Changing water parameters

[Grae]

Hi everyone
I'm in need of some help here if you may

I am setting up a tank suitable for Apistos.(I am looking at Triple red cacs, but like Mike says its a tough getting any over here)
Any way i am struggling to get my Ph down.
The water where i live is coming out of the tap at
7.6ph
gh 100ppm
kh is 50 ppm.
Not really the best for apistos. I don't want to have to go for RO water so was looking at some of Seachems range.
They have a Acid buffer and a Acid regulator.Has anyone any experience with either of these?
I appreciate any comments or tips.
Thanks a heap

Graeme

[Th0mas]

Graeme,

You shouldn't need to worry about the condition of the tank as the current water parameter should be fine with cacs. This species is one of the most forgiving one, as long as the water is around neutral and hardness isn't too high, then they should be fine (Unless you want to spawn them, then bring the pH down slightly to 6.5).

Back to the technical bit. With pH down product, watch out for ingredient that contain phosphate. This is something you don't want as phosphate will trigger algae problem.

I've had experiencewith the Saechem's acid buffer in the past (one that comes in pink/purple granule, but not any more) and it never has phosphate (not sure of the current one as they're now in white form).

The best way I've found is peat, although it will tan your water. Peat will also drop your hardness but will take longer to be effective. I've got some Sera peat granule (also bought many years ago, Sera has relabelled their peat since and not sure if they're the same) and they're great. Just pack them into a nylon stocking (around fist size) give it a rinse and place it against or near the outlet of your filter. It'll take a week or two for it to work the pH and hardness down.


Thomas.

Hi everyone
I'm in need of some help here if you may

I am setting up a tank suitable for Apistos.(I am looking at Triple red cacs, but like Mike says its a tough getting any over here)
Any way i am struggling to get my Ph down.
The water where i live is coming out of the tap at
7.6ph
gh 100ppm
kh is 50 ppm.
Not really the best for apistos. I don't want to have to go for RO water so was looking at some of Seachems range.
They have a Acid buffer and a Acid regulator.Has anyone any experience with either of these?
I appreciate any comments or tips.
Thanks a heap

Graeme

[Grae]

I would like to have some success with getting these guys to spawn.

This tank is pretty heavily planted with Crypts and java fern.I add phosphate to my planted tank and realise that out of whack algae can and will bloom.
Peat seems like a option.Will i need to buffer the water to replace kh or gh?
thanks for your time Thomas

Graeme

[fishgeek]

grae your water will be fine for cacatoides

no you dont need to add buffer, thats the whole point of apsito water it has very little buffer , and presumably why you were asking about R/O

other ways to reduce kH are boiling, carbonates will precipate out as limescale

distilation , or prehaps if you are fortunate you could use evaporation and concdensation in the australian sun
might be fun to try on a small scale and see aht effect it has , in theory i would have thought pretty pure water
otherwise both these last two are very energy intense

then there is all your ion exchange resins, peat fits in here kind of
and lastly filtering

i think seachem used to claim something about the kH being convertd to CO2 , or am i dreaming now
if i'm not muddled i believe it is a useful product

andrew

[steph]

peat is the best option, I have used Seachems acid buffer in the past but really tannic acid (peat, wood, etc) is the best and a overall cheaper option.

Interestingly the DATZ book mentions tannins as having an anti-microbial effect which impacts on egg production and survival and is the best for lowering pH.

Take out any charcoal from the filters too.

Another option is one of those ADA substrates that was mentioned a while back, bit on the pricey side tho.

Water changes with rainwater if you can be sure its clean and not too many particles in it is also good. My fish seem to like it

Steph

[kevkoi]

I don't know about that ADA option being expensive. I actually think it's way more economical....

1x 3L bag of ADA Amazonia soil = $27.95.

This should be enough for say a 2ft tank for Apistogramma and will permanently buffer the water, drop the kH and pH to 6 and let the tank remain crystal clear. One addition of ADAsoil will be good enough to last 5 years. No buggering around with adding enough acid or tinkering with pH and kH.

[Robdog]

With the ADA soils there are a few grade sizes. If you were after a more sandy substrate, would the powder be the best option?? or would I still have to mix it with some of the coarser stuff???

[kevkoi]

There's just ADA Aquasoil and ADA Aquasoil powder.

Both do the same thing in regards to altering the water parameters, but the powder is substantially more expensive. - $45.95/3L bag of powder compared to $27.95/3Lbag of soil.

[Grae]

I have read each of these posts
Thanks to everyone for their time

I have decided to go with the ADA substrate option.
There is a few reasons for this.
The first being it seams to be the easiest of them.lol
its also will look good and i do like my plants to grow well so thats a plus
And lastly my apistos didn't come in as expected.......... (i now know how Mike feels.) so i will strip the tank down, change the substrate and start waiting again.
Thanks everyone once again

Graeme