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Newbie questions

gerald

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5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Depends on the species; Amano shrimp and some of the Sulawesi species do better in harder water, while crystal red bees and some others prefer softer water. Check PetShrimp and other forums and websites for advice on specific water parameters for each species.
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,

Just wanted to show my latest acquisition:

Apistogramma panduro pair (hopefully)
That female has to be the prettiest fish I´ve ever seen!

+ bonus shots of Otocinclus and wild caught Carnegiella myersi (who have been fighting at surface all evening)

And I was only going to LFS for a couple of feet of air tube...;)
 

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ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,

Just wanted to tell you that I just found my first Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi fry in my main tank!
I have never had in my 20+ years of aquarium keeping fry from tetras.

Thanks guys for all the information!
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Black neon (what we call H. herbertaxelrodi in USA) and emperor tetras (N. palmeri) are some of the easiest-to-breed tetras, often with no intent or effort from the keeper!
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,

What kind of conductivity readings you guys get from rain water?
I got 3 µS. Is that even possible?
 

dw1305

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5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Hi all,
What kind of conductivity readings you guys get from rain water?
I got 3 µS. Is that even possible?
If you want to check your meter add a very small amount of table salt to a litre of rain-water, the workings are in <"Help with my water....">.

I usually get about 60µS, it can be over a hundred in the summer and I've had less than 30 µS in the winter after its snowed.

It is all limestone here and quite dusty.

If it has rained a lot lately (or you've had heavy thunderstorms?) it can be pretty low, and I've spoken to people in Scotland etc where they regularly get ~10microS.

cheers Darrel
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,
If you want to check your meter add a very small amount of table salt to a litre of rain-water, the workings are in <"Help with my water....">.

I usually get about 60µS, it can be over a hundred in the summer and I've had less than 30 µS in the winter after its snowed.

It is all limestone here and quite dusty.

If it has rained a lot lately (or you've had heavy thunderstorms?) it can be pretty low, and I've spoken to people in Scotland etc where they regularly get ~10microS.

cheers Darrel

Hi,

It rained heavily today. I collected about an hour after is started. I live in a middle of "peat country" here in central Finland.
And there´s no big factories in my town(if that makes any difference).
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
The conductivity could be in single figures. Heavy rain (or even better snow) will take a lot of the dust and particulates from the atmosphere, and you can get very pure rain-water.

Try the salt, even a couple of grains should raise the conductivity.

cheers Darrel
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,

It rained heavily again today. Of course it did, my summer vacation started today ;)
I tried salt.

Before 3µS
After 50µS

I placed 8 grains of table salt in 0,4 pt (pint) of rain water. What is the unit used in Uk on that small amounts of liquid?

Did Mike That Is Wise write some time ago that one could use pure rain water filtered through peat? I´d like to try that with my new panduro pair.
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Yes, I did. My R/O unit (a bit old membrane) produces water at 5µS/cm. After a week in my peat tank it has risen to 35µS/cm. My A. wolli are reproducing in a mix of 1:2 peat water to straight R/O. My Cristals are reproducing in 1:1 peat to R/O ... and my Wangenflecken in straight tap water (~80 µS/cm).
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Yes, I did. My R/O unit (a bit old membrane) produces water at 5µS/cm. After a week in my peat tank it has risen to 35µS/cm. My A. wolli are reproducing in a mix of 1:2 peat water to straight R/O. My Cristals are reproducing in 1:1 peat to R/O ... and my Wangenflecken in straight tap water (~80 µS/cm).

Hi,

Would fishes get something useful in this peat treated water since it rises conductivity? In addition to humic substances.
Or will everything they need come from food?
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
I tried salt.

Before 3µS
After 50µS

I placed 8 grains of table salt in 0,4 pt (pint) of rain water. What is the unit used in Uk on that small amounts of liquid?
A grain of salt is ~0.5 milligram, so you added ~4 milligram NaCl.

A pint is 568 millilitre, so about 225ml, so call it about 20mg of salt in 1 litre of water. A 10 μS/cm rise in conductivity is equivalent to about 6.5 mg of NaCl per litre of water, so I think you can assume that your starting water really was below 5 microS conductivity.

cheers Darrel
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Hi,

Would fishes get something useful in this peat treated water since it rises conductivity? In addition to humic substances.
Or will everything they need come from food?

The primary benefits of peat treated water is that humic and fulvic acids aid in preventing fungal infection of the eggs. The associated lower pH values also retard bacteria. Food is where most nutrition is found.
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi all,A grain of salt is ~0.5 milligram, so you added ~4 milligram NaCl.

A pint is 568 millilitre, so about 225ml, so call it about 20mg of salt in 1 litre of water. A 10 μS/cm rise in conductivity is equivalent to about 6.5 mg of NaCl per litre of water, so I think you can assume that your starting water really was below 5 microS conductivity.

cheers Darrel
Hi,

They installed new roof 2 years ago on our block of flats. And all new drainage. Could the roof leach something? Sheet metal roof.
Should I wait before collecting rainwater? There´s no big factories in our town and were living in the middle of forests and lakes.
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
They installed new roof 2 years ago on our block of flats. And all new drainage. Could the roof leach something? Sheet metal roof. Should I wait before collecting rainwater? There´s no big factories in our town and were living in the middle of forests and lakes.
Some people recommend letting the first few litres of water run away (you can get diverters that do this) or <"diverters with filters">, but I've never bothered.

I'd be pretty confident that your new roof is safe, but you can always check with the TDS meter that nothing is dissolving from the roof.

cheers Darrel
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Sheet metal roofing may be galvanized with zinc. I dont know how much of that zinc might end up in your rain barrel, but zinc is more soluble and more toxic in soft acidic water than in hard water (since calcium and zinc compete for the same uptake cells). Zinc toxcity in freshwater fish is typically less than 0.1 mg/L. That would be difficult to detect with a conductivity meter, among all the other ions from dust, bird and insect poop, tree leaves, pollen, and whatever else falls on your roof. You could test the collected rainwater toxicity using Daphnia.
 
Last edited:

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Sheet metal roofing may be galvanized with zinc.......
I think that is probably unlikely in mainland Europe, they tend to be a lot more careful with potentially toxic metals than we are in the UK (or I dare say you are in the USA).

Another thought was that if the water is aged with peat etc then any metal ions will be complexed and much less available.
You could test the collected rainwater toxicity using Daphnia.
I do this, but I suspect the OP's rain-water is too soft.

cheers Darrel
 

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi,

Well... apparently that roof is steel sheets and with zinc (zinc mass is 275 g/m²). It has two layers of paint on both sides.
But I will filter all that rainwater through peat.

Darrel, what do you mean by Daphnia not liking soft water?
 

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