Inkozana Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Hey guys, I hope I haven't been posting too much *-* At my work we have 5 tank set-ups for our freshwater fish, three for our tropicals and two for our coldwater. I have drawn a little picture of the design, what I want to know is if I am maintaining as well as I could be. Every Monday I scrub all the glass on the inside and use our gravel vacuum to clean the tank and do the 20% water changes. I put in water conditioner (Tetra AquaSafe), aquarium salt (two cups for our tropical sumps, and three for our coldwater) and lastly I add some Aquamaster Algae Cure for prevention. I test the water each fortnight, the levels are pretty good for all the tanks. Ammonia is usually barely visible in the test, just like nitrate and nitrite. The pH varies between the sumps, for our Cichlid's it's about 6.5 and for our goldfish it sits at 7.5 as it does for our other tropicals. What do you think? Could I be doing more? The medications that I have include Waterlife's Parazin (Parasiticide), Waterlife's Myxazin (Anti-bacterial), Pimafix (Anti-fungal) and I have Aquamaster's Rapid White Spot. I only use them when I see the need, because I don't want the fish to become immune to the treatment. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 depending on the cichlids I would say the ph is a tad low for them. I think you will find for africans you want a min of 7.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Our cichlids consist of peacock and dolphins, we don't have a huge range. But I can change the pH to around 7.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Id suggest going to the cichlid profiles here and looking up the cichlids you keep and seeing what their water requirements are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tech Den Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Probably do less - get some Bristlenose so you do not have to clean the glass every week and is it just me or is that a lot of Salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 I would say to much salt as well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Is it a lot? I read for aquarium salt to use 1 table spoon per 20L. The sump provides for a total of 200L so I thought I was doing less than recommended rather than more. We have some bristlenose in different tanks and they do clean nicely. But we don't have any to put in the coldwater tanks - they get the most algae build up. The cichlid I have seen are: C. moorii, I. sperengerae (I think) and we have some albino peacocks. Those cichlids look like they prefer a more alkaline pH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 I will revise my salt, maybe I should add half a cup to the tropicals and one cup to the coldwater fish. My old boss used to say that the coldwater fish could have more salt than the tropicals, do you think so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tech Den Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Salt does not evaporate - water does. When you do your 20% you only need to add the Salt for the water change amount only. I hardly ever used salt at all - just from time to time. A bit of salt - they are fresh water... Are you finding a salt build up on the hoses and fittings? Some pumps may not like salt as much either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 if you want a visitor sometime let me know, Ill pop in and have a chat with ya about maintaining the tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tech Den Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Oh, thanks, that would be nice, just let me know what time you want to pop round and will have a coffee n biscuit and a chat about maintaining tanks. Be a bit of a long drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 My opinion.....ditch the salt that's a lot of salt! If you want to add anything..... add Baking soda....I level teaspoon to about 40 litres to start....only in water change water This will allow any ph change to occur slowly This will raise ph and buffer the tanks....Great for africans and won't hurt goldfish 0 nitrate??? Do you have lots of plants? i recommend using Aquasonic BioAid.....this is a probiotic bacterial additive. I'd avoid adding any other chemicals unless disease is obvious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Oh, thanks, that would be nice, just let me know what time you want to pop round and will have a coffee n biscuit and a chat about maintaining tanks. Be a bit of a long drive. That I will be doing shortly... except it will be for the L#s that I buy from you... well once I am back on 2 feet anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Really? But you are far away from me brockssracer. I do find salt crystal build up on the tanks... I think I will start over again on how I calculate my salt required, maybe I should only use salt every fortnight and definitely only for the 20% of water I change. I didn't even think of that.. what a rookie mistake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Im not that far, its only a 20mim drive to taringa. i got lots of time to kill atm and the misses needs the driving practice for her L's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Hey Rod, I didn't say that my nitrate levels were 0; They are reasonable and not at a dangerous level. I haven't heard of using baking soda before.. Sorry Brockssracer, I thought you were talking to me about coming to talk about the sumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Well, I'm working all weekend. I work at Petbarn Kenmore, I'd love for you to come and see the sumps and give me some advice... but don't judge me on the set-up! I've only been there for 5 months and I know the system is not very good quality.. I started out just doing what my superiors told me to do when it came to the fish set-up, but now I am learning more and also moving up in authority so I'd like to make my own changes for the benefit of the fishies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tech Den Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 You might want to back off the salts slowly - I do not know what the effect would be if you did it in one foul swoop. Might be too much of a change in conditions and you might get losses. Mistakes are good - that's what we learn from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Okay, maybe I will add half the amount I usually do each week for two weeks, then I can cut down to just adding salt every fortnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIIK Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Dude imo...Drop the salt completely. If you have been adding salt for this long there should be enough in the water for you to stop it all together and it should just slowly dilute out with your water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIIK Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) The pH varies between the sumps, for our Cichlid's it's about 6.5 and for our goldfish it sits at 7.5 as it does for our other tropicals. Based on this, Im guessing you buffer your water in the cichlid tank and not in the goldie's ?? Goldies are hardy lil buggers and are not really fussed about there ph levels (within reason of course). Another question is, whats your routine for water changes ? You mention every Monday, Are you using 20L buckets ?? 1000L ibc's ?? A main issue I see with new keepers is doing 200L changes with 20L buckets, adding this that and the other into each bucket before that pour into there tank. Water changes this way are never consistent as by the time all your additives accumulate and dissolve etc.. The desired result is rarely the outcome you where looking for. Water changes need to be a constant routine with the same outcome, If your raising and lowering your Ph until you hit the right point,your fighting a losing battle. x amount of water x amount of Prime x amount of buffer Stick to it and then your water changes become easy and not a science experiment every week. Edited November 9, 2011 by FIIK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 pm sent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 Every Monday I do my water changes when I siphon each tank, I can see how much water I am taking out because the level will go down. I take approximately 20% out from each tank, so a quarter water change. The water goes down the drain, not into a bucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIIK Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 I think you need to re read the post mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkozana Posted November 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 I'm sorry, I'm having trouble reading what you wrote. I don't know was 1000ibc means and I don't know why you're asking whether I do 200L water changes? I haven't been with these tanks for a very long time, and the man who used to take care of them has left. So I am sort of in the dark about what usually happens as he didn't really teach anybody else how to do it. Can you try and dumb down what you said to me, maybe I will understand it then. Also, while we were talking about salt.. there is a lady at work who suggested I use Epsom salts to bath some of the fish in, when they show signs of bloating.. What dose am I supposed to use, is it even a good idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
