30g - Long "Bikini Bottom" - invert dominant tank

[eklikewhoa]

the jakes? Si

[madehtsobi]

Hmmm TPT?


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[eklikewhoa]

This and the barley is the only two things I see them eat.

[madehtsobi]

Shrimp like it?

The shrimp are sorta getting use to the barley.


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[eklikewhoa]

The Jakes veggie sticks + calcium really brings everyone out!

[eklikewhoa]

I think it was one not the other but I could be wrong, it's been awhile.

the IAL and stuff work but it's just short term till it waste away and the params creep back up. I am testing it out to see how long and to what extent it will work for but after it wears thin I figure it will be back to tap or close to tap params so they would have super slowly adjusted to it.

Water change is in fact the only way to go and to go all RO would mean to make water perfectly right every single time. That's too much work for me and would deter from the actual enjoyment of it all.

[OEBlueTigerShrimp]

you cant keep adding "stuff" to the tank to try to obtain lower gh/kh...you have to replace the water... waste and what not does not go away by itself

my point was not that you should be adding things to the water, but rather people can maintain approximately consistent hardness over long periods of time given the right circumstances. I was not recommending people try it or expect it.

[madehtsobi]

you cant keep adding "stuff" to the tank to try to obtain lower gh/kh...you have to replace the water... waste and what not does not go away by itself

[OEBlueTigerShrimp]

actually I think IAL softens water as well(as long as you remove it before it rots away)

[OEBlueTigerShrimp]

Well there are things that can lower hardness over time as well, some driftwood for instance has a tendency to lower gh and kh, with soft enough tap water it is possible they could get away with just op offs for exceedingly long periods of time. It is also possible that they forgot to mention using peat in the filter. They may not even realize what they are actually doing with their chemistry. If enough people do it, some will get lucky. Still not recommended.

[eklikewhoa]

Most of the old school breeders I have read logs on don't test TDS either and honestly with all these guys that say they don't change water but only top off is pretty much lieing

There is no way in hell you can maintain a low TDS without replacing the water. TDS builds up with the decay and waste produced, even plain RO/DI water would slowly increase in TDS if kept in a plastic bottle. Taking what I have learned from my venture in High-tech reef tank you can't maintain it unless you have a method of removing the waste. With reef we had protein skimmers, anaerobic bacteria filter, water changes, algae filters etc. We have none of those other than water changes and plants in our tanks but the plants.

I really want to call BS on a lot of those guys post, aquasoil decays too since it's clay baked substrate and that alone breaking down would add to the TDS and some of those guys are posting damn near zero TDS.

[madehtsobi]

Lol that's funny.

Mines too clean compared to yours then haha

My gh/kh changed with like 5-8 drops I think last time I checked.

Ph was like 8?

I think I just might add a few more ial and see. And then 2-3 cones.

Man if your TDS is like 3-400 and still breeding what's all the damn fuss about!?!?

UNLESS they'll be berried and hatch and all that but the babies don't survive?


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[eklikewhoa]

anything breaking down will increase it. The stones probably is helping too.

I don't pay attention to all the numbers, I don't own any test kits and last time I took a water sample to thebaoster's house to test the GH/KH never changed colors so I stopped adding drops and testing.

My pH did drop with the IAL to about 6.0-6.4, TDS I think the last month when I did the test was back down to about 300-400

[madehtsobi]

Wth. Haha

Waiting for the alder to help with ph..

Even with weekly water changes What raises gh/kh? Leftover food? I don't have anything else besides the shrimp and plants.


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[eklikewhoa]

Cuttlebone is those long oval white things they sell for birds to peck at and work down their beaks.

Suppose to help with GH and provide calcium.