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RE: conductivity question

Alright,

The tank history:

I only recently got a conductivity meter, so Idont know how long it has been that high. However the 15gallon tank contained a pairof Dicrossus filamentosus with a piece of driftwood, heavily planted(java fern, javamoss and anubias). There was an aqua clear 150 with a sponge on the intank and a sponge in the filter.
The meter I have says times your result by 10 to get the mircosiemes. So it tested first at like 68. So I did a water change with tap water and it was down to about 54(so 540 mircosiemes). Finally recently I realized I had not seen the female eat in a long time. so she must be dead. so i took the male out and put him back with his fellow Dicrossus. took all the plants out, Took out the driftwood. Washed the filters on both the intake and the inside. Then I took ALL the water out via syphoning. Then I cleaned the sand out and washed it relatively thoroughly until it was coming up clear when water was run through it.
I filled it up with a tank of water that was sitting there with a conudctivity of 30 (which is tap water here in VancouveR BC)Then I filled the tank up(originally thinking I was going to breed the A. Cacatuoides in it) with water from a 10gallon tank that housed a trio of orange flash cacatuoides and dither fish. That water was around
220microsiemens. Forgetting that raising the general hardness would effect the conductivity too, I was in the mind set that my water hardness of 20ppm mind not be enough for Kribs or Cacs. So I thought Id add the dosage required to make it 3german degrees. Then the conductivity was around 780 microsiemes. I did water changes adding dehumidified water as well as more low conductivity water. Then I added a bag of peatmoss into the aquaclear thinking at least I would soften the water. I then also used proper PH 7.0 to take the ph which was 5.01 at the time and bring it up. I also used some baking soda in cunjuction with the proper PH. So right now after all that the PH is 6.41, the conductivity is 540microsiemes and the general hardness is 20ppm. (because i syphoned some of the equalibrium that did not dissolve out once i realized what it would be doing to the conductivity)


My tap water is:
Ph 7.12  30microsiemes and 0general hardness (or at least hard to trace)
my dehumidified water is ph 5.0 and 10 microsiemens


Is that enough history?


The dicrossus were int here for several monthes without a water change because it was a 15gallon with SO many plants that it really wasnt dirty as far as I could tell.

thanks

coby



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From: "David A. Youngker" <nestor10@mindspring.com>
Reply-To: apisto@listbox.com
To: "Apistogramma Mailing List" <apisto@listbox.com>
Subject: RE: conductivity question
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 17:20:02 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: the dude (coby)
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 3:56 PM

> My hardness is less the 20ppm but my conductivity is
> 570mincroseiems??

And you say it's 30 µS _before_ you place it in the tank? At what point are
you adding the Equilibrium? Does the mix give you 30 µS, or is your tap
giving you that reading?

The buffers used in Equilibrium are mostly potassium and sodium based - both
the chief electrons responsible for osmotic pressure and, in turn, higher
conductivity. Its hardness comes from things like calcium chloride, sulfate
and the like. Using such a mix allows for much easier solution than would
straight calcium carbonate, for example.

SeaChem does an excellent job in balancing the compound, but as with
everything else there may be some minor discrepancies when dealing with
extreme ranges of the scale. It was developed and fine-tuned through input
sources that include the members of the Aquatic Plants Digest, and handles
most "normal" ranges to give one of, if not the single-most, faithful
reproductions of a "standardized" mineral balance as possible.

But even at the very low end of the scale I can't see it throwing the
osmotic balances that far out of kilter.

> This is after I just took out all the water
> and plants as well as rinsing the sand to
> clean it (setting it up for a new fish)...

Does this mean you tested the water immediately upon filling the tank, or
was there standing time involved?

> ...however the hardness is still only 20ppm. So
> what is causing that conductivity?

We've been given a starting and ending figure, the presence of a couple of
fish (which isn't quite certain as you say you were prepping the tank for
new fish here but it contained 2 Dicrossus for an undisclosed time period in
the original message) and the presence of plants and pool sand (which
normally means silicate-based, non-dissolving sand or it wouldn't make much
of a filter media). I'm afraid that's not quite enough to be able to provide
the "definitive answer" you seek ;-) .

> Will kribensis, A. cacatuoides, and A.
> trifasciata spawn with water at ph 6.4
> 20ppm but 500microsiemens?...

The first two won't mind, but the trifasciata I have now aren't quite
breeding age yet so I couldn't comment on them. 500 µS is about my normal
range when I'm supplementing the plants for a show tank. (Tomoko's Borellii
certainly don't seem to mind that level either, as one or the other of the
breeding quad (3F/1M) always seems to be guarding.)

Dicrossus might have a few objections, though...


-Y-

David A. Youngker
nestor10@mindspring.com



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