From: tli@caldera.usc.edu (Tony Li)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria
Subject: FAQ: Water quality
Date: 16 Apr 1992 01:05:09 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Reply-To: tli@cisco.com,patti@hosehead.hf.intel.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: caldera.usc.edu


			       Water Quality

Rev 1.2  10/4/91

Prologue:
---------
This monthly series is intended to address some of the frequently
asked questions (FAQ) on the rec. and alt.aquaria newsgroups.  Because
the answers may not be complete, please feel free to ask questions. 
This is only intended to address first level concerns, and not to
dampen discussions.

Currently, the series contain the following messages:

     > Beginner topics - Glossary of terms (used on the net)
                       - Setting up an aquarium
                       - Moving an aquarium
                       - Good beginner books

     > Equipment       - Filters and related issues
                       - Air pumps

     > Water Quality   - Nitrogen Cycle
                       - Plants
                       - When your fish are sick

     > Mags and MO     - Magazines, subscription rates and
                         addresses
                       - Mail order outfits.

Please review and send any corrections or inputs to the FAQ maintainers
with "(FAQ)" in the subject line.  You are absolutely welcomed to tackle
(i.e. WRITE) sections that have not been written yet.

I've received recommendations to put email address "pointers" in
the FAQ to vector questions to specific experts on particular
subjects.  If you would like to offer yourself as such an expert,
please send me your email address and the specific topics you want
to host.  Please include an email path that is generally accessible
to the greatest number of people.


WATER QUALITY, NITROGEN CYCLE AND FISH DISEASE PREVENTION:
----------------------------------------------------------
     Water quality is important to the health of your piscine
guests.  In fact, most diseases and parasitic infections are due to
lowered immunal defenses because of poor nutrition and bad water
quality.  So, if your fish are diseased, the first suspect is
usually your water.
     In the wild, most fish live in large bodies of water that
minimizes the changes in water quality.  (i.e. the ocean remains
very constant in salinity, temperature, etc. because it is so
large.  Therefore, marine aquaria require constant vigilant
care).  So depending on the fish, the constancy of the water
quality is also important.

WATER QUALITY
     Besides the nitrogen cycle and the disposal of organic waste,
there are other factors that influence water quality.  Air pumps
can draw contaminated air (read smoker exhalations) into the water. 
Other pollutants include paint, insecticides etc.  Therefore air
should be filtered before being pumped into the water.  (See
FILTERS).  Another major form of contaminants are our hands.  If we
do not wash our hands, we carry Lord-knows-what into the water (do
you know where your hands have been?).  If we wash them, we bring
minute traces of soap which is very bad for the mucous on the fish. 
The best thing is to rinse our hands in very hot water.

NITROGEN CYCLE
     Ecosystems absorb and make use of the biological/metabolic
waste.  The waste (pee and poo) from animals breaks down into
ammonia and other nitrogen compounds which are used by other
organisms (such as plants) in the ecosystem.
     Ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4+) exist in equilibrium with
the exact ratios depending on pH (higher pH allows for more
ammonia).  Ammonia is poisonous to fish in just about any
concentration (ammonium is relatively harmless).  It is converted
by bacteria of Nitrosomonas species (among others) to nitrite,
which is also toxic (but less so).  Nitrite, in turn, is converted
to relatively harmless nitrate by the bacteria of Nitrobacter
species (among others).  This is where things usually stop in an
aquarium.
     Despite the mistaken notion promoted by all too many aquarium
books, nitrates are not readily taken up by the plants and actually
stop the plants' growth in high concentrations.  There are two ways
to get rid of the nitrates (which become stressful for fish above
60 ppm concentrations): partial water changes and denitrification. 
The former is the easiest and least expensive method.  The latter
can be done by using bacteria of Pseudomonas species living in
nearly anaerobic conditions in very slow flow and long-path filters
or by ion-exchange (see Chemical Filtration).  Both are not at all
cheap or very easy to tune.  So stick to partial water changes. 
     Plants are somewhat useful in the nitrogen cycle.  It is now
believed that they absorb ammonium and in doing so, they shunt the
nitrogen cycle by shifting the ammonia/ammonium balance.  This in
turn causes more ammonia to be converted to ammonium to maintain
the balance at a specific pH.  But because a large number of plants
are needed (most fish concentrations in the wild are much lower
than that found in aquaria), one should stick with water changes.

 [The preceding is a generalization.  The real bio-chemistry of the
nitrogen cycle and all its aspects is very complex.  And, of
course, all of this is irrelevant to well-tuned salt-water reef
tanks].

HARDNESS
     The hardness of the water refers to the amount of dissolved
"hard" metallic ions such as calcium and magnesium.  This is
measured in dH. and GH. ????

dH - degree of hardness.  Usually denotes general hardness.  It is
     equivalent to 10 mg oxide of calcium or magnesium in 1 liter
     of water or 1dH = 17.9 ppm.
KH - carbonate (and bicarbonate) hardness.
GH - total (general) hardness.  This is not always equal to the sum
     of the carbonate and non-carbonate hardness because of the
     differences in the way all of these things are measured.

In general, what you need to know about hardness is the following:
     0-4 dH  -- very soft
     4-8 dH  -- soft
     8-12 dH -- medium hard
     12-20 dH -- hard
     above 20 -- liquid rock (Lake Malawi and Los Angeles, Ca.)

