Just moved, problem with water- NEED HELP QUICKLY

[celt0123]

Just moved, use to have a well functioning tank with a balanced pH of 6.6-6.8.

New house has weird tap water. After dechlorinating
pH reads 6.8
Ammonia sits at 1 ppm
Nitrites at 0
Nitrates at 5 ppm

and is extremely hard.

Only other source of water I have is filtered drinking water which is extremely clean of everything, bacteria, ammonia, you name it. But it has a pH of 5.8-6.

I don;t know which I should use, or how to make whichever I choose safe for my fish.

Any thoughts???!!!!!!!

 

[Rosenweiss]

How hard is the water? many fish will be able to adapt just fine to hard water. Just make sure that you acclimate them properly. the ammonia is really more of the concern. Perhaps if you use AquaSafe dechlor, which can help turn ammonia into neutralized ammonium, you'll be fine. You'll still get a false ammonia reading, but it will make it safer for fish.

 

[eco23]

How hard is the water? many fish will be able to adapt just fine to hard water. Just make sure that you acclimate them properly. the ammonia is really more of the concern. Perhaps if you use AquaSafe dechlor, which can help turn ammonia into neutralized ammonium, you'll be fine. You'll still get a false ammonia reading, but it will make it safer for fish.

+1 The ammo reading indicates the water has chloramines in it. As long as you use Prime or another dechlorinator it is neutralized and is a false positive. And I also agree that it always better to slowly acclimate fish to your current water conditions instead of altering them. Using the RO water, while pure, will result in a shock to the fish because it can cause drastic changes during pwc's.

 

[celt0123]

excellent, thank you both. I've been using aqua safe since I was forewarned that my tap water had chloramines and heavy metals in it. I didn't realize it provided a false positive.

 

[celt0123]

and its really really hard. around 500 or 600 i think. I did a 1-3 ratio with distilled water and the reading was just under 200.

I;m not happy about that but I figured the fish will adjust if acclimated slowly, it was the ammonia that was worrying me.

 

[eco23]

and its really really hard. around 500 or 600 i think. I did a 1-3 ratio with distilled water and the reading was just under 200.

I;m not happy about that but I figured the fish will adjust if acclimated slowly, it was the ammonia that was worrying me.

The vast majority of fish can acclimate to most water conditions. You'll definitely want to research the fish you stock and make sure they can handle it before though. Try to avoid altering your water at all costs. It's much better and easier on you to find suitable fish that can thrive with your tap water as opposed to the other way around. For many fish, the preferred pH and hardness is used for ideal breeding conditions, etc... Most freshwater fish are tank bred with normal water conditions. There are fish though that need very specific parameters (like Discus) and do poorly if it's not ideal for them. Just research everything you plan to add and you'll be fine