Water treatment ?

[brant]

I have a unique oppertunity to turn my water paramiters into whatever I want before I use it in my aquariums. Now that I have mentioned this let me explain how and also clarify my question. My house water as I discoverd is unexeptibale for use in my aquarium as it is extremely high in nitrates so I have been useing all RO water. Pricey so I was looking for alternatives In wich I found nerby city water Its paramiters are ammonia 0,nitrite 0, nitrate 0, Ph 6.8, Kh 0, Gh 0, Phosphate 2 ppm. As I have 2,50 gal resivores set up in my basement I will have the upportunity to doctor the water anyway I see fit. First part of plan is to remove the phosphate this I will acomplish by either phosgaurd or some other Phosphate removing media. Now I come to question part adding kh and Gh I was considering useing crushed coral to do both and I wanted to ask if any one had expieriance with doing so specificly how much and how long would it take to raise kh and gh to about 3-5 degrees hardness and Ph of 6.8-7.2? Can I acomplish this? Also if you see any flaws in my thinking or any betterways to go about what I would like to acomplish feel free to comment.

 

[flipz]

I don't know about all that, or what kind of fish you are trying to raise, but my experience has always been to just leave it be. While the high nitrates is obviously not good due to water changes, I personally would leave the hardness and ph as it is in the nearby city water.

In general even more sensitive fish can easily adapt to params outside of their normal "range," but if your ph and hardness start swinging (if they don't stay stable after you adjust them in your resivoires) then that will cause problems.

So, IMO, I wouldn't even change it.