I think I added too much crushed coral...

[mgrassick]

I am in the process of cycling/seasoning my new 5 gallon tank that is going to hold 3/4 guppies when I can ensure the levels remain consistent  after adding the fish to the tank.

Most of the numbers are looking good and going in the right direction except for the general hardness (GH) which is at 300 PPM. I live in Seattle which has a natural GH of 120 which was a little on the low side so I added 1 pound of crushed coral in the tank to elevate the numbers. Problem is... now the numbers are way higher than I was expecting and I am unsure of what to do other than maybe removing some of the crushed coral and performing a partial water change?

I would love take any advice that this group has or if anyone has experience of similar issues.

Thanks, Mark

Edited October 17, 2021 by mgrassick

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Those are perfect numbers for livebearers. Nothing to worry about! When you have soft water like you have in Seattle your crushed coral will be slowly eaten up by that acidic water so in a year or two you may have to reload or put a bag of crushed coral In your filter. For now cycle and get ready for some happy guppies! If you can pull off 1 male to 3 females those girls will thank you for it down the road.  

[mgrassick]

Amazing advice! Thank you @Beardedbillygoat1975

Do you think a 5 gallon tank is big enough for a 3:1 mix to allow breeding?

I was thinking of tackling that further on down the road

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

It depends- that will produce a lot of waste. You’re taking on a lot breeding fish would require weekly 30-50% water changes, regular testing and you should be able to keep your parameters but it’s tricky in such an small setup. You don’t have a lot room for error. If that’s what you want I’d throw in guppy grass and some hornwort to suck up the waste along with the wisteria you have. You need to get the Java fern out of the substrate- you can use that rock and just put a dab of super glue gel and mount it on there otherwise the rhizome will rot. 
A lower maintenance setup would be a couple male guppies, a small barb group 5 or so cherry barbs, and a cleanup crew - 3 amanos and or a nerite snail added after you’ve got some algae for them to eat. 

[Guppysnail]

As @Beardedbillygoat1975said the harder the better. 5 g will be higher maintenance and if they reach the size mine do(girls 2.5-3 inches) you will want to watch for bickering due to limited space but to start it should be ok. Watch the girls though when they go into labor they like to hide and have personal space make sure the others are not harassing her to much. Stress really impacts guppies in my experience. 

[Colu]

Your KH is on the low side guppy's you want a KH of 140 -210 for guppy's

[Biotope Biologist]

I suspect the kh value will go up with the stabilization of the crushed coral and the water. Since our water here is naturally pretty low in kh and gh it will take a little bit of time for the crushed coral to reach equilibrium.

 

Just make sure to check with whomever you're buying guppies from what their parameters are so you don't shock them.

[mgrassick]

Thank you for the wonderful advice!

Couple of follow ups:

• I am going to wait a little while for the KH to start to rise but it is encouraging to see the numbers going in a good direction
• The Java Fern is out of the substrate and it was attached to the lava rock using super glue gel (see image below)
• I think breeding is for much further down the line when I have more experience and a larger tank 🙂