pH issue?

[NJplantdude]

Hey guys, I just set up a 46 gallon tank a month or so ago and have plants (with appropriate substrate), driftwood, a Sicce CO2 Life1, decent lighting and a canister filter. I put 10 neon tetras, 5 glow lite tetras and 5 black neon tetras in it on Sunday just to break it in with some easy stuff and it has been an absolute failure for the first time ever in my aquarium life, which has been off and on for the last 15 or so years.
I seem to lose several fish every day to the point where I only have 5 remaining! I've tested the water and NO2, NO3, and ammonia all are essentially 0ppm. The pH is 7.5 and I'm stunned it's not lower with CO2 and driftwood. My water comes out of the well and I assume it is very hard because I have to use serious filtration/iron out salt to not get staining in the sinks and bathtub.
Could hardness be the issue killing my fish and keeping the pH too high for them? I can't think of anything else that would be an issue. My water temp is 78-80F and the air stone comes on when the lights go out and the CO2 turns off.
I would really appreciate any advice/help because I never remember it being this difficult and frankly I'm not having fun with it like I should.

PS: does anyone have any positive or negative experience with the Sicce CO2 systems? I can't find many useful reviews and I don't want to invest in a serious pressurized system or the old diy systems if I don't have to.

 

[Yorg]

Hey guys, I just set up a 46 gallon tank a month or so ago and have plants (with appropriate substrate), driftwood, a Sicce CO2 Life1, decent lighting and a canister filter. I put 10 neon tetras, 5 glow lite tetras and 5 black neon tetras in it on Sunday just to break it in with some easy stuff and it has been an absolute failure for the first time ever in my aquarium life, which has been off and on for the last 15 or so years.
I seem to lose several fish every day to the point where I only have 5 remaining! I've tested the water and NO2, NO3, and ammonia all are essentially 0ppm. The pH is 7.5 and I'm stunned it's not lower with CO2 and driftwood. My water comes out of the well and I assume it is very hard because I have to use serious filtration/iron out salt to not get staining in the sinks and bathtub.
Could hardness be the issue killing my fish and keeping the pH too high for them? I can't think of anything else that would be an issue. My water temp is 78-80F and the air stone comes on when the lights go out and the CO2 turns off.
I would really appreciate any advice/help because I never remember it being this difficult and frankly I'm not having fun with it like I should.

PS: does anyone have any positive or negative experience with the Sicce CO2 systems? I can't find many useful reviews and I don't want to invest in a serious pressurized system or the old diy systems if I don't have to.

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The fish you have tend to prefer lower ph and hardness, so yes it's possible that those two water parameters are stressing them, although tank-bred fish can often tolerate ph and hardness outside their usual range. Do you have a test kit for water hardness (gh and kh)? You might check with your LFS to see what their ph and hardness are.

If you are using a whole-house water softener, that also may be creating water conditions that stress your fish.

If you rule out everything else and are still left with the ph and hardness, then long-term you will likely want to consider getting species that prefer your water conditions.