New Tank Log: VikingMummy

[Staffylover]

Tanks looking great, really loving the Crypt Balansae (it won't grow for me) and as per previous comment the colours on the fish really stand out, not easy to achieve when you have a light coloured sand so that's great

[VikingMummy2015]

Been keeping an eye on parameters since water change 5 days ago where I also added more botanicals. Although the pH immediately after w/c was 6.8-7, within 24 hours it was back at the standard 6.6 it had been sitting at for the previous week, and it’s still at 6.6 today. Nitrates are still sitting at 5, but maybe nudging closer towards the 10 than after the w/c. Nothing that’s concerning me anyway. I’m feeding lightly these days so happy with those numbers.
Might add some more leaves or another big seed pod tonight when the lights go on, to see how that goes before the weekend and another w/c. I can’t get any fish for probably another week at least thanks to my car being in the garage as of today (two flat tyres over the weekend turned out to not be punctured somehow but a tyre check did reveal a seized brake calliper that explains a few things I was starting to notice!).

[VikingMummy2015]

Did a water change this morning, so 8 days from previous one. Nitrate was definitely still only around the 5ppm mark which was good to know and I won’t worry about it as much now.



This is my pH just before the change (6.6) and a few minutes after (waited about 10 minutes with the filter switched back on) showing as 6.8-7, same as last weekend. I suspect it’ll be closer to 6.6 tomorrow and hopefully will hold steady there just like last week .

No photos yet, but added several more leaves and seed pods. A couple of the initial leaves are already membrane after just 2 weeks but the majority seem to be made of sterner stuff which is good. They’re also not species that release lots of tannins (like IAL do, for example) so even the bucket left soaking is only weakly stained. I’ll let a good carpet build up over the next few weeks and monitor how the leaves and parameters behave before deciding if I want to add more actual Blackwater or not. Very much looking forward to adding some cories to snuffle and shuffle around them!

[VikingMummy2015]

Phew…minor (major) panic when my first pH test this morning turned yellow! However, two further samples are showing 6.6 and it’s the wrong sort of yellow in the first sample so must have been some sort of contamination in the tube.

Photos of the tank from last night when it was dark enough to get some decent shots without reflections.

[black ghost]

Personally with a KH of 1ppm I would not be adding any botanicals at all. You’re running a serious risk of a pH crash when that KH gets used up. It will show as “odd” pH readings when it’s below 6. I assumed you would be raising the KH.

[VikingMummy2015]

Personally with a KH of 1ppm I would not be adding any botanicals at all. You’re running a serious risk of a pH crash when that KH gets used up. It will show as “odd” pH readings when it’s below 6. I assumed you would be raising the KH.

I asked several weeks ago if it was necessary to raise kH and the answer was to go slow as I have done and monitor as I have been doing. The first reading today was absolutely not a reliable reading at all…it was the tube I usually use to measure nitrates and the yellow was not the pale yellow of a pH 6 (which I have seen before when cycling tanks without boosting kH) but the yellow of nitrate test liquid.

I’m monitoring and if it drops below 6.6 then I’ll look at buffering the kH with potassium chloride. However, when I’ve added it before in a live tank, it’s caused more issues with pH than it’s solved.

[black ghost]

KH is carbonates and bicarbonates. Potassium chloride won’t affect it. Do you mean Potassium carbonate?

The safest way would be to use a small amount of coral gravel, preferably in a filter, just enough to maintain the KH as it is, dissolving at the same rate that the KH gets used up, and increasing the pH at the same rate that the tannins drop it, to avoid any big changes.

[VikingMummy2015]

KH is carbonates and bicarbonates. Potassium chloride won’t affect it. Do you mean Potassium carbonate?

Yes. Sorry, brain fog.

The safest way would be to use a small amount of coral gravel, preferably in a filter, just enough to maintain the KH as it is, dissolving at the same rate that the KH gets used up, and increasing the pH at the same rate that the tannins drop it, to avoid any big changes.
[/quote] It’s just figuring out how much is “just enough” because I don’t want to mess things up and my tank is used to having these conditions

[VikingMummy2015]

The boy and I went shopping today *grin*.
Sadly I wasn’t able to drop £150 on Adolfoi cories (£50 per 4) but I topped up the cardinal numbers at the behest of the boy (if he shows any interest in anything then I’m happy to indulge). I grabbed 3 more emperor girls so it’s now a 2:1 ratio. And we settled on a German red bristlenose as the boy really liked the look of them and (s)he will provide interest around the bottom if we ever see them. Bags are floating and I’m acclimating for an hour or so as the emperor bag was sitting at pH 6, the other two at 6.6 like my tank but I don’t have gH test. Put drops of Prime in the bags so can take it easy. Will hopefully get photos tonight after lights on.

[Martinspuddle]

The boy and I went shopping today *grin*.
Sadly I wasn’t able to drop £150 on Adolfoi cories (£50 per 4)

How much??