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Im not sure.. we live just out of town - out enough that we are in a seperate town and I am relativly certain we are not on town supply, and the LFS who tested it did say that they have alot of problems with inconsistent water out here. Each time ive measured the pH from the tap its as yellow as my kit went, when i got it tested at my LFS they did say that its incredible and its not exactly a believeable result, however I did want to add to the thread advising I too, cannot trust my water - at least on that tap :-? Thanks

Hey all, ive taken quite a liking to Discus fish recently, and just want some ideas / tips / reccommendations on how to keep them, food, filtration, w/c frequency, tank size, substrate, lighting, heating, ph, hardness, plants, tankmates, etc I have read the thread that was recently posted however im after some slightly more specific answers I know most of the info can be found on the net but there seem to be alot of variance out there, is there anyone who has it all tried and true? Thanks and if this is in the wrong place please move it cheers

Wow! Sorry to hear that! I too have had problems with the water out of my tap, not ammonia, but pH. One tap (the one in the kitchen) comes out, constantly at exactly 7.0, I moved the tank to the other side of the house (we had algae problems where it was, too much sun), and as a result started using the tap in the garage. After a week of constant waterchanges because of fish gasping, showing general signs of uncomfortability, and getting annoyed with constant low ph levels, i did a test on the water in the tap - the lowest my pH test kit would go is 6, however it was as yellow as humanly possible.. I took in a test tube to my LFS so they could do a test on the pH with a low range kit, and it came out at 3.5ish, they couldnt believe it! i couldnt believe it! Morale of the story - i now test my tap water monthly - and only use the one tap that has consistant good results..

great thank you!! :bounce:

Hey guys, i was in the middle of trying to treat my fish for whitespot when my diyco2 leaked into my tank, now thats that cleared up ive decided i need to restart the treatment for whitespot, my lfs threw me a bottle of "Wunder white spot cure" that was incredibly cheap (seven dollars or so for a 50ml bottle) First the components of my setup ar620t tank bubblepump cf1200 filter with stock media ar620t filter (turned off while treating as the filter pads for this have activated carbon in them) now my LFS advised that when i first treat the tank add one drop per litre of water, when i did this it turned the tank green (happy for the first time about it being green haha), however the green had faded to crystal clear within two days, the bottle advises to redose (half the amount) on the third day and do a 50% w/c if they are showing signs of stress - today is the 2nd day since the restart of the treatment, and already the water is almost back to crystal - aparantly the tank should stay green for atleast 7days. the stock media in the cf1200 are : white filter wool, ceramic noodles, and bioballs. - no carbon as far as im aware? has anyone had a similar experience to this? im worried that the treatment is inneffective as my one loach that is left seems to be getting progressively more spots.. i know its not a good idea to keep one however im not keen on adding more loaches in while he has it as they are prone to whitespot? any ideas / feedback would be great, just a thought, will the lights affect the treatment? ' Thanks to all that can help

brute force and ignorance prevails everytime 8) :lol: 8) :lol:

yeah i was given two, one had whitespot really bad (i didnt realise what it was) and was treating them when this happened, the one with whitespot died friday im looking at getting another three to keep the numbers a bit happier problem is ive got to get my tank together again so ive got enough room as for adding carbon to the filter the ar620t filter system has carbon in the replaceable filter bits if im not mistaken? thanks for everyones input

**UPDATE** water is still cloudy, however no casulties overnight everbody (except my clownloach) is eating like normal, however im struggling to get my loach to eat... (not a new problem) thanks for everyones help! is there anything else i should do? is another w/c reccommended to clear up the water or should i leave it for a while? Thanks Again :lol:

ok, thanks i might turn the lights out and see how they are in the morning.

ooo i didnt think about that, i think possibly about a cup, its hard to tell, all the levels of the two bottles looked normalish before i blew all the stuff out of the lines. What kind of damage would you think it would do? ive got a aqua one cf1200 and the normal ar620t filters going at the moment, thinking about putting in some pond aquaclear stuff to try and clear it up a bit? the fish have come down and their breathing has gone back to normal, however they are normally put to "bed" by now so some are starting to go to the bottom (the female sword has gone to sleep)

ive got a airpump in there, and ive got the 90cm flexi hose in there at the moment, ive just moved it while i did the water change so it actually bubbles properly (it was quite crap before even on max) but now its bubbling away quite happily, im in the process of rebuilding my old tank after it exploded... so in short no spare tank

great, ill go do one now and report back my outcome, thanks alot for your help

ummm.... it would probably be approx 2weeks... ive gotten lazy with replacing the mixture :-? - would that be enough to require another 50% change? thanks

Hey all, looks like the cats got interested and knocked the coke bottles that have my homemade co2 in them over, as a result my tank was extremely cloudy, I did a 50% water change, now the fish were ok but have started gasping for air, one of the tigerbarbs (whos always been little and is obv being bullied (he had next to no tail) died.. the others, like i say have been gasping for air, should i do another water change? quite depressing any ideas that would be great, thanks

I second this

Thanks A-town, theyr my pride and joy oh thats good to hear about the tiger barbs, it just sort of came on and worried me alittle bit! Thanks!!