Your local waterworks company will give water measurements in ppm.

Carbonate hardness is important for plants' growth and fish
spawning (plants like it above 4 KH, most rain forest tropical fish
like it to be near 0).

General hardness in important for determining the buffering
capacity of your water.


FISH DISEASE PREVENTION
     Nutrition, water quality, and sanitary practices should
prevent most diseases.  Healthy fish have a way of fending off
attacks.
     Good sanitary practices include: not pouring pet store water
into an established tank, not buying diseased fish , not using the
same net between aquaria without first rinsing, and storing the
net in a clean, non-dusty place.
     Many times, live food are the most nutritious (for fish that
are meat eaters), but carry with them a danger of parasites and
disease.  Most notable are live tubifex worms (collected from
sewers and other nasty habitats; buy the freeze-dried variety),
goldfish (these are often sick by the time they are in the store),
pond collected daphnia etc.  One should always inspect the food
before offering it to the fish.

WHEN FISH ARE SICK
     When your fish are sick, you can post for diagnoses 
(Consultation of a fish book is probably preferred).  Please
include as much information as you can gather.

1.   Describe the condition of the fish with any externally visible
     growths, symptoms, behavioral modifications etc.  Also, post
     the length of time this has been going on.
2.   Describe the aquarium setup.  How big is the aquarium, how
     many fish, what kinds and how large?  How frequent are water
     changes performed?  Lighting and lack of?
3.   Test the water and post pH, temperature and possible
     fluctuations, colour, smell.  (taste? :-)
4.   If you have the kits, test and post the ammonium, nitrite,
     nitrate and hardness levels.
5.   Describe medication already used, and the after effects.

     Some medication companies (such as Mardel) print a diagnoses
chart and include this with the medicine.  Of course they recommend
their own brands as a cure for everything.  Find out the disease
and consult the net for recommendations.
     Many people recommend a hospital tank for isolating sick fish. 
The smaller hospital setup has the added benefit of minimizing the
amount of medicine used.  If hospital tanks are not left constantly
running, and are stored away, starting up one of these will be the
equivalent of starting a new aquarium.  A biological filtration
will need to be started, or seeded from the old filters.  (Some
types of treatment makes this irrelevant since the medicine will
kill all the beneficial bacteria).

PLANTS:
-------
Tips on helping plants survive:

0)   Buy a good book or send email to Vinny Kutty.  (See books).
1)   Get rid of the bulb that came with the hood...get rid of the
     hood. Use two strip lights or get a shop light if your tank is
     4 feet long. Under-illumination is the main reason for wilting
     plants.
2)   Change some of that ancient water...and keep changing a little
     bit every week.  (Some plants react badly to dramatic changes)
3)   Get rid of big, plant-eating and other herbivorous creatures.
4)   Change bulbs at least once a year. Vitalite, Chroma 75,
     Colortone 75,Triton, Grolux, Agrolite are all good lights. The
     last two are plant lights and they are pinkish in color, so
     mix them with other bulbs. Stay away from Cool white and other
     cheapies.  Also do not change all tubes at the same time.
5)   Plant densely. Don't try to save a couple of bucks here. Good
     beginning plants are Water sprite (can be floating or rooted),
     Hygrophila polysperma (sold as Hygro), Elodea (needs bright
     light), Vallisneria, Hornwort (floating stemmed plant), Java
     Moss (hardy as hell), Amazon swords (occasionally picky, but
     always recommended). Buy as many as you can and plant each
     species in groups. Be careful not to bury the crown (the
     junction of the roots and leaves) of plants like Amazon swords
     and Vallisneria.
6)   Algae will appear if there is enough light for the plants and
     the water contains phosphates and nitrates. Remedy: increase
     water changes, reduce feeding, reduce number of fish and add
     algae-eating fish like Otocinclus and bush-nose/bristle-nose
     pleco.
7)   You need at least 3" of gravel. 4-5 inches is better.  Of
     course, a 10 gallon tank with 5" of gravel will look odd, so
     you decide how much you need.
8)   STAY AWAY FROM ALL FERTILIZERS!!! Unless you want an algae
     garden.  Just do those water changes and if you want to get
     real fancy, you can add trace elements (Ferroplant etc.). 
     Remember that most land based fertilizers are toxic for fish.

Pat White has kindly offered to write an FAQ on lights.  If you have
inputs, please contact him, else stay tuned.


Disclaimer:
-----------
Some answers listed above may reflect personal biases of the author
and the FAQ's contributors.  In cases where the answers name
specific products and their respective manufacturers, these are not
to be taken as endorsements, nor commercials for the manufacturer. 
Where cost information is stated (magazine subscription rates),
this is based on "street" information, and are in no way binding on
the publisher.  The answers contained in this series pertain to
discussions on the rec. and alt.aquaria newsgroups, and are by no means
exhaustive.  This series is not intended to take the place of good
aquarium books on the subject matter.

Copyright:
----------
The FAQ owes its existence to the contributors of the net, and as
such it belongs to the readers of rec.aquaria and alt.aquaria. 
Copies can be made freely, as long as it is distributed at no
charge, and the disclaimers and the copyright notice are included.