Water too hard?

[bsmith77328]

Had my aquarium for about 2 months I use easy balance and aqua safe by the directions and my ph level is high and alkaline level is 8.4 which is the highest level my chart has and the hardness is very hard. We when to where we bought the fish last night and the rep there told me to put aquarium rock salt in. Which I did by the directions and it hasn't changed anything over night. Also she told me I don't have to use easy balance. I told her using it makes my water milky and does clear up. Any advise?

 

[threnjen]

What did she say the aquarium salt was for? That does not do anything at all to pH, kH (alkalinity), gH (general hardness). All it does is raise the total dissolved solids in your water which is making life even worse for soft water fish.

I definitely want to help but I am not totally sure what you are asking for advice on. Can you clarify what you are trying to figure out?

 

[bsmith77328]

She did not explain in detail how the salt would cure the hard water and ph level and really I didn't ask but after I did that I lost 3 fish that I had bought from her.
So I should not use the salt? And what will help my problems?

 

[ckalisz]

I have kept a lot of tropical fish with ph in the 8's and kh off the charts. Angels, and neons even. I have found that slowly, very slowly acclimating the fish is the best bet. I used to float the bag for 20 mins and dump away which was my first mistake. After I started using a hybrid version of the drip method I haven't lost a fish yet.

 

[threnjen]

OK. So here's an analogy for the discussion you had with the pet store person.

You: I am really hungry
Clueless person: Oh, you should try playing tennis!
You: This has nothing at all to do with my problem. Also I am pretty sure that playing tennis will just make me more hungry and make the problem worse.

Salt has absolutely nothing to do with lowering pH, lowering gH, etc etc. This is probably the worst advice I've ever heard from a pet store employee and I've heard a lot of bad advice. Salt increases the dissolved solids in your water (makes it harder basically, just not in a way that your gH test can see), and in fact will even raise the pH in infinitesimal amount. It basically does exactly the opposite of what you were advised. Do not ever speak to that pet store employee ever again. If you see her, run the other way.

How hard is hard when you say your water is hard? What is your gH reading?
There are fish that are ok with a high hardness and alkalinity. You can either pick fish that suit your hardness, pick fish that are middle ground that you can acclimate to your hardness, or cut with RODI water. There is not a true way to reduce your hardness and pH without adding "empty" RODI water.