KH GH PH PO4 issues!

[Kat]

Hiya,

I have been thinking about practical ways to execute this!! (not easy)!!

I was planning to do the following:
(80l tank).
buy 10l of ro water sat
mix it with 10l of de-chlorinated tap water at around 30 degrees
wait for it to cool to the right temp (25 degrees)
remove water from tank
gradually add the new water over a period of about an hour.

I would check the new water mix before I add it to check there is no more than a .5 drop in PH and a 50mg/l drop in hardness...
Do you think I am adding too much? - it's just that it is alot easier for me to measure the tap water and get the dechlorination additions right.

In the future I was planning to do it slightly differently and keep the RO water with the dechlorinated tap water in a container that is heated and aerated (almost air tight). I would then purchase the water every other saturday and add around 10l on sun and 10l on weds, so as not to stress the fish too much. Overtime I would start to add less tap and more RO until the correct hardness and PH is reached in the tank.

Do you think this sounds feasable? I don't want to kill anyone!!

Thanks
K

[Gary Herring]

Yes the method you discribe will be fine.

Just to clarify though - I thought the RO water plan was for a larger new tank so you could keep clown loaches?

[Kat]

I am going to put the RO water in the small tank, to see if I can get some good conditions - as the guppies are clearly suffering from fin-rot, and so did the catfish which also died of mouth fungus. I have a yo yo, a tiger, a chain, and a zebra in there - and I don't want them to go the same way as the clowns. Once I save up, and soon move to a permanent home, I can buy a big tank and buy some clown loaches (and friends for the others). I don't have the clowns I was talking about originally anymore, as they died before I could take them back to the fish shop . I reckon if I can get the conditions right in the smaller tank it will bode well for the future purchase of a big tank and it's maintenance. It will also get the PO4 levels down so that black algae should die off a bit, making the small tank look better.
K

[Gary Herring]

I reckon if I can get the conditions right in the smaller tank it will bode well for the future purchase of a big tank and it's maintenance.

Absolutely!

Hope it goes well - keep us posted.

[helen nightingale]

Kat

I am not sure how I'm going to dilute it with the declorinated tap water without adding too much declorinator as I only have a 10l bucket. Does anyone else have a small tank and do this? What procedure do they use?

could you try using a very small pipette, like those you can get when you buy medication?

helen

[Kat]

So,

One RO water change later, everyone seems so far happy and no one has died! Thanks for the hint on the pippette, but in the end planning the logistics of a precision monouver with the buckets proved fruitful.

I think I have worked out where the extra alkalinity is coming from... the water in the bucket I tested did not have hot water in!! The water coming from my kettle has a really high PH as all the limescale collects in the bottom of it and went through the roof on the test kit. There is no way to prevent this with such hard water, so now I have bought a special kettle to boil the RO water, preventing any future PH rises or contaminations.

Many thanks to everyone for their help. I am investigating big tanks now, and may be back with Clown Loach questions in the future!!!!

Kind regards,
Kathryn