Southerrrngirrl

new tank is all up and running now, have added the fish and again the pH is going up.. It's at about 7.0 last night, tested last week at about 6.8. No ammonia, 5.0ppm or less of nitrate, no nitrites, haven't done kh & gh yet, will do that tonight. Should I really be worrying about this? If the ph can stay at 7.0 well then thats the perfect ph for a community tank right?? Fish are incredibly active, eating well and behaving normally.

How big is your tank?? I'd be pointing the finger at the rainbow shark too.. he/she may have a particularly nasty streak. I have a rainbow shark too, but never noticed any eyes missing from my tetras.

Yes that was the plan Spidersweb!

I have been reading up on these fish and did a quick calculation of how much the fish would be at maximum size 114cm.

Oh centimetres sorry!

Haven't tested gh & kh (didn't have time this morning) planning on doing it tonight. I've tested the water at night and morning it still seems to be the same.

Thinking about what to stock the new tank with. It's an AR850 155 litres Dimensions are: 82W x 44D x 58H I currently have to add: 1 rainbow shark 3 Silvertip tetras 4 black neon tetras Was thinking I could boost the tetras to six of each then get: 6 more tetras (glowlight or cardinal) 3 peppered corys 3 bronze corys 3 Honey gouramis 2 ottos Too much? Not enough?? Any potential conflict?? Cheers

Tested the tap water this morning it was 6.8-7.0 (as it normally is). I tested the other tank that has tetras in it, and it was higher too, around 7.2 The filters I have are the ones, that have the white stuff on top and inside it is white stones and the other is the same but with black stones (I assume thats the carbon one). I did some shifting around of filter media between three tanks (to try to introduce some bacteria to the new tank). Thats the only thing that I have changed in the tanks. I don't know if the tank is heavily aerated.. its just a normal AR380 setup. My water is quite soft, and someone said that because its soft its prone to pH changes?? Maybe thats whats happening? I've just never seen it do this before..

Thanks for clearing that up Bill. I was told by the LFS that it is fully submersible. I'm going to check the instructions for that too, just in case it isn't.

Yes, I will just get an automatic feeder. Wok gave me a link to a place that sells them for a pretty good price.

Oh man, do I have a lot to learn or what? So what you're saying Bill that the heater operates better horizontally NOT vertically?? This contradicts the operating instructions that came with the heater! :-? However, I've never had any problems in the past with heating, although my tanks have never been this large.. Land_lubber, never thought of that!

I've tested it already.. ok well not lately. but last time I tested it (about a week ago) it was pretty neutral.. 6.8-7.0. Our tap water is from a tank that collects rain water so I guess its possible that something has got in the tank, but if that was the case, the water in the other tank would be high too, which its not. But I'll check just to make sure.

Hey Ainz Just curious as to exactly how many fish you have in your 160 litre tank?

Thats what I thought too. The plants have been in there for months, as has everything else. Apart from the new filters of course. But they are the same ones I've been using since I've had the tanks.. cannot understand it at all. The fish seems to be happy though, I am closely monitoring the pH, but really want to get the new tank set up for him as quickly as possible. Perhaps I should do daily water changes to keep the pH down??

Thanks Bill.. I wasn't really taking it as a rule, but that was the only word I came up with at the time. So, using the "basic guideline" the heater we have is a 200 watt heater, and we have 160 max, so that should be sufficient. The tank is in the lounge, which is usually heated throughout the day. This tank is a little different than the ones I've had before. Instead of the water being sucked through the filter and trickled out along the width of the tank, its sucked through the filter, filtered then exits via a pipe at the opposite end of the tank. Which made me think I should put the heater there. But there is nowhere to put the cord out that end and if we did it this way, the hood would not sit correctly on the tank. Might have to experiment with this, I suppose I could do modifications?

Have been keeping an eye on the tank and the pH has been climbing up again, tested at about 7.2 last night? I remembered that I had replaced one of the old filter cartridges with a new one out of the new tank we purchased (so I could introduce the bacteria into the new tank) - could this be the cause??

Thanks for the warning Bill.. I didn't give it a second thought. But Invercargill is bigger than most people would think. And I haven't said exactly when I'm going to be going away Mail will be ok, we'll have DH's boss collect that.

Ahh.. thanks Wok - didn't know there was a "rule" as such.

Turns out getting a crack in our new 65 litre tank was a good thing, we've decided to upgrade to an even larger tank - 160 litres apparently. Its an Aqua One, not quite sure what model, my husband is sorting it out. But what size heater does it need, we bought a new heater for the 65 litre tank, I think it was 200 watt, will this be sufficient for the new 160 litre tank??

Ok so its probably a new plastic thing and nothing to worry about.. thanks!

Kit is probably about a year old? there is an ornament plastic type one, no shells though. Can't retest it now, siphoned most of it out and replaced it with water from the bigger tank

I discovered slimey whiteish stuff around the suction cups of the heater and on the decorations of the new tank.. what is this? is it bad?

Grrr.. not happy. Our new tank seems to have developed a crack in the glass at the back. So its going back to the shop, and hopefully being replaced. We've moved all the fish back to their original tiny tanks. We still had the tank (that we had the rainbow shark in) going, as it has live plants in it. Just before we put him in I tested the water and the results were interesting. the pH test water turned VERY blue, bluer than I've ever seen test water go before. So I did a high ph test and that went purple. I'm not all that familar with the high ph test, but compared to the little card it says the water is around 8.4??? When I removed the fish like a week ago the water tested neutral, around 6.8-7.0. How on earth has this happened? I haven't done anything else to the water, just took the fish out?

I don't know, I don't think my parents would do that JUST to feed the fish.. its way out of their way and, well they are very conservative and don't like to use the car very much especially the way the petrol prices are now.. There are plants in there from the old tank, maybe they could munch on those for a while? I think an auto feeder would be the best option, we do go away a couple of times a year.. so it might be worth getting one.

Its only a reasonably small tank - 65 litres, been set up for about 3 weeks now, with seven tetras and a rainbow shark.