Couldnt get a nice photo so took a video instead, makes it heaps easier Hmm it appears that one of the other tigers is starting to get the same lump... also their fins have been chewed back, i need to get them some more barbs - theres only three at the moment.. thanks and hope the vid helps

Hey all, i noticed one of my tigerbarbs is unusually fat at the front of him, just under his mouth right back to his fins at the bottom (the frontmost ones), by fat i mean it looks like a growth, he looks so out of place, should i be worried or is this semi normal? im trying to take pics.. hehe thanks

wooo, I havnt noticed that! but they do look a bit greener and seem to be happier, its starting to keep the pH in check too, found something interesting today, I recently moved my tank and as a result i now use a different tap in the house for water changes, the water out of this tap is yellow (aprox 6.1-6.2) when i test it with the ph kit, when i test my old tap its pretty much bang on 7.0! Breakaway would there be any chance of getting a co2 unit ordered with yours? when are you looking at getting it?

ouch!! wow $120 seems really cheap then, sorry im new to this, what do you mean by "pearling"? When are you looking at getting in this system? is that $120 etc including freight? and what extras are needed? Cheers

Thats the plan and I haven't even changed the bottle yet, its enough of a struggle to keep the bottle warm - i only have one heater so putting a heater in a bucket isn't a reasonable option... Will be looking for a "cheapish" co2 setup once I see how this one works, at the moment its not working too well, I think i have the hole into the intake too low so the water pressure is pushing the co2 back down the pipe till it builds up enough... that or i have a very minor leak.. Or its dissolving into the water without needing to be smashed around by the filter? Anyway the system looks great and seems to be working okish whenever i look, how long before I should start noticing a change?

Hey all, I decided I like my plants too much to let them get a little brown so I decided to try a co2 generator.. Ive read a few horror stories about bottles exploding etc and about how its bad to put co2 into the tank overnight, so I figured out a way to keep it tidy and still functional.. Parts List 1x 2.25 Litre Coke Bottle 1x Pump Bottle 1x Coke Bottle lid 3x metres of air hose 1x 4way gang-valve (and a hacksaw 8) ) 1x tube of aquarium safe silicone 1x check-valve Tools Hacksaw, Drill Misc Drill bits Side-cutters Method : Drill one hole in the top of the 2.25 litre bottle lid, run one end of the air hose into the end of this, silicone it in place on both sides - good way to get the inside to set is just to fill it up, wait till it gets quite tacky, then screw it onto the bottle, the bottle cuts where it needs to go and the rest of the silicone shapes into the lid better for a better seal later Drill 2x holes in the other lid, run the piece of air-hose out of the coke bottle right down to the bottom through one of the holes, and run the rest of the hose out of the 2nd hole in the lid to the check-valve (by the tank) Connect the check valve the correct way around (pointing into the tank) to the pump bottle hose. **Note at this stage you need to cut the 4way gang-valve in half (or just use a 2way with inlet) and cap off the cut end so no air can exit.** From the other side of the check valve run the hose to the inlet of you're now "2way" gang valve One outlet of the gang-valve can just have a short length of air-hose attached to it as a vent, The other outlet goes to the intake of the filter.. Now the way this works, is when the co2 goes into the inlet of the gang valve, you can open the first outlet, and close the 2nd, this will let the co2 just vent direct to the atmostphere, if you close the first outlet, and open the 2nd, the co2 goes straight into you're intake, is bashed around by the impeller and is put out through the intake.. And there you have it! easy, effective, and looks gooooooood 8) 8) Pics :bounce: :bounce:

Yes, 6 is the lowest on my chart.. Bright yellow, does the range exist further either side? my range goes from 6.0 to 7.8, What would happen and is it possible, for the test to turn say red? The tank wasnt worth it, was a 2nd hand job on a old chest-of-drawers, and luckily for me I had moved the fish out the day before as some had died overnight and I was eliminating options in a cheap way - if they didnt die in the new tank, chances are somthing was up with that tank anyways, the point being, at 0730 on a monday, late for work, i heard water, joy... the story went 160+ litres on the floor. Brand new carpet. grrr all fixed now though and back down to one tank.. anyways in answer to you're question, the tank aparantly could be claimed under insurance, (I have house and contents), and as for the fish im not sure, anyone done it before?

I had this problem, before my tank felt like exploding, and I overcame the problem with suctioncups! I went to the supermarket and bought a 4pack of hooks with suctioncups, a piece of fishing line run through a small hole drilled into the wood / staplenail / screw into the wood etc, and booyah! i was forever mucking around with weights etc and it always seemed to move around or be a little heavier than i wanted. The suction cups saved the day!! just thought id throw it in there

Sorry about not replying, this is, unfortunately, not needed anymore, as the tank decided to crack and as a result pour 150 odd litres through our brand new carpet :evil: have not had the best of luck with fish recently.. thanks for everyones help though, its muchly appreciated.. :-?