Those staying Punggol/Seng Kang area, are you facing water issue?

[satan_gal]

random testin of my tank using PH strips.

So far has been maintaining PH7 for tank quite well.

Usually is not the PH.. is others...

Eg ammonia, nitrate, Overdose of water conditioner coz I agar agar pour in, too much salt, never change filter cotton, etc etc etc

[streetsmart73]

Originally Posted by satan_gal

random testin of my tank using PH strips.

So far has been maintaining PH7 for tank quite well.

Usually is not the PH.. is others...

Eg ammonia, nitrate, Overdose of water conditioner coz I agar agar pour in, too much salt, never change filter cotton, etc etc etc

Gf, hear hear.

Once in a while, hands itchy

Tested the pH with the digital ph pen.

Hitting ph 8.6 at bedok reservoir.

Fish normal happy nothing weird or extraordinary

Honest, learn to trust my fish

[itchy]

Staying SK, wc every 3 days 70%, using Seachem prime . No issue .

[satan_gal]

Originally Posted by streetsmart73

Gf, hear hear.

Once in a while, hands itchy

Tested the pH with the digital ph pen.

Hitting ph 8.6 at bedok reservoir.

Fish normal happy nothing weird or extraordinary

Honest, learn to trust my fish

I got the strips instead coz I'm lazy to calibrate the pen and change batt. But there's a gd chance the ph pen needs to be checked.

There was once my tank at Jurong hit 8.5, the fishes shows very obvious signs of stress and not eating. Initially pen showed 7.2, I calibrated and tested again to realised my readings way off.

[shermie]

just use ph meter 24/7 monitor. hardly need any calibration.

[satan_gal]

Originally Posted by shermie

just use ph meter 24/7 monitor. hardly need any calibration.

Tat being said.. PH is usually the least of some of our concerns.
Heck, I suspect if I put a ph meter 24/7, I'll still end up treatin it like the multiple gauges in the car...ignored till it beeps.

there are times the water stinks. and stinks big time.
And some time back the water pump went out of water.
Another time I was showering 1/2 way and water turned BLACK... I still have shivers frm tat day. Postponed my WC till 1 week or so later aft tat

All in all.... seriously, unless there's something really very wrong which result in a sudden PH crash or spike, I strongly believe gradual increase or dip in PH usually will not have much impact.

And usually u will have close to a week to settle, depending on your bioload.

IMO... most issues easily settled wif WC, WC and more WC - and not EXCESSIVELY overdosing on the water conditioner of coz.. (Which is something I seem to do repeatedly)

[shermie]

Originally Posted by satan_gal

Tat being said.. PH is usually the least of some of our concerns.
Heck, I suspect if I put a ph meter 24/7, I'll still end up treatin it like the multiple gauges in the car...ignored till it beeps.

there are times the water stinks. and stinks big time.
And some time back the water pump went out of water.
Another time I was showering 1/2 way and water turned BLACK... I still have shivers frm tat day. Postponed my WC till 1 week or so later aft tat

All in all.... seriously, unless there's something really very wrong which result in a sudden PH crash or spike, I strongly believe gradual increase or dip in PH usually will not have much impact.

And usually u will have close to a week to settle, depending on your bioload.

IMO... most issues easily settled wif WC, WC and more WC - and not EXCESSIVELY overdosing on the water conditioner of coz.. (Which is something I seem to do repeatedly)

ph is one the most major concerns... especially so in crowded /high bioload tanks with not enough buffers. and it's the easiest to monitor and dealt with because of ph meters and sodium bicarb.

yes gradual dip in ph will not have a big impact, but if it dips too low, nitrification decreases or halts, or if ur ph drops too low without you noticing and u do a huge WC fish can get ph shock. and if u let it drop too much, bringing up the ph is a draggy process and causes undue stress to the fish.

water should never stink to begin with... something very wrong with normal husbandry if that happens

[satan_gal]

Den mayb is time to look at how to better buffer,no?
one of my highest bioload was 2 rays, 5-6 tfb, 2 endy, 2 Senegal, 1 gar, 3 spiney eels in a 4ft tank running on a canister connected to a ohf.
Never had to add soda bicarbonate coz main media is cc... cheap n gd n heavy like hell. (still the primary media in current tank)
Wc also weekly or biweekly, depending on if more water was needed for plants...

Water stink is frm tap, not the Fish tank.

btw, I've done various testing usin ph pen n strips, seems like even if tap ph is at 10, once u add water conditioner, it kinds of goes to 7… which is neutral (and my preferred ph)

Den again, me juz small girl who dunno shit. Mayb i got it all wrong. Tats y i only can keep rojak tank.

[Lex]

I heard from someone before, those living on lower floors, get their water through pipes direct from source, the higher floors get their water from the tanks above. Based on that information, if you're living on a higher floor, there's a chance that this issue would not affect the rest staying at SK but only those in your block if it's an issue with the tank. The tanks are checked very often so the water should still be safe for human consumption but perhaps it's affecting the fish strangely.

[shermie]

Thing is I don't use cc or os. Cause they raise hardness, take up space in sump, and is a slow source of carbonates compared to sodium bicarb. Once I started using bicarb I never looked back. Only con is u have to be meticulous in monitoring ph n adding it as n when needed.

AC does lower ph.. some more than others. Some comes with buffers instead so they don't drop ph as much.

U didn't get anything wrong. To use bicarb or cc is up to personal preference.