Hard water

[crazychris]

I've got very hard water and I'm wondering if this will affect any of my fish? If so what should I do to fix this problem?

 

[jlk]

What are you using to test your water? What do your results read? Unless you plan on keeping difficult, sensitive fish, hard water is not an issue for most fish as they are quite adapatble. The only way to reduce hardness is by cutting your tap with RO water.

 

[crazychris]

I use the API Master test kit. It doesn't do a hard warmer test but looking at my plastic decorations I'm seeing them turn to a rust color even my filter tube is turning the same color. Everything is normal except my nitrates are really high and no matter how many times I change my water in a week it still doesn't go down. I've put live plants in my tank and it doesn't seem to make the water soft at all or bring the nitrates down.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

What fish are you planning on keeping? Some of the south Americal Cichlids like Angels and Discus are sentitive to hardness, but others like Africal Cichlids are not. As previously suggested, you could use R/O water. There are off the shelf models you could get, or build your own. I built a 12 stage system that cost me about $100. I used parts for swimming pools, home water filters, car parts etc. I have PICs and descriptions on a public folder called "my tap water treatment system." Give it a look, it may be of assistance to you.....Dwayne

 

[crazychris]

I've got sharks, barbs, a leporinuis, and catfish and in my other tank swordtails and tetras. Let me know if the hard water will affect these fish. I'll have a look at your pictures.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

The easiest way to find out the requirements for each fish is to google each of them, or go to the fish encyclopedia of tropical fishes. The encyclopedia tell the water temp, PH, hardness, compatibility etc with each fish. In my tanks, I have Discus with cardinal and neon tetras, as well as green coreys. They get along well and can tolerate temps in the mid to high 80s. In my other tank, I have Angels and , rosy barbs and long fin tetras. I don't tend to mix regions of fish because of the problems with temperment, disease etc that can occur. My tanks are South American / Amazon biotype tanks to include plants. There are some specific water perameters to maintain, but once established are pretty easy to maintain.

 

[crazychris]

I just recently thought about looking at things like that on bing just by looking up the fish in my tank. Some of the fish I've got in my tank don't go together very well and I've been told wrong info so I'm going to try and trade some of my fish.

 

[jlk]

What do your numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph read for your tap water? Have you ever had your kh or gh checked?

Reddish deposits and stains indicate a high level of iron in your water. Are you on well water or public water?

 

[crazychris]

I have used the test strips before I had the master test kit and the GH was always 80 to 120 the KH was always low. Right now my PH is 7.4, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and Nitrates are 160. I'm on a well. That's part of my problem. I also use prime. I always put in a little more prime than I really need though and I put some salt in my tanks too. Not enough to harm the fish though.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

My PH is at 8, my hardness is 7, my ammonia is 0.25 and I have 0 nitrate and nitrite. After treatment, my PH is 6.8, my hardness is 3, I have 0 ammonia or chloramine, and my nirate / nitrite were already at 0. Additionally, my TDS is at 50 and my conductivity is at 27. This is pretty pure water.....even better that that you pay big bucks for in the store. Water like evian, aquafina and polar are only purified tap water.The water in my storage barrel is better than that water.I make 64 gallons of pure water for about 11 cents per gallon. I go through about 140 gallons per week for a 75 gallon and a 135 gallon tank, with 20 gallon water changes per change, as I alternate between tanks. I change out the 135 gallon 4 times per week (80 gallons) and the 75 gallon 3 times per week (60 gallons). My water is so clean, it looks like the fish are floating in the air. I never have problems with disease or other issues. My water changes take about 20 minutes each.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

salt is driving up your conductivity. Remember that salt does not evaporate. Salt adds to TDS and in the long run tends to add stress to your fish. Salt is only good for short periods of time and only to treat temporary issues like Ich and maybe velvet. The best care for any tank is frequent water changes and a good filtration system. Additionally, charcoal is good for about 2-3 weeks, after that it is no longer benefiting the tank. Charcoal kept for more than a moth in the pumps and filters is saturated and can start to release toxins back into the water column. Check out Joe Gargas and his school of thought on water quality. I have been following it for the past 4 months, and I have had no problems since.

 

[crazychris]

Wow!!!!! I have to add salt to one of my tanks as I have a Columbian Catfish that requires some salt. I will stop using the salt in my other tank and try to get that one straight since that's the tank that is having the signs of discoloration in it.

 

[jlk]

Are you drinking this water or using this water for cooking? Have you ever had the well professionally tested?

 

[crazychris]

I do use it for cooking but never drink it.

 

[jlk]

You honestly need to have your well professionally tested. I would not use this water except for bathing and washing clothes/dishes. You likely need some type of filtration system to make the water safe for drinking/cooking and for your tanks. Very high nitrates and high iron levels may not be the only issues your well has. Mineral content (gh) and carbonate (kh) are not of a big concern here except that if your kh is low to nonexistent, this poses issues with tank stability. 'Hardness' is not a concern here.

 

[crazychris]

I think I'm going to have it checked out since everything from my hose to my shower heads are starting to clog up on me. Taking a wire brush to get the hard water out of the holes is a pain. Lol. I rarely use my tap water for cooking since I use my microwave to heat my vegetables. Everything else gets cooked in the filtered water from my fridge.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

Getting your water checked is the best possible solution not just for your fish, but for the health of your family. Having water spots and having to replae fixtures, appliances and later pipes is a sure sign that something is wrong. Also please be aware that if you get a water softener for your house, that softened water contains sodium ions which will also kill your fish. Use softened water for bathing and washing clothes, but don't make a habit of drinking it. It can contribute to high blood pressure because of the sodium.

 

[crazychris]

Is that because the softener requires salt to make it soft? I'm just guessing here. My old landlord used to have a water filtration system in their house for hard water and I had to replenish the salt once it got down to the bottom of the tank and I would also have to do a mixture of water and bleach in another tank for it too.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

That is correct! I have a water softener because water here in Central Florida is hard. I learned the haed way about the water softener based on the numbers of fish I killed. I was checking the water like MAD and I was getting normal readings with the API Master Test kit. Problem was I was not testing for the right thing. There was no test for Sodum, which I learned about when Joe Gargas taught me about TDS, Gh, Kh, and conductivity. Because of the limestone, water tends to have a high PH as well. Because of the sun and heat, water has more chlorine, chloramines and high compression which can cause embolisms in fish gills and blood stream. That is why I use such an elaborete water purification system as well as storage, aeriation , sterilization , heating, flow and vitamin C. Once I got all of this figured out, I have had nothing but good luck. My fish have tripled in size and I have had no losses in a long time. Before I was losing 3-5 fish every day. My filtration system strips a lot from the water so it is a little hard on plants, but with the addition of Iron, Phosphate, Total and trace elements, things with the plants are good. I also use metal halide lighting and pressurized CO2.

 

[crazychris]

Wow. It sounds like you had to do a ton of work to get all of that done. What water system do you have? Living in central Delaware I've only heard of Rain Soft that does softener systems. I think that company is all over the place too. I haven't had any fish die recently so I don't think it's bothering them but I just hate to see everything turn brown in my tank, but it sounds like I'm going to be investing in some sort of filtration for my water. My only problem is is that I don't have the room for all of the canisters for the softener in my house.