Using water direct from the tap during PWC. What do you think?

[jkcs]

The method can work with both hang-on filters and canister filters too, since the media chambers of both types of filtration are positioned outside of the tank and usually switched off during water changes anyways.

thank you sir!

[nervagent]

There are many other brands of dechlorinator products that can also be used... just that Seachem Prime is a tried and tested product, so if got any issues its easy to refer to other user experiences and get solutions.

sry to hijack post, my tank is currently cycling (only 4days) added 1 cap full of seachem prime as prescribed on the bottle on the first day. Just did a water test today and Ph is still around 7.5-8 zone, should I add more to try and neutralize it, or let the chemical continue to take its course and the Ph will increase to 7 over time?

[Urban Aquaria]

sry to hijack post, my tank is currently cycling (only 4days) added 1 cap full of seachem prime as prescribed on the bottle on the first day. Just did a water test today and Ph is still around 7.5-8 zone, should I add more to try and neutralize it, or let the chemical continue to take its course and the Ph will increase to 7 over time?

Seachem Prime just dechlorinates the water and neutralises heavy metals... it does not have any direct effect on pH.

[Filet-O-Fish]

sry to hijack post, my tank is currently cycling (only 4days) added 1 cap full of seachem prime as prescribed on the bottle on the first day. Just did a water test today and Ph is still around 7.5-8 zone, should I add more to try and neutralize it, or let the chemical continue to take its course and the Ph will increase to 7 over time?

Hi,
Why are so fixated with Ph at such an early stage of cycling?
If you to a good product to hasten the cycling process, try API's QuickStart.

http://www.apifishcare.com/product.p...8#.VaZTtfmqpBc

Cheers

[Bern C]

sry to hijack post, my tank is currently cycling (only 4days) added 1 cap full of seachem prime as prescribed on the bottle on the first day. Just did a water test today and Ph is still around 7.5-8 zone, should I add more to try and neutralize it, or let the chemical continue to take its course and the Ph will increase to 7 over time?

If I didn't remember wrongly, nitrifying bacteria do the best at ph 7-8 and stop/slow multiplying around 6 or below. Your ph is best for nitrifying bacteria to grow.

[Urban Aquaria]

sry to hijack post, my tank is currently cycling (only 4days) added 1 cap full of seachem prime as prescribed on the bottle on the first day. Just did a water test today and Ph is still around 7.5-8 zone, should I add more to try and neutralize it, or let the chemical continue to take its course and the Ph will increase to 7 over time?

Seachem Prime just dechlorinates the water and neutralises heavy metals... it does not have any direct effect on pH.

Just curious, are you asking for your 2ft tank that is currently using HELP soil in this thread?
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...-tank-(2-feet)

By right the soil itself should be buffering the pH lower, it's quite strange that your pH is still high (unless the soil already lost its buffering ability, which would be quite surprising). Any other items you can think of in the tank that may be pushing up the pH at this time?

[nervagent]

UA you are right. My ph is below 7 atm. Sry my mistake. So how do i bump it up from 6 to 7?

[Urban Aquaria]

UA you are right. My ph is below 7 atm. Sry my mistake. So how do i bump it up from 6 to 7?

Okay in that case, for your tank using the HELP soil, its a normal effect, the soil should be buffering the pH between 6-7 (usually lower in the acidic range) to create a more favorable environment for plant growth.

At this point in time during the tank cycling period, the pH and other parameters will be fluctuating up and down, so don't try to do or add anything to manipulate the pH further, that will just complicate the water conditions (intentionally increasing the pH would "fight" against the soil's natural characteristic to lower pH, so its counterproductive and can exhaust the soil buffering ability quicker).

Once your tank is cycled, the pH should naturally settle to a stable level, usually around 6.4-6.8 (depending on the soil's buffering ability and lifespan).

[Filet-O-Fish]

soil's buffering ability and lifespan).

UA
What the life span of ADA's AquaSoil?

[Filet-O-Fish]

Just an update:
Did the PWC using water direct from the tap. Found the whole process almost effortless for adding some 150 litres of fresh water.
So many tubs and containers out of the way now.

The only downside, my chiller has to work twice as long to bring the temp to 26 c from 28.5 c

[Urban Aquaria]

UA
What the life span of ADA's AquaSoil?

From my experience using and re-using ADA Amazonia aquasoil, it can usually buffer the pH and kH for a few years.

The are many other factors that can affect the overall buffering lifespan though... can be longer if the water conditions in the tank have been kept soft and acidic (ie. using low TDS source water, has high organic content, have wood or leaves that release tannins etc)... or could be shorter of the tank uses high TDS source water or contains alot of rocks releasing minerals that raise pH and GH (the soil need to fight against those factors and exhaust quicker).

[Filet-O-Fish]

From my experience using and re-using ADA Amazonia aquasoil, it can usually buffer the pH and kH for a few years.

The are many other factors that can affect the overall buffering lifespan though... can be longer if the water conditions in the tank have been kept soft and acidic (ie. using low TDS source water, has high organic content, have wood or leaves that release tannins etc)... or could be shorter of the tank uses high TDS source water or contains alot of rocks releasing minerals that raise pH and GH (the soil need to fight against those factors and exhaust quicker).

Thanks for the useful info. :-)