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Thread: pH problem and water problem

  1. #1
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    Angry pH problem and water problem

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    Hello all,

    My tank is about 3weeks' old, about 13litres only.
    Only a Ram, one Otocinclus and three cherry shrimps,
    which always hide inside the woodlog..
    -Temperature is about 27.
    -Co2 tablet is supplied once a day.
    -Planted with moss on woodlogs and some hairgrass.

    I think my tank's pH is really low. But i don't know what to do to increase the pH. Can anyone tell me how to increase pH?

    Firstly, my tank's water is quite yellowish and greenish.. I really don't know why.. Can someone please tell me?

    Secondly, I can see some feathery thing attached to the moss. It seems like aglae, but it's not. It's not green in colour. And everytime after i fed, fish always didn't eat. After a few hours, a mould-like ball was formed, surronding the flakes. It's still in there and unsightly. Please, someone help me with my questions.

    Thanks a lot. Billy, if you are here, please help me too. Thanks a lot.

    Alvin

  2. #2
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    Increase the pH using those commercially available pH chemicals at LFSes.

    The water is yellowish due to tannins released by your wood. It stains the water brown or yellow. As for the green colour, you might be having a slight case of greenwater.

    That feathery thing might be a aquatic weed, it looks like a string with little small balls attached to it. Grows really fast. Try to remove as much of it as you can, since it can grow back pretty quickly.

  3. #3
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    Regards

    What is your KH? I guess it will be very low. It is better to raise your PH by adding KH up, ideal will be 4KH. This is an advise from Mr Chan from NA. Log will cause the water to be more acidic. And agree to 'squee', yellowish is due the log too.

    I suppose your ram is still adjusting to the water condition. And food which is not eaten has to be removed. My advise is to remove food which is not finished in minutes.

    What is your fertilizer dosage? Any picture to illustrate your tank condition?

  4. #4
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    hi there, yea u wanna increase your ph can use those chemicals sold in LFS - i think one of them is sodium bicarbonate, it helps increase your ph. However, pls do add them slowly or your shrimps might . yeap, with shrimps in tank what ever you do, do slowly. DO you have a pic to illustrate your 'plight'?
    P.S. get some more fauna after your tank established, i think can add like 5+ more fish and 10 more shrimps also wouldnt hurt... well only hurt the pocket
    Holy is the Lord, God Almighty ! The Earth is filled with His Glory !
    90 x 50 x 50 cm tank: Eheim 2217; ANS CO2 Solenoid with 60mm intense bazooka; Zetlight 6400; Teco 500 Chiller; Borneo Wild Steel inlet/outlet
    Ferts: Dry Mixture/Dr Mallicks. Temp: 26 degrees Substrate: ADA Amazonia

  5. #5
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    another word of advise, co2 tabs do cause ph to fluctuate, the last time i added them my malayans all
    Holy is the Lord, God Almighty ! The Earth is filled with His Glory !
    90 x 50 x 50 cm tank: Eheim 2217; ANS CO2 Solenoid with 60mm intense bazooka; Zetlight 6400; Teco 500 Chiller; Borneo Wild Steel inlet/outlet
    Ferts: Dry Mixture/Dr Mallicks. Temp: 26 degrees Substrate: ADA Amazonia

  6. #6
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    Here're a couple of pictures of Alvin's tank:




    Alvin,

    I can't see any yellowish stain to your water judging from the above pictures. Are you sure it's not the wooden background that's giving you illusions?

    If there's really a yellowish stain and you really hate it, remove it using activated carbon placed in your filter. After that take it out, since activated carbon removes some vital elements needed by plants.

    You mentioned to me via MSN that you do not dose any ferts. Now you must make a choice: whether you want a "high-tech" or "low-tech" tank.

    Judging from your tank, I think low-tech will be a better option for you. Read up the sticky posted in this forum section, the article by Tom Barr. Follow his instructions explicitly. Stop adding your CO2 tablets in this case. However with this method you'll get slow growth. I assume you want fast noticeable growth with your first tank.

    If you decide to go high-tech (fast growth) then, either you have to decide which way you want to dose your fertilisers. Commercial fertilisers I like are Ferka, Seachem and ADA. If you want to save cost, dose powders like KNO3 and KH2PO4. However, this will mean you need to read up quite a bit. Tom Barr's Estimative Index is a good place to start your "powder ferts regime". You also need to invest in a good CO2 cylinder system, or at the very least DIY and not CO2 tablets.

    You also mentioned to me that there was hair algae on the moss. I wouldn't worry about it now, because the tank is just a month old. Get your moss growing and you should see it disappear.

    Your hairgrass is also planted in too large clumps. If the hairgrass is not rooted yet, pull it up and divide the clumps into two and replant them. Remove the rotting leaves as well. Hairgrass takes a period of time to settle down and start growing.

    Hope this helps. Feel free to post any additional queries. Posting them here instead of posting to MSN is much better since I can construct my answers properly and others can read up and learn and probably answer you better than I can

  7. #7
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    Hi Terence.

    I've just changed my water yesterday and now, it looks much better now!
    About low-tech tank, i really don't know. I'm still experiementing with it..
    My moss is growing well but there are hairy aglae growing on them. can anyone reading this tell me how to get rid of it?

    About the CO2 tablet, i am still putting in. After i put in, then i realised that my moss starts to grow. Don't know. maybe it's just coincident that the day i put CO2 tablet, on that day, it starts to grow. But cannot be, because the growth of moss is significant and can be seen. It's evident.

    Thanks a lot for posting the picture up for me. Now, i'm still waiting for shrimps to appear.. They have not been out of the driftwoods for about 1 week. Don't know if my RAMS eat them for snacks..

    All right for now. I'll reply after my exams. Anything, reader, please add to this thread. It will be very useful for me and i'll be happy and glad to read from your experience. Thanks a lot.

    Alvin

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