A little confused on how to move forward

[jsilveira]

I just checked my water for my 37 gallon tank and i'm a little confused on how I should act based on my reading. All of my readings came out really good except for my PH and my hardness. I bought a recommended product to bring my PH to where it needs to be so that issue is resolved. When it comes to the hardness of my water there is a problem. I was told that in order to make it softer that i needed to do water changes but my tank is currently suffering from a bacteria bloom and i was told that i should not touch the water and to just leave it be due to the bloom. So i'm confused as to whether I do a water change to fix the hardness of the water or if i leave it alone until the bloom is gone? Or if there is another way for me to reduce the hardness of my water without worsening my bacteria problem?
Thanks in advance for your input

 

[HoldenOn]

Wait, why are you trying to change your hardness?

 

[jsilveira]

Wait, why are you trying to change your hardness?

I was told my the person who checked my water that it was too high, is it something i should not be worrying about cause if not that would make my life a lot easier lol

 

[HoldenOn]

I was told my the person who checked my water that it was too high, is it something i should not be worrying about cause if not that would make my life a lot easier lol

No I don't think so. Do you know your pH and general hardness? Hardness really only changes what you can keep in your tank fish and sometimes plant wise. In reality changing it can be really dangerous because if it fluctuates to much your fish will go into shock and you know....well....die

 

[jsilveira]

No I don't think so. Do you know your pH and general hardness? Hardness really only changes what you can keep in your tank fish and sometimes plant wise. In reality changing it can be really dangerous because if it fluctuates to much your fish will go into shock and you know....well....die

I don't know the exact numbers but i do know that the pH could be fixed pretty quick cause it wasn't too far off but the hardness was high. Either way i'm just going to leave it alone i don't want to risk it and ruin what i have. I do really appreciate your input it has helped me a lot and probably saved me from a future of dead fish, Thanks

 

[Essjay]

It is never a good idea to use chemicals to change pH. If hardness is high, the chances are that KH (carbonate hardness) is also high and this buffers water against changes in pH. What happens is that the chemical is added, the pH drop, then the KH pulls it back to what it was. This yoyoing pH is bad for fish.

Hardness is not like ammonia, nitrite or nitrate - there is no ideal level. It depends on what fish are in the tank. The easiest is to keep hard water fish in hard water and soft water fish in soft water.

Your water provider's website may give your tap water hardness - you need a number and the unit of measurement. Once you know your hardness - GH - you can see if it is suitable fr the fish you have.