Sorry,.....another new tank question

About a week ago I started a new 100 liter tank. I took a filter(I did not clean it, healthy tank) from another tank that was working for about 6 months And I have taken about 50 % of this other tanks water and put it in the new tank. After about 3 days I planted some plants in.

My questions:
How long before I can put in some fish? (Its a new tank but with old filter with media and 50 % water from a healthy tank):wondering:

 

i would give the plants another week to establish themselves then i would add a couple of fish.

 

I'd say a week after setup. Start slowly though. Don't fully stock the tank just yet. Add a few fish each week until you have all the fish you want. Don't rush it.

PS: WHERE ARE THE PICS?

 

You could SLOWLY starting adding fish now - it is equivalent to a 50% water change in essence. Just add slowly and you should be fine.

 

even though you have used existing filter media and "matured" water, the new tank will still go through a mini-cycle and hence you should only look to start adding fish in a few days pref in a week. you could add sooner if you used something like seachem stability or kent chlorinex which really 'stabilises' a new stank overnight...

 

Thanks all.

I have been testing the PH on the tank a few times now and it stays at about 8.0 will this be ok?

The tank does not look like much at the moment. Only a few plants in with silica sand. But will def post some pics asap.

 

I would add some fish as soon as the tank reacded the desired temp.
Even better if you used gravel or sand from another tank.

Your 3 day wait should be enough to play it safe

 

i added a whole bunch of guppies, basically all the guppies slayer gave me, to a tank that had been 100% filled from a settled tank's water, and a matured filter taken from the same settled tank, to a 2ft

that 2ft had been set up the night before all the fish arrived, and then they were added the next afternoon, none were lost, and some are breeding / dropping fry now

 

Your PH is a bit too high at the moment.
I'd drop it to 7 before I put fish in there.
A week would be good to cycle.
Patience pays off in the long run

 

Can you test your tap water to see the tap water pH.

8 is a bit high... and if your tap water is 8, this is going to throw a curve-ball everytime you do a water change. You will ideally like it at about 7. The problem comes when you do a water change, you might be adding a pH of 8, which will cause pH shock to your fish.

 

I am lucky to be able to use borehole water. How do I get the PH to drop?

 

You get pH buffers... but generally speaking a lot of people don't like using them. They also not good for planted tanks. I'm sure someone here has a more "natural" safe way to buffer the pH lower. It just makes it a lot more difficult to do maintenance, because you HAVE to make sure that any water you add to the tank has been treated to get to the required pH.

 

Will Prime maybe work?

 

once you start tampering with ph you open a whole new box of problems, a ph of 8 should not be a problem, i have discus in some tanks with a ph of 8+ and they are healthy and happy,even showing some breeding behaviour. Best is to just keep the water as stable as possible with no ph chnages etc, aerate water 2 or 3 days before you use it in a water change etc all of this helps to get the ph stable, or atleast thats my way of doing things and i havent had any problems in 7 years

 

Prime will not have an effect on the pH, it is used to treat chlorine, chloramine and ammonia.

My pH is also at 8-8.2 from the borehole, and my fish are fine, also alot of minerals etc available to the plants
i've added diy co2 injection to my setup, and it has a small effect on the ph, though not 7.0, it does help drop the pH into the high 7's.

Till Zaf and Vee get the natural pH buffer products from Microbelift, i'd rather hold off on tampering with the pH, if i were you

At first it was my intention to fiddle with it as well, but understanding that every water change would have to be treated and lowered BEFORE being added to the tank, makes you think twice, if you dont do it, your fish will be exposed to a pH difference every time you top up etc, and those shifts aren't a good thing

 

LPS will always tell you to get your pH to 7.0 mostly because they know our municipal water is higher, and they want to sell you more product. Henk will start throwing his toys out the cot at the following statement I am going to make... and yes, he does have a valid point... so you need to find a balance between practicality and reality!

Fish all come from certain areas in the world.. and yes, they do thrive, or survive better at their natural pH. BUT I have spoken to a few breeders, and a few hatcheries who don't follow the pH rule by the book... purely because it is impractical. The key here is keeping your pH STABLE. If you borehole comes out at pH 8.0.... then yes, you can keep fish at pH 8.0. A lot of people actually keep their fish very successfully at that level. (and visa versa at pH 6.0) The idea is that you need to maintain the same pH. So when you start buffering your pH to get to 7.0... you will always have to make sure that any water you add to the tank will have to be at 7.0. But if your tank is at 8.0, and your borehole water is at 8.0, then adding water is as simple as dechloring it and adding it. The problem might come in when you add fish from LFS in that they LFS might be running their fish at pH 6.8-7.4, and you add them to your tank... which then sends them into pH shock.

Whenever you get new fish, keep the fish in the bag they come in. Aclimitise them to the temperature by putting the bag into the tank. Then every 15 minutes or so add half a cup of your tank water to the bag in order to slowly add your tanks pH to the water. Ideally you should do this until the bag is 3/4 full and then add the fish into a quarantine tank for a few days just to check for deseases and such, but I know a few people, and I myself do the same, just add the fish after acclimitizing the fish to the pH. (NEVER empty the bag into the tank... rather net the fish out and disgard the water. You NEVER add LFS water to your tank)

 

Guy's I spent 40K on a borehole last year.
Phosphates is high, nitrates is high so it's good for the grass,but not for my tanks.

You have to decide what you want to achieve in your tanks.
If you want nice rotalas,stellatus etc you will have to drop your PH
If you want amazonian fish,your PH and GH is too high for them to be happy.

It all depends what you want from the hobby

 

hi, odd question here, but how long does it take fish to acclimatize to pH? Temperature i can understand getting the same, when i jump into a cold pool it sucks!!! I have no clue about the anatomy or physiology of fish, but it must be pretty impressive. If a persons pH changes by as little as 0.1 they are in serious trouble and to get to a pH takes months of chronic illness and slow adaptation. So how do the fish do it...and do they do it?

 

That is good question, I wonder if there is someone here that can answer it..
I am now also interested

 

lol...maybe can start a new thread so dont hijack this one and then sos the prof