just switched my tank over to a F8P species tank (apart from a bottom feeding cat fish) and I've been reading
about substrates and their role in pH buffering and coping with the bio-burdon etc..
I've still got the original gravel substrate from my tank's previous incarnation. Water quality is spot on but I'm wondering
about this gravel??
Well, looking at it from the catfish's point of view, something smoother would be kinder on his barbels, but he will have to go when you change over to brackish water anyway. As to your Figure-8, well I think some people prefer to use Aragonite in a brackish tank to keep the pH stable. I don't know how much of an issue that's going to be for you since you're only going light brackish.
pufferpuggirl wrote:Well, looking at it from the catfish's point of view, something smoother would be kinder on his barbels, but he will have to go when you change over to brackish water anyway. As to your Figure-8, well I think some people prefer to use Aragonite in a brackish tank to keep the pH stable. I don't know how much of an issue that's going to be for you since you're only going light brackish.
Thanks!
Can I mix Aragonite with the current smooth substrate?
Clarification: Please do not worry about the pH, worry about the Kh, the carbonate/bicarbonate hardness. That is what is important to the F-8 and the tank. The pH is at best only a symptom.
IMHO, that gravel is completely unsuitable for any fish tank if that puffer is at least 1/2" long. That is not vacuumable effectively. It will be a maintenance nightmare if used with messy eaters such as puffers.
Hobby catfish in general are not suited to brackish water. What is needed for the puffer will be harmful or at least not best or beneficial for the catfish.
RTR wrote:Clarification: Please do not worry about the pH, worry about the Kh, the carbonate/bicarbonate hardness. That is what is important to the F-8 and the tank. The pH is at best only a symptom.
IMHO, that gravel is completely unsuitable for any fish tank if that puffer is at least 1/2" long. That is not vacuumable effectively. It will be a maintenance nightmare if used with messy eaters such as puffers.
Hobby catfish in general are not suited to brackish water. What is needed for the puffer will be harmful or at least not best or beneficial for the catfish.
HTH
as a solution to this, would it be pheasable to add a fine substrate tothe front third of the tanks where the food falls so that the messy eaters can easily find the food they missed first time round? or should i gradually remove this gravel over a period of time?
IME, no. It should be replaced if you want to be able to control the water conditions. If the tank has a mature biofilter, there are no drawbacks (other than the work involved, which is a chore, to replacing the substrate all at once.
RTR wrote:IME, no. It should be replaced if you want to be able to control the water conditions. If the tank has a mature biofilter, there are no drawbacks (other than the work involved, which is a chore, to replacing the substrate all at once.
HTH
ok, i'll just have to bite the bullet and change out the gravel with aragonite about a 1/4" deep
They are not diggers, but they may blow bare spots through the shallow substrate. That is only a visual problem for you, certainly not a water issue - it will be a snap to maitain so shallow a substrate, and the majority of the solution of carbonate/bicarbonate is from the exposed surface anyway. Later, if you don't lile the look of the shallow layer you can add more. I ordinarily only use about 1/2" of aragonite in FO tanks.
Just about any aragonite is OK for this use - I have only used Caribsea myself, but have used several different forms of aragonite from them, it is more a matter of different "looks" than different function IME.
RTR wrote:They are not diggers, but they may blow bare spots through the shallow substrate. That is only a visual problem for you, certainly not a water issue - it will be a snap to maitain so shallow a substrate, and the majority of the solution of carbonate/bicarbonate is from the exposed surface anyway. Later, if you don't lile the look of the shallow layer you can add more. I ordinarily only use about 1/2" of aragonite in FO tanks.
Just about any aragonite is OK for this use - I have only used Caribsea myself, but have used several different forms of aragonite from them, it is more a matter of different "looks" than different function IME.
LOL! You do see that not everything about puffer keeping is complicated. Some of it is just pure personal choice within limits. It would be boring if we had no personal options. I am one of the folks who really need change (at rather long intervals, I admit - I am still lazy). I am delighted to be able to help.
ok, so i changed out the ornamental gravel for aragonite sand about a week ago...
the pH is coming up nicely, 7.8 currently...
the KH is at 70ppm whi I think is way low?? Seeing as the aragonite has only had just under a week to act on the KH, am I on course for
good conditions?
Yup, you have the right stuff now. It will not give completely stable conditions, but that is not essential - it will give far better stability than any other substrate. The aragonite - being the most soluble form available - will star dissolving faster as the KH is depleted, bringing more into solution faster just as needed.
While ideally we could want highly stable water parameters, that is not realistic in our semi-closed system regular tank set-ups and care. So we settle for some fluctuation, using material for the substrate which is highly responsive to water conditions. That gives a better margin of safety than we would have otherwise with different substrates.
Back when I ran the F-8 longevity study, I added a late study group with the good substrate (aragonite) versus inert substrate (very small gravel - which does not contribute tho either GH or KH). I did run enough numbers of test tanks to show significance in laboratory-style trials, but the fish over the aragonite did live longer and healthier lives than those over the inert gravel. It appeared that the most responsive substrate was likely as important as was the specific gravity. Even without being able to show strong statistical significance (due to too few fish in these late groups), it was enough to convince me. All of my longest lived fish in the main study were also over such substrates, which reinforced the findings.
If anything, aragonite may be more important to low density BW than it is to mid-level BW or higher density BW and SW. With more marine mix in the water in those, we have more buffering present anyway from the increased levels of the marine mix itself.
I have to try to get some sort of article into the library on this factor - to keep the importance of this available to everybody.
Gravel??
Re: Gravel??
