JohnnyBlaze
New member
well i think i made a fatal error, i think i may have figured out what happened. Now again i dont know why others arent showing signs of stress but here's what I think I did.......
Listening to a friend who does salt water tanks suggested because my mineral content, and pH was so high, that I should try using an RO device and get pure water. Well it all made sense until i did a little more research..hes using salt water which he adds additives to the water before putting it in. I did not understand that I was also removing very key ingredients that the fish and plants need, so I also needed to add in additives like Seachem Equilibrium, and Alk, acid buffers to put things back into the water, and maintain a steady pH WHICH I DID NOT!!! I have a feeling i caused this to be an unsafe environment. Since I have discovered what i think may have been the cause, I have now gone back to treating tap water with a conditioner. I hoping this bring this tank back to life. Bringing my water levels back closer to where they need to be.
So for now its adding the Stability, everyday hopefully growing the bacteria colonies and treating the tap with both conditioner and a pH down product to help reduce the pH until i can find the right mix and level off what is is there now to the correct levels of pH, gH, kH..
I am testing the treated water, the tank water and trying to slightly adjust the levels, without having it swing to much in 1 direction.
Ill keep you updated....I feel like such as ass!!
Listening to a friend who does salt water tanks suggested because my mineral content, and pH was so high, that I should try using an RO device and get pure water. Well it all made sense until i did a little more research..hes using salt water which he adds additives to the water before putting it in. I did not understand that I was also removing very key ingredients that the fish and plants need, so I also needed to add in additives like Seachem Equilibrium, and Alk, acid buffers to put things back into the water, and maintain a steady pH WHICH I DID NOT!!! I have a feeling i caused this to be an unsafe environment. Since I have discovered what i think may have been the cause, I have now gone back to treating tap water with a conditioner. I hoping this bring this tank back to life. Bringing my water levels back closer to where they need to be.
So for now its adding the Stability, everyday hopefully growing the bacteria colonies and treating the tap with both conditioner and a pH down product to help reduce the pH until i can find the right mix and level off what is is there now to the correct levels of pH, gH, kH..
I am testing the treated water, the tank water and trying to slightly adjust the levels, without having it swing to much in 1 direction.
Ill keep you updated....I feel like such as ass!!
