jude

How warm is the room its in? If its cold you might be able to warm the water by slowly and gently adding warm water to the tank, and then putting a heater next to it. Cheers Jude

No, it isn't new, its been in the tank a couple of years. But I had cardinals and harlequins in with it and they might not have minded the acidity as much. I had to do the two things together as I had to 'fix' the problem as soon as I could. And you are right, it does make it difficult to sort out what was the cause. Cheers Jude

Yes I did. I planned to wait for it to settle then put the driftwood back and do regular checks - but I will do as Caryl suggests and put it in a bucket to check it. Cheers Jude

me too, but the ph has definitely gone up a bit since I removed it and added the limestone rock - so one or the other has made a difference

Yes, and I'd done a 20% water change last night. And another major one last Saturday because I had to move the tank. I've just checked the PH and its come up slightly already so I'm guessing the culprit was the driftwood because I can't imagine the limestone rock would work that quickly. Its one of my favourite bits of wood too

I took the advice about checking to see if the water was warm enough in this cold weather and discovered it was too warm. Ah Hah! I thought, bet that's why I've lost a few platys, so I went online to check what temps they like. I also found out they prefer slightly alkaline water so I checked that too - PH of 5!!!!!!!!!! Then I checked my other tanks and their PH is between 7-8 which is what it usually hovers at. It beats me why the platy tank is so low. I've now taken out the driftwood (although the baby bn's are going to need it back) and added limestone rocks I collected while down south. I'll wait to see if it settles then put the wood back and check it daily for a while. I still think its strange - that piece of wood has always been in the tank but I had cardinals and harlequins in there before so maybe they didn't mind the PH. If anyone has any bright suggestions, just let me know. If the PH doesn't come back up soon I thought I'd put some bird grit in there but I'm not sure how much. I also thought I'd get some aquarium salt cause apparently platys like that too - would it bother the baby bn's? Cheers Jude

It should be fine - its getting a good wash and you can scrub it or boil it or pour boiling water over it. I soaked a big piece in bleach to kill any greebies then soaked it in fresh water for a while and had no problems Cheers Jude

just don't go driftwood collecting near rivers till the flooding has stopped :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I experimented the other day with siliconing java fern to driftwood. I thought it might kill the plant by burning the leaves and roots but its still thriving. Should work with rocks too Cheers Jude

OK, I wondered about that but didn't have time to investigate earlier. Will try it later today ......... thanks

Yes it did - I am now totally confused. Are there supposed to be photos? I couldn't see any :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Cheers Jude

Thanks, that would be great

Great - thanks everyone - I will be able to sleep well tonight :lol: :lol: :lol: Jude

Another question - do you ever have to clean out a sump or do you cover the top with some sort of foam or dacron and just rinse that off occasionally? Jude

That's great, thanks everyone. I can feel the fog clearing and more understanding setting in :lol: :lol: :lol: Cheers Jude

I think a sump would be great for a freshwater tank but I'm not thinking of setting one up just now because of lack of space. The only reason I asked is because not understanding frustrates me. I understand the concept of having an overflow somewhere near the top of the tank. Does that mean that the water being returned to the tank goes in near the bottom? Because if you have water going in at the top and going out at the top, then aren't you going to be sucking out the water thats just been returned and risking having stale areas?

I've tried googling this but just confused myself. I can't get my head to understand sumps. I understand that the water goes into the sump, flows through the filter material, into another tank where it can be heated, and then is pumped back into the fishtank - that bit is simple enough even for my brain. BUT, how do you ensure that the water comes out of the fishtank at the same rate its pumped back? If the tank relies on draining to send water to the sump, then the water being pumped back in isn't going to make it drain any faster - so if its going back in at a greater rate then the tank is going to overflow. And I guess its vice versa for the sump - if its taking in water faster than its pumping it out, it will overflow. Please design your answers for 5 year old level :lol: :lol: :lol: Cheers Jude

Hi and welcome Great to see more and more people joining the forums. Cheers Jude

OK, so it will probably be the right stuff Thanks for your help bal and alan

Nope, can't find it there. The brand is Holdfast and Ian picked it up from New World today. It also says Soudal on the tube and I've been to their website and can't find it there either. The tube says SilconeU. The packaging says Silaseal RTV. Maybe its destined to remain a mystery .......... :lol:

That would be really useful, thanks Warren

It doesn't say 202 anywhere - just SiliconeU

I've got some Holdfast silicone. It says it fixes windscreens, motors, glass, silicone, showers ......................... etc etc etc. It doesn't say fishtank safe but it does include them in the list. Does anyone know if this one is safe to use? Cheers Jude

How can a vegetarian be a blood sucker? :lol: :lol:

A widdle tank? They are supposed to have water in them!!!!!!!!! Just kidding. Welcome to the forum, its a great place to belong to Cheers Jude