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Posted by andy smart on May 18, 2005, 11:01 am
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Thanks for your input Tom
The loaches have been growing and thriving for about 3 years (they must
have quadrupled in size since we put them in) so I think they were happy
there.
We're going to look into some more testing, and your point about
softening of the water was interesting too. Perhaps something to harden
the water wouldn't go amiss for us then? We've got a PH in there which
is just about neutral right now.
The thing which really perplexed us was the very sudden downhill slide
from all the damn fish being happy and healthy; they'd been together in
that tank for over six months, swimming and eating like there was no
tomorrow - we'd really like to know what caused it to deteriorate so fast.
My dimesions were in inches if I remember: that tank is WAY more than 40
gallons given the number of buckets it takes to fill it!
ta
andy
Tom L. La Bron wrote:
> Andy,
>
> You need to get some more test equipment. The school should be able to
> purchase them relatively inexpensively, but you need a test kit that does
> pH, KH, GH, nitrites and maybe nitrates. The nitrates are the least of any
> problem in an aquarium eco-system. The thing that a lot of people forget is
> that in the cycling processes of a tank they biobug also consume the
> materials that makeup the carbonate hardness and also use the trace
> elements. It is possible that since you are topping off the tank with
> distilled water that you eco-system now has very soft water, which is
> determental to Goldfish. You never mentioned the temps you were keeping the
> tank at, but loaches and not cold water fish they come from the areas around
> Borneo, Malaysia, etc. and temps very seldom get below 70 degrees in their
> environment. In any event, the KH, GH and trace elements are important to
> the tanks well being. Also I would like to point out that most loaches like
> softer, more acid water, while Goldfish like a more alkaline (higher pH)
> environment and harder water, your fish are really not compatible. The
> loaches may live in your environment that you have created but that does not
> mean that they like it or do well in it. Part of this problem, at the
> moment, that I see is the fact that you are topping of this large tank with
> distilled water which means no mineral content is in the water at all.
>
> One other point, I figured that your dimensions were in centimeters since
> you referenced the size of your tank in liters, but in any event, if it is
> about a 40 gallon tank your environment is overstocked with fish.
>
> Hope you get this cleared up. Tanks in schools can be so good for the
> children.
>
> Tom L.L.
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>>>Pardon me if I'm wrong, but when you said in one post that you didn't
>>>know what the nitrate level was, I got the impression you weren't an
>>>aquarium expert :-).
>>
>>No offence taken, the two of us who do this are the head science
>>tecnician and myself, school network manager!
>
>
>
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Posted by Tispe on May 10, 2005, 7:49 pm
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(snip)
message > >I didn't read >
>
> another really important point is that if you're only topping up rather
> than changing water, an awful lot of gack (especially with goldfish who
> produce a phenomenal amount of excrement) will build up in or on any
> substrate you have, which will eventually lead to a fairly poisonous
> environment. You need to get rid of this regularly; the easiest was is
> with a so called "gravel vacuum" which is a really cheap & simple device
> - a wide, rigid tube attached to a thin flexible piece of tubing - which
> siphons gack and water out of your tank with each water change.
> --
>
I had never heard the word "gack" until recently......is that the actual
"poop" or some other waste that develops from the "poop"?
Thanks,
Tispe
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Posted by sophiefishstuff on May 15, 2005, 3:51 pm
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>(snip)
>message > >I didn't read >
>>
>> another really important point is that if you're only topping up rather
>> than changing water, an awful lot of gack (especially with goldfish who
>> produce a phenomenal amount of excrement) will build up in or on any
>> substrate you have, which will eventually lead to a fairly poisonous
>> environment. You need to get rid of this regularly; the easiest was is
>> with a so called "gravel vacuum" which is a really cheap & simple device
>> - a wide, rigid tube attached to a thin flexible piece of tubing - which
>> siphons gack and water out of your tank with each water change.
>> --
>>
>
>I had never heard the word "gack" until recently......is that the actual
>"poop" or some other waste that develops from the "poop"?
um.
it's a bit like "ick" or "yuck".
in a goldfish tank, it's a combination of old excrement and any old
food. and stuff.
--
sophie
www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)
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Posted by secret squiddle on May 9, 2005, 12:52 pm
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"We clean the filters by taking it apart and flushing it under hot water
> till it is clean."
You should never 'clean' a filter with hot water. What I suspect you have
inadvertently done is killed all the friendly microbes the were living in
the filter, so the filter was sterile.
Filters work in two ways.
1. They mechanically remove solid dirt particles (or at least trap them)
2. They are home to thousands of micro organisms that eat the pollution from
the fish and render the fish waste harmless. Hence these bacteria are good
bacteria - and should be cared for accordingly.
In future only rinse the filter in tepid water (icy cold water can kill them
also, but not as much as hot water - which will eradicate 99% of the
microbes). Rinse in clean aquarium water is best to maintain the harmony of
the filter.
So without those friendly bacteria 'eating' the fish waste, the water would
have quickly become polluted - resulting in the death of all the fish.
For the same reason when restocking the tank (clean the tank and remove all
the water - you can use hot water to clean a fresh tank - just incase
there's anything bad from the stressed and dying fish, living in the water)
only introduce 1 or maybe 2 small fish to begin with. Only do this after the
tank has been up and running for at least 2 weeks (with the filter running).
The filter will take time to start working to maximum efficiency.
Also it's worth pointing out - that the filter should be running 24hrs a
day - to maintain the good bacteria in the filter. When you switch it off -
the bacteria can't feed and die.
**SS**
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Posted by Geezer From The Freezer on May 10, 2005, 7:47 am
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Ok another point, just topping off evaporated water is not enough.
When you fish give off waste, this is released as ammonia,
your friendly bacteria in your filter media will turn this to nitrites
and other friendly bacteria in your filter turn nitrites to nitrates.
Nitrates need to be diluted out of the water, preferably before they
exceed 40ppm. When Nitrate gets high, it becomes more lethal the higher
it gets.
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>
> You need to get some more test equipment. The school should be able to
> purchase them relatively inexpensively, but you need a test kit that does
> pH, KH, GH, nitrites and maybe nitrates. The nitrates are the least of any
> problem in an aquarium eco-system. The thing that a lot of people forget is
> that in the cycling processes of a tank they biobug also consume the
> materials that makeup the carbonate hardness and also use the trace
> elements. It is possible that since you are topping off the tank with
> distilled water that you eco-system now has very soft water, which is
> determental to Goldfish. You never mentioned the temps you were keeping the
> tank at, but loaches and not cold water fish they come from the areas around
> Borneo, Malaysia, etc. and temps very seldom get below 70 degrees in their
> environment. In any event, the KH, GH and trace elements are important to
> the tanks well being. Also I would like to point out that most loaches like
> softer, more acid water, while Goldfish like a more alkaline (higher pH)
> environment and harder water, your fish are really not compatible. The
> loaches may live in your environment that you have created but that does not
> mean that they like it or do well in it. Part of this problem, at the
> moment, that I see is the fact that you are topping of this large tank with
> distilled water which means no mineral content is in the water at all.
>
> One other point, I figured that your dimensions were in centimeters since
> you referenced the size of your tank in liters, but in any event, if it is
> about a 40 gallon tank your environment is overstocked with fish.
>
> Hope you get this cleared up. Tanks in schools can be so good for the
> children.
>
> Tom L.L.
> ----------------------------------------------------
>