I recently moved 6 cardinals from my large high-tech tank to a non-CO2 tank. The cardinals started looking lethargic by day 2 and weren't too enthuiastic about eating by day 3. I moved them back to the main tank on day 3 and now they are looking healthy again -- though one of them has a spot of white fungus on his tail (will this go away now that he is feeling better?).
I checked out some of the non-CO2 tank water parameters and found 2 possible problems:
1) pH of 8.1 or so -- that's what my local tap water is
2) GH of 20 -- local tap water
I know cardinals don't like water above 7.0 pH normally, and they also like soft water. The cardinals have been doing great in my high-tech tank, I assume because 1) pH is 6.0 - 7.0 during day and night and 2) water is quite a bit softer (12 - 16GH -- are the plants and/or snails using up the calcium?). Could there be some other causes for the cardinal problem in this tank? Other fish do fine in my non-CO2 (like galaxy rasboras & panda corys).
I cut the water by 60% with RO water, so the GH is now 8.
Since it is a non-CO2 tank, I really don't mind going with all RO water and some Equilibrium to remineralize the water. I'm just hoping that remineralized RO will have a pH around 7.0 or so. I don't know much about using chemicals to reduce pH.
I checked out some of the non-CO2 tank water parameters and found 2 possible problems:
1) pH of 8.1 or so -- that's what my local tap water is
2) GH of 20 -- local tap water
I know cardinals don't like water above 7.0 pH normally, and they also like soft water. The cardinals have been doing great in my high-tech tank, I assume because 1) pH is 6.0 - 7.0 during day and night and 2) water is quite a bit softer (12 - 16GH -- are the plants and/or snails using up the calcium?). Could there be some other causes for the cardinal problem in this tank? Other fish do fine in my non-CO2 (like galaxy rasboras & panda corys).
I cut the water by 60% with RO water, so the GH is now 8.
Since it is a non-CO2 tank, I really don't mind going with all RO water and some Equilibrium to remineralize the water. I'm just hoping that remineralized RO will have a pH around 7.0 or so. I don't know much about using chemicals to reduce pH.