# New NPT, second week tests



## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

Hiya!

I recently decided to try the NPT approach on a 1 gallon hex aquarium I had laying around. 

Well, its going on the second week and I've got some interesting results from my various water tests. I'll lay them out now and kinda give an idea of what i've changed since.

Week 1:

High pH (I didnt actually have a high pH tester, but it was at the very end of my scale, which is 7.6)
ammonia: 1.0ppm
nitrite: .75ppm
nitrate: 10 ppm

Afterwards, the only thing I really changed was to add an air stone turned up so low that only one stream of tiny bubbles comes. I wanted to add just a little bit of flow without turbulence or hurting the CO2. The tank looked like it has a little tannin in it (there's a piece of driftwood in the tank) but otherwise seems fine. I have some little stem plants that are growing about 2 leaves a day. The water sprites I planted are very green and standing tall. I also have some pennywort (brazilian?) that are growing lil leaves as we speak. So the plants seem to be doing just fine, right? 

I want to add a betta at some point (please dont give me a lecture...as I see it, I'm rescuing a fish from a 2 inch bowl in walmart...1 gallon's gonna seem like a paradise) but I'm being very careful (and trying to be patient)

Week 2 tests: right after a water change (added water with an 'air tube line' siphon, so it didnt disrupt/kick up).

pH (high test): 8.1 pH
Nitrate: 0ppm or just a hair more
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: .35ppm or so

Soooo...my pH is up there (probably always was) and my ammonia is at a scary level. 

Just curious if anyone had any advice. I think the number changes are where they should be...but I cant figure out why my pH is so friggin' high!
Thanks in advance!


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Your pH is high because you dont have CO2. 
Quite probably/definitely you are at 'equilibrium' CO2 (2-3 ppm).

Why use an airstone to induce flow? 
not only you will degass CO2 but it really doesnt move much water... and you dont really need much water movement in a 1 Gal Betta tank.

Since (i assume) you havent added any fish, you are not feeding the tank with enough organics to decompose and produce Co2, and no fish respiration. Your Co2 production is left entirely to the soil... which depending on how much organics it had to begin with, you could have very little co2 production from the soil.

In your case I would: 
1) remove the airstone (no disturbing the substrate)
2) do a 'large' water change to rid the ammonia (no disturbing the substrate)
3) add a few more plants, floating plants or easy plants like Hornwort/ Egeria densa... you could wait until these plants consume the ammonia and avoid the WC, but a <1 Gal water change is simple enough (no disturbing the substrate)
4) add your fish(es) (no disturbing the substrate)

You can do all that in about 30 mins. Afterwards... just don't disturb the substrate and feed your fish


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## Sumthin Fishy (Aug 22, 2009)

You don't mention what your substrate is, but I always have ammonia for a few weeks (using MG Organic choice.) I usually just wait it out. Since it already dropped from 1.0 to .35 it sounds like you are almost there. 

As for pH, what is your tap water pH? And again, what did you use as substrate?

I have a one gallon shrimp bowl and have found that this size tank rapidly fills with plants, which makes it hard to view the inhabitants. It also takes on a greenish cast that's not that appealing. In your case, the watersprite will quickly overwhelm the bowl. I had some in my 10 gallon that I removed because it took over.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

azaizai said:


> Afterwards, the only thing I really changed was to add an air stone turned up so low that only one stream of tiny bubbles comes. I wanted to add just a little bit of flow without turbulence or hurting the CO2. The tank looked like it has a little tannin in it (there's a piece of driftwood in the tank) but otherwise seems fine. I have some little stem plants that are growing about 2 leaves a day. The water sprites I planted are very green and standing tall. I also have some pennywort (brazilian?) that are growing lil leaves as we speak. So the plants seem to be doing just fine, right?


It sounds like this tank is doing very well. Plants growing right off is always good!

Usually, you should do some water changes in a new tank for the first couple months. This will help remove the ammonia until the plants get established and soil settles down. If the ammonia doesn't come back within a few days, I'd consider putting the fish in.

Very light air bubbling, which you seem to have, shouldn't hurt. It may actually help generate more CO2 (oxygen stimulates bacterial metabolism and CO2 production). I have very light air bubbling in my two new DSM tanks. I don't use an air-stone, just let the bubbles come one-by-one. The bubbling barely disturbs the water surface or the floating plants. These tanks have fairly high CO2 levels (about 7-10 ppm). The levels in these tanks are just as high as those in the shrimp bowls without aeration.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

dwalstad said:


> It sounds like this tank is doing very well. Plants growing right off is always good!
> 
> Usually, you should do some water changes in a new tank for the first couple months. This will help remove the ammonia until the plants get established and soil settles down. If the ammonia doesn't come back within a few days, I'd consider putting the fish in.
> 
> Very light air bubbling, which you seem to have, shouldn't hurt. It may actually help generate more CO2 (oxygen stimulates bacterial metabolism and CO2 production). I have very light air bubbling in my two new DSM tanks. I don't use an air-stone, just let the bubbles come one-by-one. The bubbling barely disturbs the water surface or the floating plants. These tanks have fairly high CO2 levels (about 7-10 ppm). The levels in these tanks are just as high as those in the shrimp bowls without aeration.


I think the only problem is that one would rely too much on the test kit... while floating Egeria densa and/or hornwort seem to always work against ammonia. They wont need CO2 and suck up the N's right away, plus some water changes.

