Adding Cardinal tetras soon (Yay!)

[Bruce's Reformed Nephew]

My tank has been cycling for about three weeks. On Monday I finally observed nitrites and nitrates, so I expect to be adding my fish in one to three weeks.

The water currently in the tank (from my tap and conditioned) has a ph in the high 7's, and is very hard. I understand that the cardinals will probably survive okay in that water, but I would like to make it nicer for them.

I have two ideas about what to do.

First, I can replace the tank water with bottled. The Walmart 'drinking' water is city water run through reverse osmosis, microfiltration and ozonation. I am guessing it's ph is right around 7, but I will verify that before I use it. It is only $0.58/gallon, so for my 29 gallon tank and weekly 10% water changes it won't break the bank.

Second, I can put peat in the filter. I have some peat on the way (Fluval peat granules), so I can try it out while I am still cycling so I can see if it does enough for the water. Also, I can see if I like the color or not. Does anyone know how much peat to use? I have been unable to find any guidlines online. I think it would be more convenient to use my own tap water than to haul bottled.

What do you all think?

Thanks for your time!
-BRN

 

[impur]

To get the best conditions for your fish, the best advice i can give you is to keep it constant. If you use tap water that is in the high 7's fine, just be sure to acclimate them to it and keep using that water. Don't try to buffer the water up or down. A pH that is not constant will put undue stress on the fish. If you use peat to try and buffer the pH to a more neutral level, chances are at some point the buffering capability of the peat will be reduced over time. Thus your pH will slowely rise after WCs and you will not know when or if this is happening unless you test pH every day and that gets old. I would use the tap water always, or the walmart water (good stuff, i use it for my SW tank) and keep to it.

 

[Lateral Line]

RO water is dangerously unstable without stabilising salts and unsuitable for the freshwater aquarium unless you really understand your chemistry. It can swing in pH a long way and very quickly, and, for the fish, fatally. Typical hard tapwater will take colour from peat, but will not change much in pH unless you really dose it.

If your stock has been kept in local tapwater at your dealers, you are far better off keeping it that way. There are many people who keep tetras in high 7's low 8's without trouble.

Cardinals, like Neons, are very sensitive to Nitrogen pollution. They are far from an ideal fish to add to a newly cycled tank. However the tank was cycled, with new bacterial colonies, fluctuations occur, they can be a little unpredictable for a few months. You will often see it written that Neons/Cardinals should not be added to a tank until it has been running without trouble for 3+ months. I'm not sure I would go that far, but the advice is well meaning.

 

[Bruce's Reformed Nephew]

impur and Lateral Line, thanks very much for the advice!

My wife (Biochem PhD) said something similar about RO water last night. I do not fully understand water chemistry, so I would like to avoid trying to change the water parameters without such understanding.

My readings as of last night:
Ammonia: 4ppm, down from 8+ ppm for the first time ever. A positive sign. I have the Aquaruim Pharm kit, the one that goes from yellow (0) to dark green (eight). When it gets over 8 it gets kind of blue, and it has been blue like that since June 4. I have not been adding much ammonia since then, just occasionally. I did put some in last night to keep things cycling through completion, if that is where it is headed.
Nitrite: almost 0, down from 1.5ppm yesterday. I assume that this is good.
GH: 10 degrees.
KH: 13 degrees.
pH: around 8.

Perhaps I could use a mix of tap water and RO bottled? 50/50? Would this likely be stable?

Thanks again!
-BRN

 

[Lateral Line]

With water that hard and buffered, a 50/50 RO mix is likely to be stable as well. Points being, if your stock come from "tapwater" and you are running something different, you WILL need to aclimate. It makes little difference going slightly bad - slightly better or the reverse. It is the change that is significant. If you do not have the facilities to acclimate fish, you should stick to local normal water.

>>> My wife (Biochem PhD)

Get her online - I could do with the help.

 

[impur]

I have used hard water in the past and have not run into many problems. For a time i used well water that had readings similar to yours. I kept 2 oscars, a blue gourami, 3 silver dollars and a pleco in that water for a year or so. I did not experience any sickness or see any signs that would lead me to believe the fish were not healthy and happy. I also recently moved back to oregon from Reno. You can imagine how hard the water is in the desert. I still had no problems. Acclimation and keeping the levels constant has been the key IME.

 

[Bruce's Reformed Nephew]

Impur and Lateral Line: Thanks again!

Lateral Line: Sadly, my wife is not at all interested in fish.
Impur: I grew up in the pacific northwest (loved the water); the water here in the midwest is quite different. I see that you can relate!

Updated information:
As of my tests last night, my ammonia and nitrites were *almost* zero, down from 4ppm and maybe 0.7ppm respectively.

I called my favorite LFS, and they say that they keep all of their tetras in RO water that is stabilized with RO Right to a soft level. Looks like I will want to do that as well. R/O Right for freshwater is made by Kent Marine.

If either of you have experiences that suggest that this is a bad plan, I would appreciate the advice.

Thanks so much,
-BRN

 

[millym]

hi there,
we've got 6 cardinals in a tank with v hard water (london uk tap stuff) with pH thats always around 8 ish & they seem fine we've had them for 6 months now with no probs. good luck theyre gorgeous fish to have