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Update On New Tank And Some Question Re Water Paramaters

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Offline Lynne W

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Update on new tank and some question re water paramaters
« on: February 18, 2018, 06:09:38 PM »
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Hi all, hope you and your fish are all well. :fishy1:
Thought I'd give an update as not posted for a wee bit and as usual I've got some questions I'm hoping you can help with. 
I've now got 15 Harlies and 5 Skunk Corys and already find them fascinating! They seem to be settling in OK, oh and a snail has appeared, I assume more will follow!!
Question time: -
The water is still cloudy, and when a say this I mean when you look close you can see "stuff" floating through the water, is this what everyone is referring to when they say cloudy, or it is something else? I am right to assume it will eventually clear?
The brown stuff still appears on the leaves of the plants, but doesn't seem quite as bad, again assume it'll go in time.
Been doing weekly water changes and once did two in one week as had a minor ammonia panic. Today water results are
PH 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Is it weird that there is no Nitrate and do I need to worry?
KH GH questions....I've got an API test kit for this, but don't really know what it's telling me...the GH turns at 6 drops so does this equate to 107.4ppm? Which is higher than what the water company said for my water, but suppose this testing is more "current" that what they had on their website? So when looking at fish it's this figure in relation to the hardness, yes?
The KH turns at 3 drops so does this equate to 3dKH and if so what does that actually mean, I think it's to do with how stable my pH will be but don't know if that's good or bad and whether I need to do something about it.
Not cleaned the filter yet, hoping that's OK as I've only had fish since the 28th Jan and still just have 20 fish?
And finally, what to do with the snail/s, do I leave it, live and let live, or get rid, no idea what kind it is, assume is just come in from the plants? 

As always your advice is appreciated  :cheers:
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Offline fcmf

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Re: Update on new tank and some question re water paramaters
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2018, 07:23:36 PM »
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Congrats on the new fish (and snail).

If you don't have some filter wool/floss in the filter, then I'd add some of that, just to catch any small debris that may be floating around.

I also have some brown algae-like particles on the leaves of my plants - at least some of this is from the root tabs due to moving plants around which might be the same in your case but some of it may be algae. I disscovered that giving each leaf of each plant a gentle stroke upwards from the stalk/root to the tip between my fingers during the most recent water change actually managed to get rid of it - might be worth a go in your case too?

You're correct - nitrate is ordinarily a little higher than this. Do you also get this reading for your tap water? It might be that you're not shaking the bottle/re-agents as vigorously as is required in order to obtain a more accurate reading. I struggle with the nitrate tester and actually find the test strips a useful back-up/cross-checker as I find them accurate for nitrate and nitrite (as well as useful for the chlorine test).

You've correctly converted your GH (German degrees hardness - dH) into PPM. Websites tend to quote either the dH or PPM figure in relation to the fish's requirements. Your understanding re KH is correct - it's on the low side but keeping a weekly check on it and on PH to check that they remain stable should be fine.

When the filter is cleaned, just give the media (eg foam/sponge) a gentle squeeze in being-discarded tank water. I do this weekly but it can be done less frequently. Every fortnight or month, check the impeller and impeller well and remove any debris with a cotton bud.

Some folk are fine with snail/s; others prefer not to have them. However, they're likely to be harmless and you may find it/them quite entertaining to watch.

Hope that helps.  :)
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Offline Lynne W

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Re: Update on new tank and some question re water paramaters
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2018, 07:41:53 PM »
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Hiya, thanks for the advice. The filter has got what it came with, I've just checked the manual and it says, Bio-Foam, BIOMAX, fine pads and carbon, so I'll try the wool, any view on what I should take out if putting wool in?
I'll check the Nitrate again, but I've been shaking the bottle, and the tap water is zero for nitrate too. 

I'll leave the snail for a bit, it's just a wee thing  :D
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A Selection of Fish in my Fish Community Creator Tanks
Rummy Nose Tetra (16) - Harlequin Rasbora (14) - Panda Cory (3) - Fiveband Barb (14) - Pearl Gourami (4) -
Note: The user may not necessarily own these fish, these are tanks that they may be building or researching for stocking purposes

Offline Matt

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Re: Update on new tank and some question re water paramaters
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2018, 09:38:49 PM »
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The plants may well be using much of the ammonia before the filter. The plants can also use nitrate so I believe this is why you are finding such low results. My water and test results are similar.
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