I can't even remember.

I am planning on order a 5-lb. pail of 1-mm Cichlid Formula NLS later this month... I see everyone raving about it so I figured I would give it a try. If I buy in the 5-lb. pail, it works out cheaper-per-gram than anything I currently feed them... how can I go wrong?

And I also use "SeaChem Cichlid Salt" which I thought I mentioned earlier in the thread?

Keeping them is challenging yes... breeding, as far as the Kiriza went... no effort required in my experiences.

 

[fishing4exotics]

I would check to see what the ingredients are for the food you give your tropheus. Too much protein in their diet will cause them to have bloat. A very common problem with tropheus. Most cichlids require a good portion of protein in their diet. However, tropheus are a specialized feeder and need a diet low in protein.

 

[BrownBullhead]

Again, my concerns lay more with the fact that I was (a) feeding the same foods; and (B) adding the same buffer/salt to the water with both the Kiriza and the Nkonde... but where the Kiriza bred liek rabbits, I barely see any signs of such with the Nkonde. I did not watch pH and such at that time but I was still adding the above compounds.

I am suspecting the Kiriza had a better M/F ratio or something, because everything is pretty much the same, mind you 16 Nkonde versus 22 to 22 Kiriza... but no pesky Syno's in this setup versus the two dozen Syno before, which didn't stop the Kiriza from breeding.

Oh well, the Nkonde have only had their own private setup for 15 days or so, so I guess I will have to just keep an eye on it and see how it goes. This time around if they reproduce I am going to move the fry to the 55-gallon where they can grow without as much competition and I can keep an eye on them better.

 

[fishing4exotics]

The 16 Nkonde might not be mature enough to breed. Also, the more dominant male needs to establish his territory and the pecking order before he is ready to attract a female.