A Tropical Set Up For Extremely Hard Water

[Marisa_allen]

Hi all,

I am returning to tropical fish keeping after a break of 6 years (before that I have run a tank on and off for 5 years or so). In the past I have always had a community tank with Danios, neons, other tetras and corydoras with a heavily planted tank.

However upon looking through all of my notes from my last set up, it seems that I was constantly battling with the extreme hard water conditions in my area, which caused no ends of problems in stabilising a set up with an acceptable ph for the fish and plants (not to mention the hardness).

So my question is, should I work with the constraints of my water conditions rather than fight against it and if so what are my options?

I think the hardness was above 18 dkH/dGH and the pH around 8 (trying to remember the names of these things).

I have 2 children so although I want to make a commitment to maintaining my tank I dont have the time that I used to have!

The only options I can think of are Cichlids that like hard water (my tank is a 28 gallon) or livebearers which as I seem to recollect tolerate harder water, however I was never a lover of them as I didnt like the thought of my tank being overrun with baby fish that I had to find homes for!

Are there any plants out there that like hard water?!

Thanks

marisa

 

[dwarfgourami]

It is really sensitive fish like neons, discus, rams etc that might struggle with hard water; most commonly sold fish can cope perfectly well- as long as you don't mess with it: fluctuating water stats is not good for any fish. So leave the bottle of phdown on the shelf.

I don't see a ph of 8 as being a problem with danios or the hardier corydoras; my peppered cories certainly spawn perfectly happily, and started with that when my ph was 8.4 (slightly lower now due to bogwood). There are hardy tetras too, like black widows and black phantoms.

Livebearers of course will be happy: if you don't want fry, why not have a larger group (5 or over, to spread aggression) of males? That is, if you're going for platies or guppies- with swordtails a group of males can get aggressive.

Bristlenose plecs don't seem very worried by ph- I see a lot of locally bred ones in the tanks round here.

My neighbour has a very healthy-looking group of rosy barbs- but I suppose your tank would be a bit small for those.

 

[Bloo]

I completely agree with the above
My water is quite similar and I keep a variety of community fish. My gH is anything from 17 - 19 and pH 7.4 - 8.4 (depending on time of year and what the supplier feels like).

The only ones I really struggle with are neons and Rams - so don't keep those anymore as they just don't do well.

 

[Marisa_allen]

Thanks for your advice.

I have to admit, the thought of attempting to bring down my water hardness with the Resin softener device and what ever other contraptions I had back then has made me feel quite daunted!

Marisa