90 Litre Planted Tank Log

[lurch1000]

Loads indeed. It's a good sign.

Do you have soft water by any chance?

[TropicalFishForums]

[Euphoria]

I think my water is soft, I live in Lancashire but Im not sure how soft.

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[Euphoria]

I looked online and it shows a map of the uk and my area is highlighted as a "moderately hard to hard water" area so it isnt soft :P

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[lurch1000]

Oh Lancashire? Comes out the tap like feathers for most places I think!
 Put your post code in to your local water authority's website, they'll tell you. Piker is Wigan way, and his is soft iirc.

Hope you're going for a nice softwater set up, many South of the line that runs from York to Birmingham are jealous of us softwater lot

[kiathepooch]

Im in lancasire and my water comes up as soft to very soft...united utilities have the results under the "my water" bit of the site.

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[Euphoria]

Thanks Kia, I just found it

Il link what It showed, Have no idea about anything else other than the top line lol


Hardness Level   Very Soft      
Hardness Clarke   1.225      Clarke
Aluminium   <30.9   200   µg Al/l
Calcium   3.90   0   mg Ca/l
Residual chlorine - Total   0.65   0   mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free   0.60   0   mg/l
Coliform bacteria   0   0   number/100ml
Colour   1.08   20   mg/l Pt/Co scale
Conductivity   121   2500   uS/cm at 20oC
Copper   0.0083   2   mg Cu/l
E.coli   0   0   number/100ml
Iron   <12.7   200   µg Fe/l
Lead   <41.2   25   µg Pb/l
Magnesium   1.65   0   mg Mg/l
Manganese   <5.22   50   µg Mn/l
Nitrate   <1.55   50   mg NO3/l
Sodium   20.8   200   mg Na/l

[Euphoria]

Ive done my second 50% water change for the day... and my PH shows about 7.6 so im back in the safe zone for now. My ammonia is at 0, shall i dose to 1 ppm? or 2 maybe?

[lurch1000]

I can't remember the translation of Clark degrees, but you have very little GH and KH! I'd possibly suggest a little bag of coral gravel in your filter! Just get the KH up a bit to stabilise the pH.

Did it have a specific entry for carbonate or Calcium carbonate?

As for ammonia dosing, if your nitrites post-change are above 1ppm, just do 1ppm of ammonia for now. Maybe an idea to do that anyway, then see where your nitrites are tomorrow.

[Euphoria]

Thank you, I just dosed to 1 ppm. I just need to get the nitrites down, I will test for them in the morning though. Does GH and KH have a connection with co2 levels in the water? I looked on the website again and it doesnt give a reading for carbonates only calcium

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[lurch1000]

Don;t worry about CO2 levels at all, you'll not have too much unless you have a CO2 injection kit.

Good surface agitation or an airstone to keep the water oxygenated is good, KH will have an effect on your pH insofar that as your KH goes down, your pH will follow it. Bicarbonate of soda will help a lot. 1/2tsp of the stuff per 50l or so while cycling.

If you ever want to test your KH, the only test that will be able to do it is the Salifert one, don't buy the API, JBL or Nutrafin ones (or any one that gives 1 drop per degree of hardness) as it won't tell you enough. Salifert resolves to 0.3dKH.

[Euphoria]

Ok I was going to make my own co2 kit in the next few months. Before I buy a diffuser and a bubble counter il buy a test kit for the KH. I will buy some soda tomorrow so I can keep ontop of random PH drops, i have no idea how long this cycle is going to take lol it seems abit extreme these past few days with the water parameters. I have a U2 filter and have a good airflow at the surface so my water is good for oxygen, theres always little bubbles in the tank

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[lurch1000]

You will need to get your KH to 3 or 4 if you're going to add CO2 as the addition of it will bring down your pH. You'll also need to knock off the surface agitation when you have CO2 as it'll drive the CO2 out the water. Just have an airstone that comes on at night. It's only worth CO2 if you have quite a few plants. A Salifert kit is the way forwards for your KH test definitely. They're about £7. Get some coral gravel to raise your GH and KH, if you don't want to buy a big bag, I can send you some for the postage costs may be able to get it in to a large letter jiffy bag so it'll be no more than a quid. Anyway, it's worth popping open a thread nearer the time you do plan to get it.

When you buy the bicarb, don't buy baking powder though! It's got extra ingredients!

[Euphoria]

Thanks il bear that in mind. I do have quite a few plants and they have grown quite alot in a week..so maybe I wont need co2 injection. If i dont increase my gh and kh my ph will remain unstable perminately or will this get better after my cycle? Il get soda and not powder

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[lurch1000]

Your plants will explode in to life and growth with CO2 and ferts!

Your tank may stay stable, test the KH, if it's below 2, then a teaspoon's worth of coral gravel will help buffer it a tad. My Betta tank was at pH 6.8 and KH 1.6, and the pH crashed in that. There comes a danger when you get plant mulm that it can cause the pH to slip (think that's what happened in mine).

[Euphoria]

I do use Nutrafin Plant gro, i put in 13 ml every week. I have some bladder snails and the fert I use has 0.0005% copper so I might be ok with getting some shrimps. I agree that my tank will look better with co2, shame my water has low values and it couldnt of been a quick set up the co2 kit and away you go job. :P

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