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Few stupid questions…


Karen B.
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Here's a bunch of questions :

1 - When people say to do a WC… does that also mean gravel vacuum or not? 
 

2 - When people say « clean clean water »… what does that mean exactly?

 

3 - I want to test my water to be able to know what to add for my plants. Which brand sells good drop tests? Is saligert for fresh water or salt water?

 

4 - Anyone else have this problem : my aquarium coop test strip don’t work for the pH. Maybe it doesn’t like Canadian water? 🤪

 

5 - My honey gourami chases each other and apparently it’s honey gourami normal behavior. But as it’s a 20 gallons, sometimes they seem to smash into the glass. Can they hurt themselves?

 

6 - What do you feed (commercial food) your otocinclus? Mine eats the Hikari wafer but that’s all I ever give them and I feel guilty. I would like to offer them some variety. They also have access to catappa leaves - do they eat those? I have repashy soilent green, do they eat that? I know they eat vegetables but I keep forgetting to give them some.

 

7 - Why is it that everyone on earth says java fern is easy to grow/take care of but mine keeps browning and dying? 

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For me water change is gravel vac. Clean clean means no ammo no nitrite less than 20 nitrate and FRESH changed a lot to keep bad bacterial counts lower. API  master kit is a better test kit. Coop strips. I go for consistency rather than exactly numbers. Consistent is the goal. They can hurt themselves but usually do not. Try not to startle them. I don’t have otos and 60% of the time my Java looks crappy 🤣. Hope that helps. 

Edited by Guppysnail
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i have answers to every question, but you'll still be scratching your head asking why.

#1, it depends on who's telling you to do a water change.

#2i tend to think people are speaking of clear looking water.

#3, i dont know, but we may learn something.

#4, i dont have canadian water, so all my test stuff works fine.

#5 they might knock themselves silly, but probably wont break their necks.

#6 when i had them, tetra pleco wafers

#7i dont care who you are, you will find a plant that no matter how hard you try, it dies. all the while someone else just drops it in the tank and its the biggest greenest thing ever.

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My answers 😄

1. It depends. Usually I don't gravel vac unless the substrate is looking really dirty. A little mulm ain't bad, especially in a planted tank.

2. Clean water to me means optimal water conditions - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less than 20 nitrate.

3. Just for regular water testing? I use both the Co-Op test strips and the API Master Test Kit.

4. I have a hard time reading the Ph on the test strips and just use the Master Kit for that.

5. A fish can most definitely hurt themselves if they run into the glass hard enough. 

6. I have never kept otos.

7. I've had problems with java ferns as well! But I am having some success with the windelov variety, and making sure to dose with Easy Green every week. They need a lot of potassium is what I've read. 

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I'll answer 6. My Otos love English Cucumbers with the skin cut off (I buy organic), they have turned their nose up at pretty much all the other veggies, but others have been successful with more. I have Repashy Soilent but weirdly my Otos, though they eat Soilent, seem to like Super Green better. Hikari Algae wafers is the first commercial food I was able to get my Otos to eat and what I've raised my fry on. The ingredients are pretty diverse if you ever read them and contain protein sources which many assume aren't present in an "algae" food. 

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1) for me it is generally a gravel vac if I'm doing one it's not much harder to do the other.

2) I read clean clean water as 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, low nitrite 

3) the API liquid test kit is good but has many opportunities for human error (shaking ect) so test strips remove most human error and are accurate enough

4) pH is readable on my test strips but I don't use co-op ones (UK)

5) hope they figure out the walls soon.

6) I hear they can be fussy so if they are happy eating what your giving them don't worry.

7) plants are fussy but I had a java fern come back from nothing and all of sudden it's happy. Don't give up but maybe try some other plants instead. I can only grow a sword at end of my tank that confuses me .

 

 

 

 

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#3 The API Master test kit is what's helped me the most for water quality in general and the API gh and kh kit as well, although I have the ACO test strips in my cart for when I want faster results and a double check. I don't know that it helps much as far as knowing what to add to the tank for your plants. That's much more an observer and act type of thing meaning if you see signs of deficiency then you can figure out what you need to add and do that. For example, my Java fern went from really ugly to fine to ugly again. The second ugly stage was because of a potassium deficiency so I started adding that to the tank once a week and now it looks great again. 

#7 As above, I got discouraged when I bought my first java fern because it looked absolutely awful and was stressed out but I think it was just getting used to my water in that tank. It took months, but now it looks fine. The Java fern in my newest tank took off like crazy and looks beautiful without any ugly stage at all. I cannot grow moss, crypts, stem plants or dwarf sag in one of my tanks no matter how "easy" they are. I opted for swords, anacharis and anubias varieties instead. 

It's a trial and error process as well as having a lot of patience and ability to just sit back and watch instead of acting fast. 

Edited by Jennifer V
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I used to gravel vac at every water change. I don’t do it anymore. On coarse substrate like Eco Complete the detritus generally falls through the substrate and becomes mulm (compost) so it doesn’t affect the look or the water quality. On fine substrate like sand I try and have enough flow so that no detritus ever builds up in the tank. My wife has a small tank with sand and low flow that’s always immaculate. Her secret is mystery snails. They seem to eat anything that falls to the bottom. 

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On 1/22/2022 at 1:14 PM, Patrick_G said:

 Her secret is mystery snails. They seem to eat anything that falls to the bottom. 

That's great to know! I have sand in one of my tanks and absolutely hate it. We turkey baste it every day and do a large water change once a week to keep it looking nice and clean and free from too much buildup. 

On 1/22/2022 at 1:24 PM, Kurt Brutting said:

 especially after I started dosing Seachem Potassium. 

That's exactly what I use. Works great! 

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On 1/22/2022 at 11:21 AM, Karen B. said:

Here's a bunch of questions :

1 - When people say to do a WC… does that also mean gravel vacuum or not? 
 

2 - When people say « clean clean water »… what does that mean exactly?

 

3 - I want to test my water to be able to know what to add for my plants. Which brand sells good drop tests? Is saligert for fresh water or salt water?

 

4 - Anyone else have this problem : my aquarium coop test strip don’t work for the pH. Maybe it doesn’t like Canadian water? 🤪

 

5 - My honey gourami chases each other and apparently it’s honey gourami normal behavior. But as it’s a 20 gallons, sometimes they seem to smash into the glass. Can they hurt themselves?

 

6 - What do you feed (commercial food) your otocinclus? Mine eats the Hikari wafer but that’s all I ever give them and I feel guilty. I would like to offer them some variety. They also have access to catappa leaves - do they eat those? I have repashy soilent green, do they eat that? I know they eat vegetables but I keep forgetting to give them some.

 

7 - Why is it that everyone on earth says java fern is easy to grow/take care of but mine keeps browning and dying? 

1. Most of my tanks don't have gravel. I only do thorough vacuums in fry grow out tanks, and my QT if I am treating for parasites. 

2. Clean water for me depends on the tank. Darkwater and green water are more beneficial than a lot of people realize, I try not to disturb them as long as they test steady on the pH, GH & KH, and as long as ammonia & nitrites are 0, and nitrates are under 40 ppm (see aquariumscience.org for more information on water quality and fish health).

Turtle pond holds steady on everything except nitrates. Because turtle.

Clear water tanks I want the water clear, everything holding steady, and fish looking happy. Nitrates <20 ppm.

3. The full test kits to identify insufficiencies in water are really stinking expensive. I found it's easier to ask the plants to tell me what they are deficient in (see chart). For water quality, I like the Co-op strips (buy both sets of strips to understand the tank water parameters as ammonia test strips have different requirements than the multi test strips) and I also use the API Master test kit as well as the API GH & KH tests.

4. The pH test strips have to be read pretty quickly. If you want to double check you didn't get a random batch that isn't cooperating, pour your self a glass of vinegar and follow the testing directions with a single strip.

If you don't see a definitive acidic reaction (lowest pH the strips can read), take a picture of the test and contact the Co-op. If you discover the strips are working, tell them to be more polite to the water.🤷‍♂️

5. Yes, fish can give themselves concussions and other bodily injuries running into the glass. Options:

Get a bigger tank

Try planting to break up line of site. A tall bunch of plants, dead center of the aquarium, allows fish to chase each other in circles for several hours, and plant pretty along the back and sides to reduce "swimming wide" and smacking into the glass.

6. Otos need a ton of biofilm, and I gave mine to someone with a larger tank and more wood and leaves. Friend put the otos in with the shrimp colony and the otos are plump little piggies. Apparently Bacter AE boosts biofilm growth?

7. I have a far easier time keeping hornwort alive than java fern. I have decided jave fern should be called the humility plant😅

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