Help choosing a tropical aquarium

[Essjay]

Just ignore everything the shop says and ask on here or look fish up on Seriously Fish http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
If you went for Rift Lake cichlids you would be pretty much restricted to fish that come from the same lake. There are quite a lot of fish that prefer hard water. Most rainbowfish do and even fish such as X ray tetras.

Not all soft water is acidic! I have GH 5 deg and pH 7.5 - soft alkaline.

 

[seangee]

What the shops have in their tanks is not neccesarily a guide. They have unrestricted access to RO water and can do whatever they like in their tanks. They also only have to keep the fish alive for a few weeks. Soft water fish will survive in hard water, they will in all likeliehood have a reduced lifespan.

 

[Andrew waterson]

Just tested my tap water and my small cold water tank (with the giant gold fish in)

pH as expected is coming out 7.4 to 7.8 (I'd go with the water report and assume it's closer to 7.8)

Ammonia is 0 from the tap, surprisingly it's 0 in the cold water tank!
Nitrite is 0 from the tap, the cold water tank has a slight tinge on the test but closer to 0 than 0.25ppm
Nitrate is quite high though at 30ish ppm from the tap and 40-80 in the tank. I did a 20% water change yesterday, but the goldfish is too big and very messy, he's about 2.5 yes old now ... I've cut back greatly on feeding having read how bad an idea over feeding is)
Will be doing more frequent changes (2 a week) from now on, and actually testing the water!

With the readings on the cold water tank is it worth using the media in the new tank for the fishless cycle? (the ceramic hoops and plastic ballsb... Not sure if the names, bio balls?)

Also is the high nitrate in the tap water an issue in any way?
I know it's the least directly dangerous and within normal tap water levels, but aquarium chemistry is challenging for a novice!