'Ard as

[sif]

Water that is... Tested my hardness for the first time last night as I know it is hard out of the tap but came back as:

GH = 393ppm
KH = 322ppm
PH = 7.8 (ish - paper test)

This seems a bit much for both plants and fish - especially as I like Tetras!

Is it worth trying to soften this or can most plants cope with these conditions. As far a softening goes I belive I have 3 options; an RO unit (very expensive?), peat in the filter or ion exchange bags(?)... any help or thoughts on these.

 

[George Farmer]

That is hard but if your LFS stocks their fish in the same water then they should be ok. Most tank bred fish are surprisingly adaptable.

 

[sif]

That is hard but if your LFS stocks their fish in the same water then they should be ok. Most tank bred fish are surprisingly adaptable.

[snapback]847072[/snapback]​

Unfortuneately my LFS uses industrial sized RO.

What about the plants?

 

[George Farmer]

Most plants are fine in hard water, some love it i.e. Vallis and Egeria. The main problem is that some nutrients become oxidised (useless) and there regular dosing is normally required. If you have good light and CO2 then you won't have a problem. CO2 will also bring pH down.

 

[sif]

Thought I'd better test my Phosphates as well due to hairgrass problem - its coming out of the tap at 5ppm which seems a bit high but having read some stuff I guess the water co. are using it to buffer and lower the PH due to the v. high hardness.

My question is if I remove the Phosphate with rowaphos or something will the PH then go shooting up?