Very interesting about the airstone... i used to have a powerhead with the Venturi to get some air into the tank. Worked very well, the plants grew better with it. I had the powerhead outlet submersed about 40cm (the outcoming bubbles were tiny and dissolved before they hit the surface). The only reason I am not using that now is because I have DIY Co2 plugged into the venturi...


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## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

First off, thank you very much for the responses!

I guess I didnt really state why I wanted water movement. A film was starting to develop on the water surface and it looked kinda ugly. I think I may try the tube without the air stone, as it would be even less turbulent than the airstone I have hooked up.

Substrate is generic brand B soil (non-fertilized) and generic brand B aquarium rocks. I was trying to keep this as cheap as possible. Even got a few random larvae with the dirt (mosquitos and a few random directionless floaty-spinny guys).

I think I'll try to be patient and wait one more week. Do a 90% water change (without disturbing the substrate) and see where I'm at. I do have a few random snails in there that are thrilled...but I doubt they contribute to much CO2. I think I have some more floaty stuff in my other tank and I might put some java moss in there, if it'll help.

Oh...and here's about the week's worth of growth, if the pics show up


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

I think you can do with more plants...


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Thanks for posting pictures. The pictures help give us some idea of what's going on.

I would have used a smaller gravel size. The gravel is very big in comparison to the delicate plant roots. And debris is going to fall through those huge cracks. However, you can help the plants by removing a bit of the top gravel in spots where the gravel layer is really deep. 

You will probably need some aeration/water circulation-- at least until plants are growing very well and oxygenating the water. I say that because the soil layer is pretty deep; it may remove oxygen from the water. A soil layer this deep will generate plenty of CO2 first few months.


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## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

hmmm...I wonder if the pictures are misleading? there's less than an inch of soil and just enough of the gravel to keep it down. I was hoping since it was so thin on top (the one picture does have a lil mountain of gravel...but I think that was created when I pinched in the sprites) the plants wouldnt have too hard a time getting to the good stuff.

So, judging from comments...if this effort fails I should:

1) Use less soil
2) Smaller gravel
3) more plants? I guess I could do away with the wood, but I'm kind of a java plant junkey (i know they're not really appropriate for this style of tank)

Anywho! Thanks again for responses, I'll update wednesday when I WC and test again


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## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

Alright week 3 is here!

Results are in: I think they're in line with other's predictions. I did about a 75% water change before hand using an air line tube to siphon and fill (little to no disturbance because it took so little water).

pH: Solid 8.0 (little down from last week)
nitrate: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: .25 ppm (and real close to zero. One's yellow and ones yellow-green. Mine had a tint of green, so I just rounded up)

I planted another twig or two of the water sprite and added some java moss from my other aquarium. Hair algae is starting to grow on teh bottoms of the stem plants and the moss floating at the top. There's also some stiff lil algae growing on the tank that I couldnt scrape off. The snails are making short work of it tho. There was a surprising amount of snail poo, actually. I tried to siphon a little out as it was actually resting on a few of the pennyworts. Got some good growth otherwise tho...I think maybe its just gonna be a long wait until everythings straight. Here's two shots from roughly the same angles as before.
















think I just keep up with the weekly water change until my ammonia disappears and my pH is hospitable for a betta?


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## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

Sooo...I was rereading some of the responses in this thread and noticed teh question posed by Sumthin Fishy about the pH of my tap water. I seem to remember it being mid 7's...but when I tested it today!

8.3! I looked into it and it turns out the public works is adding more of something (I think it was calcium) and has increased the pH!

Sooooo...what should I do? I havent tested the new pH after water change yet, but I will be soon


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Wow, its always scary when your water company are 'playing' with your water...
To have a better idea, check the KH of your tap water (degassed), it should be somewhere around 18-20 dH.

If your KH is high and your pH is really 8.3 then you should be looking at hard water fish... maybe livebearers. Or you can work a mix of RO/DI or even distilled water.....

Good luck!


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## azaizai (Nov 29, 2009)

I dont have those tests handy,unfortunately. Might roll over to petco and see if they have a set in stock. Otherwise, I might just call the local petshop and see if they happen to know.

Assuming I cant acclimate a betta to the higher pH, what other small fish would be suitable for such a small aquarium (1 gallon, at max)? Perhaps shrimp? A local place has ghost shrimp occaisionally (usually for less than a dollar a piece)


*edit: Test after water change was an even 8.0. I'm wondering if the 90% WC's are hurting more than helping. I might wait a few days and do another test...see if the green stuff is sorting things out.*


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Have you moved one of the floating plants you mentioned you had into this tank? I think that would help suck up some of the available nitrogen, as well as some of the hardness. 

Since its only 1 gallon, perhaps using a gallon or two of bottled water mixed in with your tap for the next few water changes might help. I did that with a 5.5 gal tank I set up a few months ago.

My local water authority was messing w/ the water as well, adding straight KOH - ugh. Also, tap was coming out with a high GH. The supermarket brand bottled water ($0.57/gallon) was a pH of 6.2, and a GH of <1, so I cut it with tap for water changes for a bit. 

As to other fish, you might try a trio of White Cloud Mountain Minnows - they are pretty tolerant of hard water, don't require a heater (they're fine w/ room temps as long as it stays below 80 F) and are very pretty when they get comfortable - they love planted tanks! They are active, not shy at all, stay small and get lovely coloring. 

Ghost shrimp are also a good idea - they have quite a bit of personality, and are very amusing to watch. 

-Jane


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