Please help with my hard water problem.

[martiniduck]

I was interested in brining back my aquarium hobby. I have had my tank in storage for about ten years. I use to live in an area with softwater, but
I have moved out to an area that has municipal well water. I have a water softener. My water coming out of my faucet has low 10 GH but high + 200 kH. Will the salt from the softener hurt the fish? I have a 29 gallon tank and I would love to keep fish that prefer soft water ( loaches, angel fish, tetras). Is there some way I can keep these fish with my water? or do I have to go with fish that can handle hard water?

 

[krap101]

Generally it is better to adapt the fish to the water rather than adapt the water to the fish. Also how did you test the water?

 

[martiniduck]

I tested it with test strips, I followed the directions in the box. Also my PH is of the scale on the test strip.

 

[mordalo]

can't move PH because of Kh

I have a very similar problem. My GH is about 60 PPM, Kh is off the chart (which goes to 240ppm) and PH is at about 8.0 to 8.5 using API test strips. I also live in an area with hard water (obviously) and I too have a salt-based water softener. I've tried keeping loaches (I love clown loaches) but it's unfortunately a death sentence for them. Tetras do okay for the most part, but I lose quite a few trying to get the population used to the water. I personally have started to bypass the softener and flush the water through the pipes a bit before I do a water change. It doesn't really help much with the chemical levels, but it seems to make for less dead fish. Because I refuse to do what everybody else in my town does and raise african cichlids (pretty much all the LFS's sell here because the water is so hard) I'm left with barbs and gouramis. If your water is like mine, you've probably found that the notion of "PH rebound" is kinda funny. I can't get my PH to move even a little bit one way or the other no matter what I put in the water. That Kh level acts to literally 'lock' the PH level so that it will NOT move.

I'm very interested to hear if anyone has a solution to your (and by proxy my) problem... until then, know you're not alone in your frustration.

 

[martiniduck]

Thanks for the advice. I will avoid the loaches. Too bad I love those little guys.

 

[mgamer20o0]

test stripes are not always accurate. i would get liquid test kit. i would use just tap water and not water from a softener. south Americans generally cant take the salt content.

fish are adaptable. i keep angels loaches tetras in my tap water with 8ph and 13gh. my kh and gh is more then yours and my fish are fine. i keep a range of fish in my tap water.

 

[martiniduck]

Thanks for the advise. I have a liquid test kit on order.

 

[RWaltman]

I have EXTREMELY HARD WATER out of our well...the ph floats at 8 and the hardness is off the charts...I added a piece of driftwood and chose hardy fish, bichirs, oscars and other fish can pretty much tolerate higher PHs...I was told by a reputable source that its not how high the PH its how steady

 

[drillsar2]

Exactly, as long as ph is stable it's fine just remember to accilimate them properly, best way is to let bag float for 20 minutes then get a bucket/Air Hose with a T connector to control drops and use a drip method 3 drips per second do this for at least half hour depending on your PH, test the water in the bucket and your tank if ph is close or exact your good to go. The biggest problem I see is people float the bag then release fish into tank thats wrong and a big no no is to dump water from bag into your tank.

 

[martiniduck]

Thanks for the help,but I am a little confused. Do you use water from the tap in the bucket? or do you use the water from the bag and then drip water from the tank ? Because unless it is a really small bucket the water in a bag will leave the fish with out enough water to swim in. Then transfer the fish to the tank with a net when the PH levels match. Is there any hope of keeping angle fish, tetras, mollys, loaches, and redtailed sharks without RO water? I am not really worried arout them breading, just living long happy lives.

 

[drillsar2]

Instead of drip method you can do this:

Float bag for 20 minutes; test ph in bag and your tank; add 1/4 cup of your tank water to bag every 15 minutes once bag is 3/4 full remove some and repeat process. What your trying to do is match your tank parameters to the bag but even if they match you should accilimate then for at least a half hour to a hour. Never dump the water in the bag in your tank.

I hope this helps, I use the drip method thoug I use a small rubbermaid container after I add 1/4 cup of my tank water in bag then slowly drip.

DONT USE RO WATER FOR FRESHWATER, Fish need minerals and ro dont

 

[drillsar2]

I heard of people mixing RO with Tap that may help. Peat Moss and Driftwood can lower PH, but really a stable PH is what you try to achieve when you mess with PH is really the problem soif you want to lower PH do it naturally with Driftwood.