Want to Hypo, ??'s about PH and salinity

[tranman777]

Ok, I'm sooo sick of ICK/ich. I want to get it out of my tank once and for all!!
and treat my infected fish.
First time attempting Hypo here.
I got the following equipment to do the hypo.
-10 gal tank
-small heater and thermometer
-HOB filter
-PH buffer to "raise and maintain" @ 8.3 (by Seachem)
-Refractometer coming in soon from SWF.
Please answer my questions and let me know if I'm doing this right.
Ok so I'll be using about 7 gallons of my existing water from my DT @ 1.0023 s.g. to my 10 gallon. (I'm using a third of the QT tank to leave space for fresh water dilution)
I know I have to lower the salinity to 14ppt in 48 hours.
My question is:
I will add fresh water 4 times throughout the 48 hour period in even increments of (1.0023, 1.0018, 1.0013, 1.008). Is this right?
Can I use fresh distilled or spring water to add to my qt tank?
My LFS rarely ever have RO/DI water available.
Can I use the drip method to add the fresh water slowly or can I pour the fresh water all at once (to bring to the targeted salinity)?
How do I add the ph buffer?
I know from my readings, that the ph tends to drop when lowering salinity. So, do I add the buffer straight into the qt tank or do I premix it first?
If I pre-mix first, how do I calculate what the final ph will be between the premix portion and the existing ph in the qt tank?
( i have a ph test kit)
When do I have to add the ph buffer? immediatly right after adding the freshwater?
Do I have to monitor the ph every hour or once a day?
Sorry First time doing this hypo method and couldn't find any information in the Stickies...and am nervous
Thanks!

 

[92protruck]

I know everbody says 48 hrs..don't be afraid to go a little slower IMO. Everbody has a different method. I took out 25% of the water at once then added an equal amount of RO/DI water over 6-12 hours. I wouldn't drip it but I wouldn't dump all 2.5 gals of fresh at one time. I remove 25% (2.5 gal in your case) every 12 hours and slowly replace with fresh. Buffer the fresh water before you add it to the tank. If the tank is 8.2 buffer the replacement water to 8.2. Monitor at least 2X a day IMO.

 

[sepulatian]

You want to bring the salinity down evenly. Adding fresh water a little at a time is better than large amounts at once. Always test the water you are adding and buffer as needed before the water is added to the tank. Test your qt water several times per day to be sure there is no fluctuation. Distilled water is fine to use. Don't be nervous. Hypo is not as difficult as it sounds, just be on top of monitoring your fish and the water. I assume this qt is uncycled so you will have to watch all of your parameters closely. If you have questions, just ask!

 

[beth]

How many fish are going into a 10 gal QT? What type of display tank do you have, does it have live rock?

 

[tranman777]

Hey,
Thank you for answering my questions with those good advices.
I am nervous b/c it's my 1st time and really really don't want to kill my two beautiful fish. They are a yellow tang and a flame angel. No live rock in QT tank, just a couple of pvc's.
My DT is a 55 gallon FOWLR w/ some xenias and cleaner crew. My tang fortunately was able to BEAT the ich hands down w/ the help of garlix xtreme and Selcon. But I'll still have to QT him to leave the dt fallow for 6 weeks. I ain't takin' any more chances.
The ich killed about 5 other fishes and i'm sick and tired of it!!
Yes, the qt is uncycled. Just set it up and pour dt water in it. Will use DT's filter cartridges to be placed in qt's HOB. (talk about aphabetical soup..lol)
I'll have to do the drip method, and will drip it very very slowly. The reason is I won't be home all day to pour fresh water over a course of 12 hours. But prob. come home during lunch time to check up on it. I might even take more than 48 hours to be safe.
I'm hoping for my refractometer to come in soon. Do you guys know how long the shipment takes? I ordered it on Friday the 23rd.
Beth or anybody,
Your post regarding refract. calibration mention something about 68 degrees, my room temp isn't 68 nor is the tank water. Do I have to chill the water to 68 in order to get an accurate calibration? i'm lost.
Thank YOU.!!

 

[tranman777]

92ProTruck-
"If the tank is 8.2 buffer the replacement water to 8.2."
What if my qt water is say 7.9, what would my replacement water be, safe to be at 8.2 still? or should I buffer higher at 8.6 to compensate for the 7.9?
Reminds you of high school math problems huh? lol.
thanks.

 

[jojo_b]

I thought ich could be in the water column as well as in the substrate. Is this indeed the case? I ask because 92ProTruck plans to move DT water over into the QT tank, and if the ich can also be suspended, wouldn't that just continue the problem? 'Specially since the QT tank will have the fish in there?

 

[saltn00b]

more important than pH during the hypo process, is watching the alkalinity. This will tend to drop quickly as the salinity drops, so have a an alk buffer on hand. i do it in 29g tall QT tank, and when i drop the salinity i use vinyl airline tubing (same as i would use for drip acclimation, but without a knot) to bring in fresh RO, 5g at a time. Dont use spring water because it is not pure, and it contains chemicals in it to make it taste better to us.

 

[92protruck]

I don't think you need to worry so much on the exactness of the pH. Just buffer the fresh RO/DI or distilled to match your tank. pH usually fluctuates from day to night. Mine is 7.9 in the a.m. 8.2 in the p.m. I would find an avg and buffer to that. No need to over-compensate. The point is the fresh water should be like pH 7.0 and will pull the pH down to dangerous levels. I like buffering the fresh water first rather than waiting for the pH to drop and then trying to fix it. For the other poster, its ok to use DT water to start the QT. The ich will die in hypo, generally speaking, and the DT water will allow you to skip any acclimation problems and related stress. On the refractometer calibration question...there are differing views on this. You might want to do a search. The instructions and many others say calibrate it at a room temp (not water temp) of 68. A bunch of other people say that if you use the salinity side of the device (as opposed to specific gravity scale) then temp makes no difference. Temp does effect sg it does not effect salinity. The rest of the people ask how can you reconcile that when the sg scale and the salinity scale are fixed on the instrument? IMO, if you calibrate it with distilled or RO/DI at room temp you are close enough for our purposes.

 

[sepulatian]

If you bought the $39.99 one from SWF it comes pre-calibrated.