My
First Tank
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pH Summary
pH
4.0 is Acidic
pH
7.0 is Neutral
pH
9.0 is Alkaline
Normal pH range is between
6.8
to 7.2.
pH changes must be gradual
and not more than 0.2 point at any one time.
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| UNDERSTANDING
BASIC WATER CHEMISTRY – pH
pH is the measurement
of the water acidity or alkalinity. 4 is acidic and 8 is alkaline. 7.0
is neutral. Normally, water becomes acidic overtime because of fish waste
and decaying matter - like food. pH will become alkaline overtime, if you
use marine sand, crush corals, shells, corals, marble chips, etc., in your
tank of filter systems. Best to keep pH at 6.8 to 7.2. Do not change pH
more than 0.2 points at any one time. Changes should be gradual and over
time of after a few hours.
In Singapore context,
if your pH is too far extreme, you simply change water. Our tapwater pH
and hardness is moderate and is suitable for most freshwater fishes. For
the average hobbyist, do not waste money buying the test kits. Test kits
usually have a shelf life of only 6 months to 1 year.
pH meters have a longer
life span but you must calibrate it occasionally to get accurate readings.
Most low end meters, normally needs just one "Calibration Solution" of
pH 7.0. Rinse the meter sensor (end tip) first in running tap water and
flick gently dry. Insert into the pH 7.0 solution and calibrate as necessary.
Some more expensive models will require a calibration of 2 or 3 points,
pH 4.0 and 7.0 or pH 10 and 7.0.
For freshwater, pH meters
are not essential as you can always just change water. However, if your
setup is for marine, or you have a very large tank/pond where changing
water is problematic, it is advisable to get one. If you take proper care,
the meters will normally last about one to two years.
In normal circumstances,
the tank water gets more acidic with time. Even for marine tanks. Use Sodium
Bi-carbonate or Baking Soda, (available at all supermarkets) to make your
water more alkaline. Remember not to overdo it -- pH must not fall or rise
too fast. To make it more acidic, you will have to use acid like battery
water, HCL or Sulphuric Acid. Remember that all these are dangerous to
handle and not easy to obtain.
In olden times, when people
build a cement pond, they normally "cure" it by soaking pineapple skins
or discards in the pond for a week or two. Well, if you can get some pineapple
skin and soak it for a few days, you can try if it works to make your water
more acidic. If you are keeping tetras, discus species, etc., you could
make use of the peatwater or "blackwater" extract to make your water more
conducive for your fishes.
In a pond set-up, a new
pond made from cement, or tiled tends to be more alkaline resulting in
extreme pH due to the calcium carbonate. You can use pineapple skin and
discards as mentioned to cure it or use get someone to fiber-glass coat
it.
Although in freshwater
set-up, doing pH, Nitrite, or Ammonia test is non-essential, in a marine
set-up many people will tell you how important such tests are. DO NOT listen
to them. If you like doing tests, by all means do so. However, do not be
mistaken that YOU MUST DO SUCH TESTS.
Only the pH is most important.
As mentioned earlier, your ammonia and nitrite levels are related to your
biological filtration and your pH. If your pH is at a constant low, your
Ammonia and Nitrite levels will also be present. Under normal circumstances,
your Ammonia and Nitrite levels should show no readings. A high NITRATE
LEVEL will mean that your bacteria is doing well and they have plenty to
feed on. When making water changes, both freshwater and Marine, ALWAYS
change from the bottom of the lowest point of the tank. This will remove
the nitrates that have built up. Remember: if your pH is very low, your
ammonia levels tend to be high. |
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| FISHES
There are thousands of
fishes in the world and each needing their own special water requirements.
In our Context, and not to get too complicated, I have classified fishes
to 2 categories -- Acidic water fishes and Alkaline Water fishes.
A great deal of fishes
available in Singapore are acidic water fishes. These fishes consist of
the ever popular Discus, Angel Fishes, Arrowanas, Goldfishes, Kois, Tetra
Species, Rasboras, Most Barbs, most Gouramis, etc.
Alkaline water fishes
consist of mostly live bearers, like Guppies, Swordtails, Platies, Scats,
Monos (Malayan Angel), Most African Cichlids, Most Australian Fishes -
Rainbow fishes, and so on. Although some people have classified that Kois'
and Goldfishes require alkaline water, I found that they did well in a
pH of 6.6.
To stock your tank, be
sure that your fishes are from the same category. Most fishes have a tolerance
of pH range, which usually should be between 6.0 to 8. In normal everyday
situations, your tank will tend to balance itself at between 6.6 to 6.8
pH unless there is a great deal of dead plants, fishes or excess food.
