Limestone

[DepotFish]

Does anyone forsee any problems? I can get small flat limestone rocks from any park in town. I'm in the fox river valley and everything around us is made of natural limestone, even our house. The tap water is so hard it might as well be limestone. Since my fish are used to being in area tap water, would it be harmful to use limestone as a substrate? I will of course clean it well. They are all goldfish btw.

 

[Toirtis]

Not any problems foreseeable, except that it might manage to make your tankwater harder.

 

[DeFeKt]

and your ph alot higher.

ARLC's hehe

 

[DepotFish]

I'll make sure to monitor the ph. I'm going to set it up without fish first anyway, then add my current filter and fish. I want to make it look like a natural river scene.

 

[Toirtis]

and your ph alot higher.

ARLC's hehe

Based on what depotfish has said, I would imagine that pH there is probably already in the 8.8-9.2 range....difficult to get much higher than that.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Limestone is notorious for sending KH values off the chart alkalinity wise. This in turn naturally brings the PH up. I would be very careful with the use of limestone.

What fish are you keeping in 8.8 - 9.2 PH?

 

[Guest]

What fish are you keeping in 8.8 - 9.2 PH?

This is the most important question in whether this will affect the tank adversily or not

 

[JustOneMore20]

They are all goldfish btw

Yikes...do goldies like that high of a pH?

 

[Guest]

They are all goldfish btw.

opps....didn't see that

Goldfish thrive at 7.2 -7.6. They like alkaline water

 

[DepotFish]

Oh, this thread is still living. Didn't see that. So far so good, the ph has been pretty stable so far, its about as 8.4ish. I should test the river one day, just for fun.

 

[Toirtis]

What fish are you keeping in 8.8 - 9.2 PH?

Many Tanganyikan species come from similar values.