Need help with water quality

J

jlspartz

New Fish
#1
Jun 2, 2010
5
0
0
#1
I've been trying to get my water right for about a month. The water here is generally hard from the tap and high ph. I adjust the water from there. The issue seems to be that everything has stabilizers in it, so I can't change the ph because the kh is way too high. Anyway, it's at around 7.5 right now, which isn't going to kill my fish (it's a community fish tank), but it's not the best. I've tried everything to lower the ph, nothing works, because of the kh. Don't know how to change that or if that is something to leave alone when fish are in it.

The other thing is that I read peat is a better filter and keeps lower ph and softens water, which are my two problems. So I'm filtering with peat, and then all of a sudden my tank goes from 0 nitrates to 80. :eek: Now what? My corys are doing good with that. I did a water change and used nitraban, but I don't think it's going to be enough.

How do I fix the water?
What medias should I use for filtration?

By the way, it's a 35 gallon tank and no live plants.
 

anshuman

anshuman

Large Fish
#2
Nov 16, 2009
686
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Mumbai India
#2
are you sure peat cause the nitrate spike? did you keep doing the water change as you were doing earlier?

I am soon going to add driftwood and even some peat in my killifish tank and now your post has got me worrying about nitrates.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#3
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
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36
#3
I've used peat moss to soften water, and have never noticed any changes in nitrates. Not sure how to explain a 0 to 80 reading...If the tank was cycled, you should have had SOME nitrates to start with.

jlspartz - is there a reason you want to lower the pH of your tap water? Most fish are highly adapable and can live in something outside of neutral pH.
 

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rmusicpixie

Small Fish
#4
May 7, 2010
19
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#4
My 55 gallon tank is stable at 80 nitrate and 7.6 ph. I did add live plants to the tank which brought the nitrates from 160 to 80 in about a week. All fish are healthy and hardy. I plan to get more live plants to try and lower that nitrate level a little more. I dont have many fish yet but the 11 I have in there are doing great and heading out for cory cats and a betta today then next week I think glowfish.

Good Luck there are a lot of people with a lot of advise on this forum and they have all helped me greatly as I had 4 months of trying to get my tank stable with everything and the last one was the nitrate.
 

J

jlspartz

New Fish
#5
Jun 2, 2010
5
0
0
#5
I was trying to lower the ph to 7.0 just because that would then give the best range for a community tank, but after trying everything I just thought they will adapt - no huge issue, but would like to know how to get it to change if I need to later.

As far as the nitrates, I usually do a 1/3 water change every two weeks. I put the peat in 2 weeks ago and did a test before doing a water change yesterday. Within just that time it went from 0 to 80. There were fish that were added (a few small ones compared to the tank size) and a little bit of pet store water, but those were the only changes. The peat turned the water into a more natural yellowish tint.

Here's what was posted on another board regarding the color but no mention of nitrates:

"I recently filled the bottom tray of my fluval 305 with peat granuals inside filter bags, it lowered my ph from 7.6 to ~7.2 over a few weeks. but I am pretty unhappy with how yellow it turns my water. I do 30% water changes with 50/50 tapwater (~140 ppm) and distilled water. And it looks beautiful for 2-3 days and then it starts getting really yellow. My rams do seem pretty happy though."

I checked this morning and after the water change and nitraban it looks to read about 60. Should I be looking to do live plants and put in driftwood to lower the nitrates naturally?
 

J

jlspartz

New Fish
#6
Jun 2, 2010
5
0
0
#6
Rmusicpixie, I missed your post before I posted. Looks like the live plants is working for you. Is 7.5 ph ok for live plants? Do I need a special light? Do you feed them with CO2 tabs?
 

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