Hard water

[Jbrock]

So I live in Texas which is pretty much made of limestone shelf. So I had the bright idea to find my own rocks to put in my tank, and I did. Upon further research I found out these rocks actually aren't good for the water in your aquarium. Is this reason my water is reading incredibly high? My fish are fine but I'm afraid to add any new fish. What do you think? How can I lower my hardness? Water changes? Thanks

 

[armymp327]

what is your PH, KH, and GH?

i live in san antonio and have a PH of 8.2 and a KH of 8-9, which is fine.

however those rocks could have raised your already high kh and ph even higher, so taking the rocks out and doing a series of 50% water changes over a day period would get your levels back to normal.

though id test before taking the rocks out and again afterwards to compare the difference

 

[Jbrock]

what is your PH, KH, and GH?

i live in san antonio and have a PH of 8.2 and a KH of 8-9, which is fine.

however those rocks could have raised your already high kh and ph even higher, so taking the rocks out and doing a series of 50% water changes over a day period would get your levels back to normal.

though id test before taking the rocks out and again afterwards to compare the difference

Ok these are my readings from Terta Easy Strips and comparing them to a chart..

Ammonia 0

Nitrate 40-80 looked closer to 40

Nitrite 0

Hardness GH 300 looked it was turning past 300!

Alkalinity KH 250-300

pH 7.4-7.8

My pH was more around yours 8.2 but about a week ago when I took the rocks out, I added 2 doses of ph reducer spread out by a few days.

 

[TXaggie]

I'm also a Texan, and what I've been told is that the best (really only) way to lower your hardness is to use RO water partially in your water changes. Now, there's some species of fish that tolerate hard water better than others but a lot of fish that people keep easily in other parts of the country don't do well for us Texans. (think South American species....)

I would also test your straight out of the tap water too to see if the hardness is as high. Well water can be crazy high,but a lot of the larger cities do something to soften their water. If your tap water is a lot softer than the tank, you may be in much better shape long-term.

But yeah, the rocks that you can find easily in our state are usually the type that release minerals into the water...people in soft water states will buy "Texas Holey rock" (limestone) to maintain their tanks at a higher hardness and pH for African cichlids and the like.

Anywho, get some RO or distilled water to lower your hardness if you need to, but test your tap and check into the species you're keeping to see if they're hard water tolerant or not. Here's an article I used in species selection for my community tank:

Hard Water Comm Tk Sel Monks

 

[Jbrock]

I'm also a Texan, and what I've been told is that the best (really only) way to lower your hardness is to use RO water partially in your water changes. Now, there's some species of fish that tolerate hard water better than others but a lot of fish that people keep easily in other parts of the country don't do well for us Texans. (think South American species....)

I would also test your straight out of the tap water too to see if the hardness is as high. Well water can be crazy high,but a lot of the larger cities do something to soften their water. If your tap water is a lot softer than the tank, you may be in much better shape long-term.

But yeah, the rocks that you can find easily in our state are usually the type that release minerals into the water...people in soft water states will buy "Texas Holey rock" (limestone) to maintain their tanks at a higher hardness and pH for African cichlids and the like.

Anywho, get some RO or distilled water to lower your hardness if you need to, but test your tap and check into the species you're keeping to see if they're hard water tolerant or not. Here's an article I used in species selection for my community tank:

Hard Water Comm Tk Sel Monks

Thanks for all your responses. Good article, I needed to read it.