sponge. it's a sponge filter
can rocks cause ph spike?
I brought this together with some moss tied on it from a shop. You can see some of the moss scattered on the floor of the first pic (tree pic)
I'm removing this rock for the night as well. Gonna test pH tomorrow to check if this is the culprit.
Please provide information like the size of your tank, your filter media and your water change methods (ie, how much water changed, water treatment, frequency)
Your soil should have smacked your pH down by now if you haven't done any water changes lately.. Need more information before we can figure out what's going on.
Also, try to do the test again.. rinse your test tube with tap water to clean it of any possible contaminants, then rinse it in the tank water to ensure that no tap water is still in there to mess with the reading (liquid required is only 5ml, so even a few drops will skew the results) then do the test again.
I remember when I did the test on Alexhcp's tank, the first one read 6.4 .. then 7.6 ... then I decided to clean the test tube thoroughly and finally got 2 consecutive 6.0 readings.
Yeah just like what bro ecalyte said , you have to rinse your test tube with the water you are going to test with once before adding another 5ml and then carry out the actual test.
that rock look like a lava rock..shouldn't have much problem..
just follow bro ecalyte's question and answer them thoroughly..he will be able to solve your problem..he's the pro aha..
Last edited by reiner09; 14th Dec 2011 at 01:20.
Aspiring to be.
Hmm I'm thinking of using the same soil Fox is using: GEX shrimp and plants soil.
Either that or Advanced Soil (for plants) cos I still have alot leftover from my previous tank set-up.
What do u think?
I see some guppy grass in the tank...you need to add more fast growing plants. I suggest Frogbit again for obvious reasons.
If you have nitrite, you probably still have ammonia.
pH looks much higher than 7.6 (the limit of your kit) as its even darker than the 7.6 blue. I know gex soil is not very lasting in terms of pH lowering, but this is unnatural. Did you put any coral based things in the tank?
Search post regarding those soil, like review and all. I think should be ok ba. But not the bestOriginally Posted by gid
In the process of learning. painful but fun!
still learning the hard way!!
I removed the metal bowl and rock yesterday night - will do a water test again tonight.
Will be doing a 20% distilled water change too. How long do I need to wait after water change to do testing?
Will provide measurement for my tank too.
As for plants, I would like some foreground carpet plants - any suggestions? Correct me if I'm wrong - Mosses don't usually take in Nitrate as good as fast growing plants yea?
Floating plants like frogbit
In the process of learning. painful but fun!
still learning the hard way!!
You're right, mosses are slow growing plants and hence take in less Nitrates. Wait an hour or so before you do your next pH test to ensure that the water is mixed in. I also recommend LIFE distilled water, the pH is 6.0-6.3 on these bottles.
He asked for suggestion on foreground carpet plants, and you say floating plants like frogbit. Seriously?
Just giving a suggestion
In the process of learning. painful but fun!
still learning the hard way!!
No problem both, I guess I need fast growing plants to control the Nitrate too - Frogbit might be the solution..
Unless I can achieve the best of both worlds - A Nitrate-hungry + foreground plant.. does such thing exist?
That's like someone asking you what type of chicken to cook for Christmas, and then you suggest pork-loin.
Anyhow shoot is your style.
All plants will eat nitrate. As long as you keep your tank heavily planted, you don't have to worry about Nitrates. In fact, you might need to start dosing them to maintain the plant health.
Any type of background plants (preferably stem) are nitrate happy. So if you're in the business of keeping your tank looking nice and scape-ey then you'll be fineJust don't spam your tank with ferns as they're not very good with sucking nitrates unless you fill 50% of your tank with them haha!
Ok one more thing, I kinda didn't realise this was going to be a shrimp tank. So you're after plants that can grow well without CO2. Stay away from plants with red leaves. If you want some red in your tank, go for Cryptocoryne Wendtii var. 'Tropica'. Not really red, but they have a dark reddish hue. I have these guys in my shrimp tank with New Amazonia substrate without CO2, and LED light. They're growing fantastic.
Thanks Ecalyte for the suggestions!
Actually I'm more of a minimalist, but I guess I can stuff some corners with stem plants. And yes, I don't wanna inject CO2. =]
I'm actually getting a mesh of Layer Moss from a bro later.. hopefully it will lower the nitrates!
Today's report card
- pH dropped drastically after the removal of metal dish and rock. One problem solved.
- Nitrite dropped too - maybe coz I followed Ecalyte's advice to rinse the test tube in tank water..
- Nitrate remained the same - I have introduced a mesh of Layer Moss.. hopefully can see a different result tomorrow.. What is an acceptable NO3 reading? I know the perfect condition is 0ppm..
And this is the measurement of my tank.. any kind bro can help me interpret? School only taught me cm. -.-
You probably wont see much change in nitrate levels tomorrow either...if you see a huge drop then it is a miracle that one mesh of moss could be so efficient.. usually to rid of nitrates,you have to carry out water change.. you should be safe if nitrate levels is kept below 20ppm
Your tank at most is a 1ft tank only..
Aspiring to be.
today nitrate dropped to 40ppm.
pH and nitrite remained at 6 and 0ppm respectively.
Tried starving the shrimps for 2 days.. end up 1 cherry and 1 crs died.
Temperature: 27 degrees. No fan no chiller.
Err, I dun think your shrimps die of starvation cause got moss inside your tank. Shrimp do eat micro organism growing on the moss. Even without feeding they still can survive for 2weeks.
Maybe by malnutrition, but unlikely. Just a thought. I hope the thought counts.
still learning the hard way!!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks