Loaches Online Forum

I have been trying to get conditions in my tank just right recently. When I bought my new tank I also bought some test kits for GH, KH and PH.

Nitrite is zero
Nitrate is now down to 20ppm ( yes, down)
GH was 16 and is now 11 ( will explain)
KH was 8 and is now 6 (will explain)
PH was 7.2 and is now 7 exactly.

I am reducing my GH and KH by filtering the water through a deionizer. I use a brand new deionizer from a Flash car wash system. As well as lowering the KH and GH it also returns slightly acidic water of around 6.5 which is very slowly reducing the PH too. I just then have to recharge it with salt water every 10 gallons or so. I now have an acidity in the tank of 7. The car wash system is a basic ion exchange resin and simply deionizes the water. I thought of buying a water softening pillow, but I can put this in-line and is much more effective.

I think I need a PH of around 6.5 to 6.8 and I was trying to get GH and KH down to vaalues of around 6.

Is this acceptable for the fish and also for plant growth??

Nitrate is reducing all the time with the in-line filter - Ion exchange again.

If I can keep Nitrite low and remove Nitrate without doing water changes then presumably I would have to do very little water changes, if at all?

That should be fine, but there's no need to reduce the pH, unless your's is extremely high in the first place.

Thanks for the reply. I think I wanted to get the PH down below neutral as I understand Nitrite takes on a less harmful chemical characteristic in acidic conditions than it does at neutral or alkaline conditions. I understand Nitrite and Ammonia are less harmful in an acid environment.

True, but if a tank is well maintained, good filters, not overstocked, no overfeeding, etc. then you should have no problems. The problem with adjusting pH levels is if either too much or not enough buffer is added, causing big pH shifts, can be just as harmful to the fish.

Does a deionizer remove DOC's?

DOC's??

Dissolved organic compounds - sorry. probably not. I know it removes the hardness. It leaves a cloud of chalky material after I regenerate it with salt solution. I couldn't comment on that. I presume my activated carbon in the filter does that.

Here's an excellent article on pH and osmotic shock-
http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Osmotic_shock

Osmotic shock is discussed after the page break about 3/4 of the way through the article.

You'll need to do regular water changes to remove DOC's. Bacterial problems will more than likely infect all fish if DOC's arn't reduced regularly.

I'm assuming that you are trying to get a planted tank as well, since you asked if it is acceptable for plant growth. IMO, De-Ionizer is really not necessary. You want some of the heavy metals in the water, which is what the plants require. Unless your water has high traces of ammonia, nitrites, or high pH, it's better that you don't use it. Plus it will be allot cheaper in the long run, since you do not have to replace the cartridges.

Also if you go planted, you definately need to keep up water changes. Plants will consume all forms of Ammonia (including Nitrite/Nitrate), but can also consume nutrients that will lower the waters buffering capacity, especially if there is no source of CO2.

I guess I should also add that I'm still trying to figure out the perfect water conditions for clown loaches.

I'll tell you what though- my clowns seem to be thriving in the 90g quarantine tank at the moment. The only plant I have in there is a huge clump of Java Moss. IMO, Java Moss is a great plant because it doesn't have leaves or stems that die off and decompose in the water. It only needs low levels of light also.
Like I said before though plants will consume nutrients from the water.

Water from my tap has
kH -4.5
GH- 9.5


At the moment in the Q-tank
kH- 3
GH - 8


If I didn't do water changes those #'s would drop to nothing and my clowns would be in big trouble. The kH is dropping because I'm not adding CO2 to the water (the Java Moss consumes the buffering carbonates and bicarbonates instead). The GH is dropping because the Java Moss is consuming the Magnesium/Calcium in the water also.

I forgot to mention that in my main tanks the

kH -6
gH- 11

I used crushed coral in my refugium to raise these values a little.