alkalinity too high.

[HOLLIEO]

My alkalinity is very high (like off the chart), The water I use in my tank is very hard as well. Is there any correlation between the two? Does alkalinity even matter? I am not really sure. i am still Cycling my tank. I have a 20 gallon freshwater and all the fish that I had in their have died (last one, just yesterday) . So, I am going to put one or two more back in to keep cycling. i think I am going to go with Zebra Danios. I was told these may be better to use that the ones I had before (goldfish).

 

[Doraemon]

Since you're fish have already died, you may want to take a look at this fishless cycling. http://aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

I haven't actually used it myself, but I definitely will with my next tank.

 

[loganj]

What kind of test are you using for "alkalinity" ? FW tests usually measure general hardness and carbonate hardness. What is your pH? I would also recommend looking into the fishless method BTW. If your water is hard and alkaline (pH), you may need to add distilled water to bring the levels down depending on what kind of fish you want to keep. Danios are very tolerant of water chemistry and can adapt to most anything if acclimated properly. Many others won't. I would suggest that you try to decide what kind of fish you want to keep and research their water requirements. Then you'll have a better idea of what you need to do to the water. We'll be glad to help if we can of course.

 

[HOLLIEO]

tests..

soooooooooo sorry to not get back right away. I didn't have any test strips left to answer your questions. I am still waiting for my shipment from Petsmart (on line). I used some test strips that we have for the pool (not sure if the work the same way). The strips are 5 way strips checking for Chlorine, Total Chlorine, PH, Hardness or water, and alkilinity. Again, I am not sure how or if the are intended to work for an aquarium, but just using as backup. The PH on the strip tested like 8.5.

 

[loganj]

I'd get a test kit that doesn't use strips...IME they aren't very accurate. 8.5 is a little high even for danios although they might survive in it. I wouldn't trust the pool strips though. If your water is hard and alkaline, you'll probably need to mix distilled or RO/DI with it to achieve the wanted levels. I'd try for 8-12 dh hardness and about 7.0-7.5 pH unless you want to keep fish that are from soft acidic environments. In that case you'll need to drop the levels some...maybe 5-8 dh and 6.5-7.0 pH. Another thing to remember is during the cycle, pH will often fluctuate some. Tests you'll need are:
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
General and carbonate hardness
pH

 

[HOLLIEO]

Thank you so much for the response. I guess I will have to get a master test kit at the LFS, to make sure I am testing the right way. Okay, so what is RO/DI?? Oh, wait. I remember there was a defination thing here on the main page....

 

[loganj]

Reverse osmosis/deionization filter. It makes very pure water with no mineral content...very much like distilled water. Some Wal Marts and other stores sell it by the gallon. You can get a good 4 stage RO/DI for $175-200.

 

[HOLLIEO]

Okay, so If in fact I have too much mineral content in my water.... what about bottled water? Would that work too? Maybe do a 50/50 mix???
I have kinda herd about a reverse osmosis filter, but not much because I was never looking for one. So, does it hook onto your sink (underneath) like a filtered water unit would? How often do you have to replace filter cartridges or does it even have any? Sorry to sound like a nimrod, but this RO thing is all new to me. :?
Thank you for all the helpful info!!!