well water, softened tap water, pH and KH, oh my

[norcalg]

All right, my tank is cycling happily along and I'm realizing that my little bucket approach to PWC for the 10 gallon will drive me crazy with the 50/55 gallon. I want to use tap water rather than try to heat 10+ gallons of water from our hose outside. The problem (?) is that our tap water runs through a water softener. Can I use it anyway (oh please )?

I think I have most of the relevant test information:
pH 8.0-8.2 (no matter if it's tap water, hose water, tank water or 24-hour-old hose water. And I don't mean that it varies between the two, I mean that it is always right between those two colors.)
KH 161.1 (tap water and 24-hour-old hose water)
(LFS didn't have any GH tests but if necessary, I can trek out tomorrow and try to track one down.)

I think the KH is high enough that I can stop worrying about buffering the pH. I haven't added any aquarium salts to anything - would the small amt of salt in the softened water be trouble? Is it something that I can alleviate with Prime or similar? I know not to start pH upping and downing but haven't added anything yet as we don't have chlorine or chloramine.


Thank you -
~g

 

[rkilling1]

GH would be the key item to worry about. Personally, I would prefer that you use water that hasn't been through the softener. The softener removes Ca and Mg from the water and replaces them with Na. The problem with that is your fish do need those elements to develope just like you do.

If your GH is very low, you are going to have to suppliment those elements to ensure the fish grow properly.

You are correct about the pH. There is no need to worry about buffering it. Maybe you should look into some reef lake cichlids.

 

[norcalg]

GH would be the key item to worry about. Personally, I would prefer that you use water that hasn't been through the softener. The softener removes Ca and Mg from the water and replaces them with Na. The problem with that is your fish do need those elements to develope just like you do.

If your GH is very low, you are going to have to suppliment those elements to ensure the fish grow properly.

You are correct about the pH. There is no need to worry about buffering it. Maybe you should look into some reef lake cichlids.

Allrighty then, off to the LFS again tomorrow for a GH kit. Are you sure you don't work for AP? Kidding, I promise. I really appreciate all the help. Maybe I can use a mix of warm tap water and non-softened water to get the Ca and Mg as well as the heat... I doubt that the GH is low but better to check. If it's nice and high, I'd feel better about mixing the softened and un-softened waters. Still sounding like buckets though.

re: cichlids, I don't know. I'm looking more at flighty, flashy fish but I do like what I read about cichlids and their brooding habits. Maybe I can put cichlids in the 50/55 and then get a 29 for a community tank... Oh, did you mean "rift lake" cichlids? I'm not getting many google hits for reef lake.

Thank you!
~g

 

[JeffreyL]

If your gH is high, take a look at cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. They run the gamut from small shell dwellers that live in multi generational colonies, to many kinds and colors of rock dwellers, to open water schooling species.

And you could very easily set that 55 up for a neat community tank with all three. Okay, I am planning to do that with a 55, so I may be biased. lol

 

[norcalg]

If your gH is high, take a look at cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. They run the gamut from small shell dwellers that live in multi generational colonies, to many kinds and colors of rock dwellers, to open water schooling species.

And you could very easily set that 55 up for a neat community tank with all three. Okay, I am planning to do that with a 55, so I may be biased. lol

What are you planning? I've not looked at cichlids at all. Well, not enough to get much of a familiarity with them.

Thank you,
~g

 

[JeffreyL]

Glad you asked!! Hehehehehe. Cichlidforum.com is a very good resourse. Their profiles section has good basic info on most cichlids. Plus gives you the scientific name for a more detailed search.

My G/F and I finally got our first 'big' tank, a 55. We are planning a community tank of fish from Lake Tanganyika. First will be a school of Cyprichromis leptosoma, or cyps. They are 3 to 4 inch, sardine shaped, open water dwellers. And will occupy the mid to upper levels of the tank.

Next is going to be a pair (probably) of Altolamprologus calvus. Also reffered to as Calvus. They are 4 to 6 inchers that will hang around and spawn in rocks and caves. So they get a nice pile on one side of the tank.

Finally, we have been thinking of a colony of Lamprologus multifasciatus, or multies. They live as a multigenerational colony in and around shells. A big pile of the correct sized snail shells and they are happy.

So we have a school for the mid/top waters. One pair or a single rockdweller for one side on the bottom and a shell dweller for the other side of the bottom. Of course it is not 'just that simple', but that is a fairly easy to manage stocking.

