Water chem. question

[Readingexcalibur]

ok, so here is the deal. I purchased 4 juvinile surinam geophagus, 4 juvinile angelicus botia loach, 1 juvinile gold nugget pleco at all about 1-2inchs. Please dont get upset, but i did deeper research after i purchased and i now know the Geo's do best in Soft Water. Should have researched more first, i made a mistake. I live in Nevada where the water is about as hard as they come. These fish have been quarentined in a 20g for a month and are cleared for my 60g.

My question is, will my fish pass if i put them in the hard water, i have Hornwort plants, and bushels of anacharis plant, to help a little. I was using RO water in my 20g but a) it is to hard to get it as i have to travel to the store over 10miles away, and b) my PH has been pretty hard to tame due to the lack of buffer. I perfer not to use peat as it messes with PH a little and is tricky dirty stuff. plus i heard bad about the "Pillows".

Open to all suggestions and looking for you expert opinions. Lastly, i know the 60 gallon is tight for these fish, but i am introducing them in stages. Eventualy they will be in my main 90g display tank, but that is not for a while.

P.S. - i would have posted this in Cichlids, but because of the nuggets and angelicus, i figured there might be more input. I trust the webmasters if they want to move it to cichlids tho.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi,
What is the normal pH of your water? Most fish will adapt to any water pH as long as it is stable. Most recommend not messing with pH because fluctuations can cause stress (or death) in fish.
FYI I keep harlequin rasboras and neons in pH 7.6-8 water no problem!

 

[Readingexcalibur]

My PH is very bad. It is at 6.8 or so. I say or so because i have been using the dip strips, and i dont trust those things for nothing. Friday, i will be buying a master test kit. I avoided it at first because the master kit does not test water hardness, but id rather have more accurate readings on other things like PH. Ive been reading that soft water does not contain a buffer and it hurts bennificial bacteria in the filters.

This 60g will be like a fresh start for these guys, i just dont want to shock them, expecialy my Gold Nugget Pleco as they seem to be fragile, and he cost me 50 dollars.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

6.8 is perfectly fine! You have nothing to worry about! As I said as long as its stable it fine. If it was in the 5s or 9s then you would have a problem.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

Thanks for the advice about the ph, but what about the water hardness? Can that itself hurt the fish, I just want to clarify, not that I would blame someone for bad advice, but I want to be on the safe side. Thanks again!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Same thing as the pH. Unless its in the extremes they will adapt.