Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tank Plant Advice => Topic started by: suep on February 01, 2014, 10:56:17 AM

Title: Mixing Fluval Stratum with black sand - was this a mistake?
Post by: suep on February 01, 2014, 10:56:17 AM

I am pretty new to fish keeping but have had a 125lt tank for a year with gravel. I have had a problem with high PH (8.0) which I cant keep down even with regular RO and the only thing I can think of spiking it is the gravel. My tap water is 7.4 ph. Anyways, I have also started to keep cory's which I love and also like plants (which have't done well in the gravel alone), so after a bit of invetsigating I thought I'd try a layer of Fluval stratum with a layer of black sand. The Fluval stratum says on the packet dont mix with other gravel and dont use with fish that will dig. My question is: does anyone know if this will harm the fish in any way? ???
Thanks
 

Title: Re: Mixing Fluval Stratum with black sand - was this a mistake?
Post by: SteveS on February 23, 2014, 03:29:01 AM

Sorry for the delay in answering this but I have been technologically challenged the last few weeks and have only just fixed my PC.

How did you measure your tapwater pH? To get a useful reading it is important to leave a sample to stand for around about 42 hours before measuring the pH. Otherwise, the dissolved gases in the water can skew the result.

I don't know anything about the Fluval Stratum stuff, but if it says "don't mix with other gravel" then don't mix it with other gravel. But I wouldn't use it with cories because it says "don't use it with fish that dig" and cories do!

If you still have water that's higher than tapwater after it has stood, post again and we can help you test the gravel.