High alkalinity and pH
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BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
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Your Tank Water
Hello iam...
Aquarium fish are very adaptable to the vast majority of public tap water supplies, so there's no need to worry about it's chemical makeup. pH and hardness readings have very little to do with a healthy tank. Your pH is fine, the other reading is very likely fine too. The fish available at the local pet stores won't care as long as the water is treated to remove the chemicals put into the tap water to make it safe to drink, like chlorine and chloramine and changed often to remove their dissolved wastes.
So, if you're not keeping and breeding rare fish, just treat the tap water and follow a good water change routine.
B
Hello iam...
Aquarium fish are very adaptable to the vast majority of public tap water supplies, so there's no need to worry about it's chemical makeup. pH and hardness readings have very little to do with a healthy tank. Your pH is fine, the other reading is very likely fine too. The fish available at the local pet stores won't care as long as the water is treated to remove the chemicals put into the tap water to make it safe to drink, like chlorine and chloramine and changed often to remove their dissolved wastes.
So, if you're not keeping and breeding rare fish, just treat the tap water and follow a good water change routine.
B
There is no universal correct range for fish. Your water is quite alkaline.
What type of fish were you planning on keeping?
larochem595
Aquarium Advice Activist
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- Oct 29, 2014
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Although I'm still relatively new to the hobby myself, I think a pH of 8 might be a bit high for the catfish and gouramis.
My gut would be to slowly (not all at once) add some bottled water, which tends to be on the acidic/soft side.
Do you know the GH?
My gut would be to slowly (not all at once) add some bottled water, which tends to be on the acidic/soft side.
Do you know the GH?
Fishfur
Aquarium Advice Addict
Very generally speaking fish are pretty adaptable. But fish that originate from soft acidic waters, especially if they are wild caught [ a LOT of them are wild caught] and not from a fish farm, may not do so well in very hard or alkaline water.
I've come to believe that it is best to either accept that your water is what it is and get fish that are most likely to do well in it, or accept that your water needs changing to keep the fish you want to keep, in which case, installing an RO filter, or buying RO water from a store, is the most sensible solution.
RO water needs to have something added to it to bring the mineral balance in line with the fish being kept.. as it has NO minerals in it at all when it's fresh from the filtration system.
This is not hard to do, but it is an added expense. If you want to breed the fish, having water that suits their needs is even more important.
It is certainly possible to cut tap water with either RO or DI[ distilled] water to reduce the hardness and pH, but how much of the filtered or DI water you need may tell you whether you want to go with an installed RO fllter, or lug bottles home from the store.
Live bearing fish, such as guppies or platies or swords, are suited to the type of water you have now. They aren't the only ones, but are among the most popular. Mollies are also very suited but are not a good fish for beginners, being more sensitive than some others to mistakes in water conditions.
Kudos to you for checking into this kind of thing though.. it's the best way to go on. The more you learn, the more success you will have in the long run.
I've come to believe that it is best to either accept that your water is what it is and get fish that are most likely to do well in it, or accept that your water needs changing to keep the fish you want to keep, in which case, installing an RO filter, or buying RO water from a store, is the most sensible solution.
RO water needs to have something added to it to bring the mineral balance in line with the fish being kept.. as it has NO minerals in it at all when it's fresh from the filtration system.
This is not hard to do, but it is an added expense. If you want to breed the fish, having water that suits their needs is even more important.
It is certainly possible to cut tap water with either RO or DI[ distilled] water to reduce the hardness and pH, but how much of the filtered or DI water you need may tell you whether you want to go with an installed RO fllter, or lug bottles home from the store.
Live bearing fish, such as guppies or platies or swords, are suited to the type of water you have now. They aren't the only ones, but are among the most popular. Mollies are also very suited but are not a good fish for beginners, being more sensitive than some others to mistakes in water conditions.
Kudos to you for checking into this kind of thing though.. it's the best way to go on. The more you learn, the more success you will have in the long run.
J.Mcpeak
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yep,what they said.
If I knew my water before I got fish I'd have lots of African lake cichlids! Hard high pH alkaline water! For many years I just mixed a ratio of pretreated tap and RO/DI. I think I did that for about 8 years.
(The expense of remineralising is less than the cost of de chlorinator if you have a large volume of water)
(A years worth of bought water pays for a smallish unit, then year on year you are saving)
If I knew my water before I got fish I'd have lots of African lake cichlids! Hard high pH alkaline water! For many years I just mixed a ratio of pretreated tap and RO/DI. I think I did that for about 8 years.
(The expense of remineralising is less than the cost of de chlorinator if you have a large volume of water)
(A years worth of bought water pays for a smallish unit, then year on year you are saving)
larochem595
Aquarium Advice Activist
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- Oct 29, 2014
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- 149
I hear you--I wish I had triple checked my water before picking out fish.
Its been an ongoing saga--
I figured out that my well water was pretty hard, so I got livebearers. My tank cycled and I couldn't figure out why my nitrates were so high--it was from my tap water.
Now I have to use an alternative water source, from a family member's house. It is a major pain lugging the water from their house. Their water is very soft and slightly acidic. I have to add some of the hardness back by mixing a little of our tap water.
If I had just checked the water to begin with, I could've gotten the cory catfish that I really wanted and not worried about treating the water so much.
I wish I could trade water with iam rood.
Sigh...
Happy fishkeeping =)
Michelle
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