water conditions for dwarf cichlids-help

[sid 201]

Hi all-this is the sitiation i've got.

60*30*30cm tank ,heavily planted+some drift wood (from the beach -was soaked in boiled water for 2-3 weeks before use)

temp 26oc

nitrate ,nitrite and amonia are all giving 0 or near 0 readings but my ph is up to 7.8 -way to high.(tap water 6.4/6.5)

I figured that using a box filter with peat should help a bit with the ph (I havent't done this yet)or if I have to replace the drift wood with shop bought stuff (a shame as it looks good)

Bought a KH test as I know dwarfs like relativly soft water

-my tap water was off the scale (filled up the test tube with out changing from orange to green!)

-I use a mix of filtered and boiled water in my changes any way -but didn't think this would be so efective as it is-my tank water when tested went green at the first drop.

The golden pencils and guppies in there seem happy enough

I'm aware that low kh can be a problem and affect my other readings-including PH

what Kh should i be aiming for??

would adding un filtered tap water to the filtered/boiled be enough

I want to get this sorted first before working on the ph level.

any help would be great

[antwan]

Hey there, I think a KH of 6 is good (I'm not really sure, that's just what I've heard).

I think the wood is the problem with your pH, sound like the salt is leeching out and making it rise. I would suggest either tossing it, or putting it in water somewhere else and change the water on that every few days, then put it back in and see what happens.

[sharn]

something in the tank is making your ph rise- take that out and your tank should be fine for apistos. it could be the gravel- what sort is it?

are you sure you used the test properly? what brand is it? normally a lower ph water goes in hand with a low gh/kh (not always though!). a kh of more than 6 degrees is reccomended when using co2 but a kh above 3 is fine for general keeping, some breeders will let it drop down when breeding but a low kh means you are risking ph swings or crashes which can stress the fish badly if they are large.

[caserole]

The water conditions in your tank are just fine for keeping dwarfs, even the PH is fine.

Unless you wish to breed them and then some will be quit happy with what you have.

By the way a 2' tank is only just big enough to keep a pair, if they should breed it may be to small for both male and female depending on the species.

The reason is they require good sized territory's, the females when with spawn or fry insist apon it with tragic results in some cases for the male.

I think it must be your carbonated harness that is increaseing because if it was your general hardness the water would not be so soft.

It may be from your drift wood but salt would not cause that much if any change in the PH and if it were other minerals comming out then that would affect your GH - calcium carbonate and magnesium.

[sid 201]

ok-I'm using Aquarium pharmaceuticals master test kit like this:-

www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-anim ... 546742.htm

and a Kh kit bought from lfs-(same brand) the kh test is graduated in german degrees=17.9 ppm

I'm pretty sure that I'm doing the tests right (not hard are they!!)

Did a second test on the tap water and got a vastly differant reading (2 drops caused colour change)thought this was strange,being so differant from the first test but it's not unknown to have visible sedemant in the water supply here-maybe i just didnt notice as i filled the test tube for the first test

I will remove the drift wood from the tank when i get a chance and replace with some shop bought stuff hope that will help