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I've been in the fish-keeping hobby for at least 10 years. I've always wanted a beautiful, large planted aquarium. I finally have the large aquarium (75 gallons) and for the past two years I've gotten the hang of keeping live aquarium plants.
Ever since I started keeping live plants, I've had more fish deaths. There has to be some critical step that I'm missing or doing wrong and I'm hoping you can help me.
-I've never used CO2, so asphyxiation is out.
-I've only used Seachem's product line for fertilizers. Right now I'm only using Equilibrium, Flourish liquid, and Flourish root tabs.
Before keeping live plants these are the steps I would follow for a partial water change:
-Unplug filter and heater
-Use algae scrubber and/or dedicated "tank toothbrush" to clean surfaces in the tank as needed
-Siphon substrate until clean and desired amount of water is removed
-Calculate how much water was removed (I turn percentage into gallons). Then dose Prime for the amount of gallons removed directly into the tank.
-Fill bucket with fresh tap water matching the temperature of the tank (or as close as possible) and pour into tank one at a time until tank is full again
-Restart filter and heater.
After keeping live plants these are the steps I currently follow for a partial water change:
-Unplug filter and heater
-Use algae scrubber and/or dedicated "tank toothbrush" to clean surfaces in the tank as needed
-Siphon substrate until clean and desired amount of water is removed
-Calculate how much water was removed (I turn percentage into gallons). Then dose Prime for the amount of gallons removed directly into the tank.
-Fill bucket with fresh tap water matching the temperature of the tank (or as close as possible) and pour into tank one bucket at a time until tank is full again. If it's a larger water change (>20%) I hook a potable water hose to my sink to refill the tank.
-Restart filter and heater.
-(1) Dose Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer, for amount of gallons removed, into the tank (pre-mixing in a small container of aquarium water so as not to dump all in at once) to make replacement water equal desired KH and GH.
What are your thoughts? Does something stand out to you that could be shocking fish during water changes? If you use Equilibrium or Alkaline Buffer how do you go about water changes? My tap water has a KH of 1-2 degrees, GH of 1-2 degrees and pH around 7.0.
Ever since I started keeping live plants, I've had more fish deaths. There has to be some critical step that I'm missing or doing wrong and I'm hoping you can help me.
-I've never used CO2, so asphyxiation is out.
-I've only used Seachem's product line for fertilizers. Right now I'm only using Equilibrium, Flourish liquid, and Flourish root tabs.
Before keeping live plants these are the steps I would follow for a partial water change:
-Unplug filter and heater
-Use algae scrubber and/or dedicated "tank toothbrush" to clean surfaces in the tank as needed
-Siphon substrate until clean and desired amount of water is removed
-Calculate how much water was removed (I turn percentage into gallons). Then dose Prime for the amount of gallons removed directly into the tank.
-Fill bucket with fresh tap water matching the temperature of the tank (or as close as possible) and pour into tank one at a time until tank is full again
-Restart filter and heater.
After keeping live plants these are the steps I currently follow for a partial water change:
-Unplug filter and heater
-Use algae scrubber and/or dedicated "tank toothbrush" to clean surfaces in the tank as needed
-Siphon substrate until clean and desired amount of water is removed
-Calculate how much water was removed (I turn percentage into gallons). Then dose Prime for the amount of gallons removed directly into the tank.
-Fill bucket with fresh tap water matching the temperature of the tank (or as close as possible) and pour into tank one bucket at a time until tank is full again. If it's a larger water change (>20%) I hook a potable water hose to my sink to refill the tank.
-Restart filter and heater.
-(1) Dose Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer, for amount of gallons removed, into the tank (pre-mixing in a small container of aquarium water so as not to dump all in at once) to make replacement water equal desired KH and GH.
What are your thoughts? Does something stand out to you that could be shocking fish during water changes? If you use Equilibrium or Alkaline Buffer how do you go about water changes? My tap water has a KH of 1-2 degrees, GH of 1-2 degrees and pH around 7.0.