Acid,soft,hard Water?

[JAY323]

whats it all about acid soft and hard water whats the difference?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Acid water is that with a pH below 7, 7 is neutral and over 7 is alkaline.
Hard and soft most commonly refer to the GH

General hardness (GH) refers to the dissolved concentration of magnesium and calcium ions. When fish are said to prefer ``soft'' or "hard'' water, it is GH (not KH) that is being referred to.

Water hardness follows the following guidelines. The unit dH means ``degree hardness'', while ppm means ``parts per million'', which is roughly equivalent to mg/L in water. 1 unit dH equals 17.8 ppm CaCO3. Most test kits give the hardness in units of CaCO3; this means the hardness is equivalent to that much CaCO3 in water but does not mean it actually came from CaCO3.

General Hardness

0 - 4 dH, 0 - 70 ppm : very soft
4 - 8 dH, 70 - 140 ppm : soft
8 - 12 dH, 140 - 210 ppm : medium hard
12 - 18 dH, 210 - 320 ppm : fairly hard
18 - 30 dH, 320 - 530 ppm : hard
higher : liquid rock (Lake Malawi and Los Angeles, CA)

from http/fins.actwin.com/aquariafaq.html

 

[Tempestuousfury]

IOW, if you are not looking for particularly fragile fish or looking to breed picky fish, you need not worry about hardness, provided that you have hardness of 50-400 ppm (not all fish species apply, of course).

pH can also be an issue when breeding, but you're better off not tampering with pH unless you know what you are doing or are experimenting with hardy fish. Test your tap water (or whatever water you use) to see what your pH is like and choose fish that would work with your water.