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Any goldfish keepers on here?


Clagsniffer
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Was just wondering if anyone on here keeps goldfish, or indeed has any other aquarium? I have a couple of questions regarding water quality.

 

My friend alerted me to a problem he was having in his tank caused by high phosphates. I bought a test kit for this and when I tested came back as 2ppm. It does say 0ppm is ideal but is this level ok for goldfish? Is there anything I can do to reduce this other than water changes? Maybe something I can put in my filter? I’ve got a Fluval 306 external canister filter with baskets for different media in it.

 

The other thing I tested for was carbonate hardness (kH). When I tested my water it came back as 74ppm ish, which from what I can gather is on the low side of ok for goldfish, but greater than 200ppm is better. Again, what can I do to raise this? I’ve seen people suggesting crushed coral, but this also effects pH which I don’t want to change as it seems stable at 7.5pH.

 

Will be interesting to hear people’s thoughts.

 

P.S. Feel free to post pictures of your aquariums, I love looking at them. Also a big fan of the TV show “Tanked”

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  • RMweb Gold

The high phosphates level is probably coming out of your tap. So changing the water frequently is not going to help much. We have a big problem around here with high phosphate levels in tap water - probably due to excessive fertiliser use.

 

Other than that, I don't have much aquarium experience. My cousin has one for her turtle, Myrtle.

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6 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

The high phosphates level is probably coming out of your tap. So changing the water frequently is not going to help much. We have a big problem around here with high phosphate levels in tap water - probably due to excessive fertiliser use.

 

Other than that, I don't have much aquarium experience. My cousin has one for her turtle, Myrtle.

Thanks for this. Phosphates in the tap water would make sense, as my friend said he couldn’t get rid of his after several water changes. I’m sure there must some additive available to balance things out.

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  • RMweb Gold

There is, from your local aquarist, who will be able to advise on water quality.  I keep southeast asian freshwater tropicals in a nano tank and goldfishes on the patio in an old big planter.  This is of course rain fed and more or less looks after itself.   Maidenhead Aquatics stock one for Fluval filters. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Clagsniffer said:

 

 

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I generally change the water regularly in the summer months and I use water conditioners available over the counter. The bottle will tell you how much to add for a given volume of water. The biggest enemy for me when the goldfish are very active and eating well is cleaning out the filters and pumps and getting rid of green algae which is the scourge of the summer months. When I fill the pond I add all the relevant chemicals including pond water conditioner which removes chlorine and gets the pH right for the fish. I also add medicine generally to keep the fish healthy and, if required, anti fungal additives if the fish look like they have any white spot. 

 

 

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This for phosphates

https://www.finest-filters.co.uk/aquarium-pond-filter-media/phosphate-remover/

 

and a UV filter for reducing blanket weed, I always tried to avoid adding chemicals into water, to remove other problems. Collecting rain water is the best if you can get a clean source, when I kept Discus I got water off the greenhouse into closed water butts to get softer water.

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An important point about UV filters is to change the bulbs as recommended by the manufacturer as they do become less effective over time. They cause algae/blanket weed to clump so the filter can remove it, otherwise you can end up with blanket weed which is a pain to remove when it sticks to the sides of the pond.

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