However, all plans are still being discussed. We might decide to give the multies their own 20 gal long to overrun, and pick another rockdweller for the 55. Possibly Julidochromis transcriptus. Or maybe even a sand dwelling species. Need to do more research. lol

Then there is the fact that our tap water has both a gH and kH of 1, but that is easy to deal with. Then the type and color of sand, DIY background or not, and is it really going to work in the bedroom. Of yeah and I have to make a stand.

I just love this addiction, er hobby!!!!!!!

 

[norcalg]

Glad you asked!! Hehehehehe. Cichlidforum.com is a very good resourse. Their profiles section has good basic info on most cichlids. Plus gives you the scientific name for a more detailed search.

My G/F and I finally got our first 'big' tank, a 55. We are planning a community tank of fish from Lake Tanganyika. [details snipped]

Then there is the fact that our tap water has both a gH and kH of 1, but that is easy to deal with. Then the type and color of sand, DIY background or not, and is it really going to work in the bedroom. Of yeah and I have to make a stand.

I just love this addiction, er hobby!!!!!!!

Ooh, that looks like a lovely combination. Those Masked Julies are beautiful. I'm almost afraid to look more closely at the cichilds - I've (fantasy) stocked and re-stocked my 50 gallon so much, I'm afraid I'll spend all my time rearranging rocks and paper-stocking and none watching actual FISH. So many options, so few tanks.

I just rinsed 20 pounds of tahitian moon sand two weeks after 50 pounds of PFS. I would like not to wash any sand for a while. The moon sand is pretty but oily and dirty. I spent two nights siliconing rocks together. My family is pretty sure I've lost my mind because as yet, there are still NO FISH in my fish tank.

What do they know about fishless cycling? Hmph.
~g

 

[JeffreyL]

Yup. If I ever tell my family how much time I spend on tank maintenance, or even how many we have running right now ......

Isn't it amazing how much time you can spend figuring out just what you want to do with a tub of water, only to see one more fish or aquascaping idea and start all over again. Still it is hard to do too much planning or research. A 50 gal is a neat tank to play with. Not so much length as a 55, but 18 inches front to back gives you a lot more room to stack rocks or arrange plants.

When you get it done we want pics. Of course, I don't think I have ever had a tank I considered "done".

 

[norcalg]

Yup. If I ever tell my family how much time I spend on tank maintenance, or even how many we have running right now ......

Isn't it amazing how much time you can spend figuring out just what you want to do with a tub of water, only to see one more fish or aquascaping idea and start all over again. Still it is hard to do too much planning or research. A 50 gal is a neat tank to play with. Not so much length as a 55, but 18 inches front to back gives you a lot more room to stack rocks or arrange plants.

You know, I just checked the dimensions of my tank and I think it's a 55. I bought it as a 50 (off craigslist) but it's 48 inches long and 13 inches front to back, 20 inches high. In any case, it's plenty of tank to do what I want as soon as I figure out what that is.

~g

 

[JeffreyL]

Yes, that is a 55. Sometimes it can get confusing discussing tanks without exact dimensions. Add in the "talls", "longs", "breeders", and how the commonly used name often is not the actual size (eg a 40 breeder is a 45 dimensionaly) and sometimes aspirin is called for.

Course if we really want to confuse things, carefully measure the inside dimensions of a tank and calculate the volume. That 55 really only holds 47 or 48 gallons with the water an inch or so from overflowing.

Fortunately I would never do that to someone. Just to mess with them.

So much one can do with a "55".

 

[norcalg]

Yes, that is a 55. Sometimes it can get confusing discussing tanks without exact dimensions. Add in the "talls", "longs", "breeders", and how the commonly used name often is not the actual size (eg a 40 breeder is a 45 dimensionaly) and sometimes aspirin is called for.

Course if we really want to confuse things, carefully measure the inside dimensions of a tank and calculate the volume. That 55 really only holds 47 or 48 gallons with the water an inch or so from overflowing.

Fortunately I would never do that to someone. Just to mess with them.

So much one can do with a "55".

And then I can measure the displacement of all my rocks and plants and driftwood... Oh! And the sand! I knew my two semesters of calculus would come in handy.

~g - not quite that concerned with the details.

 

[JeffreyL]

And then I can measure the displacement of all my rocks and plants and driftwood... Oh! And the sand! I knew my two semesters of calculus would come in handy.

~g - not quite that concerned with the details.

Good to hear, one can get a little too anal about the details. Although I did fill a tank, complete with all the decor, using gallon jugs once. Just to determine the exact volume. Once. But it wasn't a 55. lol

FWIW, it took 28 gallons to fill a 30.