When the pH falls, the
fishes in the tank will adapt as long as the fall is not sudden. If your
tank is very mature or establish, say you just bought a pH meter and do
a test and find that your pH is 6.0 but all the fishes seems OK. If you
intend to change the pH do so gradually, from 6.0 to 6.2. After a couple
of hours, 6.2 to 6.4, and so on until you get the result you want (6.8).
Make sure you test the pH regularly in the process. Tedious isn't it? You
know what I would do in this circumstance? Well, I simply change 20-30%
water and after a day or two if the pH is still low, change another 20-30%.
Is this not less troublesome? |
| Food
Requirements for the different fishes
Regardless
of whether you keep freshwater or marine, or even a pond set-up, you should
have some mixture of fishes. There are three types of fishes, Top, Middle
or Bottom Feeder Fishes. That is to say fishes that stay at the top, at
the middle level or at the bottom of the tank. Top level fishes, as the
name implies, stay at the top. They are the first to reach the food, say
an insect that fall into the water, or the flake food you threw in.
As the food
sinks, they will ignore the food and continue searching along the surface
area. As the food sinks, the Middle Level fishes will begin feeding and
follow the food all the way to the bottom and they will switch their attention
as more sinking food passes their view. The bottom feeders have been called
waste feeder, living off the excretion of the other tank inhabitants. Now
this is a gross misconception. If there are fishes that feed on excretion,
then you only need to feed them once. Afterwhich they can easily live off
they own excretion. Doesn’t make sense does it?
You see,
as the food sinks, some get stuck in crevices other fishes cannot reach
or just cannot be bothered to reach it, these poor fellows will normally,
in the early morning hours or at the night start cleaning up the mess.
They must get some food or they will die from hunger. Occasionally, they
may eat some feces that are lying around.
In a community
tank, it will be good if you can have all three types of fishes. It is
not so easy in our standard tanks to see the fishes parting into three
levels. Because our tanks are not very deep, the fishes will just feed
from the top to the bottom. Even a suckermouth will swim in an up-side-down
position feeding-off the floating flakes. The suckermouth is only an efficient
algae eater when young and they will VERY readily switch to dry foods and
forget their reason for existence in your aquarium. A true algae eater
is the Chinese Algae Eater. They are hard to maintain in an aquarium.
In a pond,
keep some tiger barbs or red platies to eat small insects and excess food
that are too small to be eaten by the Kois/Goldfish. Of course, should
you forget to feed your fishes for a few days, you will notice that these
little fishes suddenly disappeared. |
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UNDERSTANDING
FOOD REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFIC FISHES
To know if the fishes
are Top, Middle or Bottom Feeders, look at the fish's mouth.
| The mouth of the fish
tells you the way they feed.
Top : feeds
mainly from the surface -- important to have floating food like flakes.
Mouth is
upward facing.
Specially
suited for feeding at the water surface
First to
reach the food.
Example:
Danios, Hatchetfish, Archer Fishes, etc.
Notice
the lips are upward pointing
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The mouth of the fish
tells you that they are mid-level feeder.
Middle: feeds
from middle level to bottom. May require some plant food.
Mouth is
at the Mid of body
Fishes that
feed at the Mid Level
Example:
Bards, tetras, rasboras
Notice the
mouth is at the centre level |
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Bottom Feeders
Mouth is
downward facing shows that they feed at the Bottom Level
Mistakenly
call fish waste eater. They eat leftovers but they do not eat feces of
fishes.
Make sure
they have food to eat. May require some plant food.
Bottom: feeds
mainly on the bottom only although occasionally do they learn to feed from
the surface. Catfishes, Corydoras, suckermouths, flying foxes, chinese\siamese
algae eaters need special diet – algae or vegetable matter. They eat food
that fall to the base of the tank. They do not eat fish excretion! If no
algae is available, you need to substitute green matter for them to do
well. Wash a leaf of cabbage or Chinese cabbage and freeze it. Once frozen,
depending on the number you need to feed, cut the leaf into smaller strips
and feed one strip a day. Tie a weight to it.
If the strip
is small, you can just throw it into the tank. But if it is reasonable
big, you can wait for it to thaw until it is soft before throwing it in.
Algae Eaters
- Must have vegetable matter in their diet. Be aware that they may “suck”
the slim off “slimy” fishes like Goldfishes. |
Notice the mouth
is bottom facing |
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