Chili Rasbora care

[Lynnzer]

I see the water in Easington where my wife's shop is has a slightly hard supply. Where are the stats to show the differences?

 

[Essjay]

Look at this thread, the column in the table in the first post titled 'water company'. That gives the dH and ppm values for each water company band.

Hardness - words vs numbers

We always say to look on your water provider's website for hardness, and to ignore any words, look for a number. These are UK water company definitions of hardness compared to what we consider to be hard, soft and middling in fish keeping. Always look for numbers :) dH ppm Water company...

www.fishforums.net

 

[seangee]

May be a bit far from you but 3.5 pence per litre https://www.spotlesswater.co.uk/news/story/newcastle-upon-tyne-pure-water-filling-station

My local Maidenhead Aquatics charges £3.50 for 25 litres if you take your own container - and things are generally more expensive in the SE.

 

[Lynnzer]

Asda's 17p per 2 litre bottled water seems to be the best option right now,
Funny thing is that we (my wife and I) are at the start of choosing a new kitchen. RO will definitely be brought into the equation.
What I'm wondering though is the use of it in the kitchen. I would prefer to only channel water through the system that needs it, ie for the fish tanks and drinking water. I suppose there's an option to close off filtration when it's not needed for things like the dishwasher.
I was also looking at an addition of one of those Qooker taps but hey - super expensive. Nothing to do with fish-keeping though. Just a mention

 

[Lynnzer]

Reading more into water quality it seems that hard water is more prone to algae. I know I have a job to keep it down but often need to take plants out and scrub them down. It's also possible that's why many of my plants seem to die off quickly. Water not suitable.
I'll monitor what happens in my small tank with the bottled water and post the results

 

[kwi]

For in kitchen filters they are usually placed below the kitchen tap and only feed the kitchen tap rather than the whole house.
With water quality being what it is in the UK I feel it's a bit redundent,my mum and her brothers jumped on the fad a few years back, now none of them still have the systems installed.

Asdas own label water has more nitrate than the Tesco one.

 

[ClownLurch]

Asda's 17p per 2 litre bottled water seems to be the best option right now,
Funny thing is that we (my wife and I) are at the start of choosing a new kitchen. RO will definitely be brought into the equation.
What I'm wondering though is the use of it in the kitchen. I would prefer to only channel water through the system that needs it, ie for the fish tanks and drinking water. I suppose there's an option to close off filtration when it's not needed for things like the dishwasher.
I was also looking at an addition of one of those Qooker taps but hey - super expensive. Nothing to do with fish-keeping though. Just a mention

There’s a lot of excess water used when ROing. Get the RO plumbed in so that the excess goes into a water butt for the garden or even for your tank. Don’t get a salt type water softener which is what I nearly did as it adds sodium into the mix.

 

[seangee]

If you are doing the kitchen anyway google "direct flow RO systems". These go from not too expensive to quite expensive, the cheaper ones have a collection of filters on display and the expensive ones have them nicely arranged in a box with a user interface for reminders to change filters and quality meters.

They are fast enough that you don't need a separate storage tank and produce less waste than the cheap single membrane systems and normally connect to a separate tap like the Qooker does (without heating). Here's a link to one of the cheaper systems (thinking of one for my utility room where I have a standard RO system today) https://www.directwaterfilters.co.uk/400-gpd-direct-flow-reverse-osmosis-pumped-system-lcd.html

 

[Lynnzer]

Taking note of all responses, thanks.
Kwi, I feel that the choice is made for me already. I stick to normal tapwater and get really bad fishkeeping results, or go with Osmosis or bought in bottles from Asda . At levels of way over 22 GH it makes me wonder how many of the dead fish I have suffered over the last couple of years would have been prevented had I known about GH levels.

Anyway I have been down to Asda and bought a load of 2ltr bottles. They show a PH of 7.8, calcium of 38 and other acceptable levels for magnesia etc.
My greatest problem in changing the water in my tank was heating the bottles to 76F. I placed them in my kitchen sink and covered them with boiling water. I then mixed them with cold bottles to get the right temperature. Bit of a naff way to do it, but hey, it works.

So having now changed 90% of the water in my tank ( it has shrimps in it already - thanks Essjay ) it shows at around a total PH of 8 which is way below the 22 starter point. I have added some dries autumn beech leaves into the tank so that could bring the level down too.
I also have a TDS 3 meter. Checking the water in my large tank that is untreated, I get a reading of 501 PPM. 530 PPM straight from the tap as well. The small shrimp and rasbora tank is at 220. I guess the reading is a combination of all particulates such as sodium, bicarbonates etc and way less of the calcium and magnesium. As my normal calcium was at 300ish PPM this speaks for itself.

So. it's now settling in time for the arrival of the Chili Rasboras. I used the old substrate from my other tank and a small filter taken from that tank too so the tank will be ready and waiting......

Just completed a full water check. Ammonia level is 0: Nitrite is 0.25: Nitrate is below 0.25 but not at zero: Acidity is on level 8 (ie normal) on the scale: Alkalinity is at best level after 2 drops of the 2nd tube. So all looks kinda good so far.

Just as a conversation piece, when I went to Asda's checkout the assistant asked why I was buying so much water. When I told her, and mentioned the crazy figures for calcium content in our local tap-water she said that this particular store sells more new kettles than any other in the UK. I empathise with that. I have to vinegar clean mine every couple weeks to remove the build up on the heater element.

 

[seangee]

I also have a TDS 3 meter. Checking the water in my large tank that is untreated, I get a reading of 501 PPM. 530 PPM straight from the tap as well. The small shrimp and rasbora tank is at 220. I guess the reading is a combination of all particulates such as sodium, bicarbonates etc and way less of the calcium and magnesium. As my normal calcium was at 300ish PPM this speaks for itself.
....
Just as a conversation piece, when I went to Asda's checkout the assistant asked why I was buying so much water. When I told her, and mentioned the crazy figures for calcium content in our local tap-water she said that this particular store sells more new kettles than any other in the UK. I empathise with that. I have to vinegar clean mine every couple weeks to remove the build up on the heater element.

Just FWIW the TDS out of my RO unit is typically < 10. Out of the tap its around 400 - also a hard water area. Since I switched to RO I no longer have to de-scale the kettle, coffee machine or iron, and also drink the RO water .

I also use the "stand the bottle in a sink of hot water" method for temperature. Its not as critical as some people think as long as it is somewhere close. I just have several cheap digital thermometers to go in the bottles - but my bottles are all 10 or 25 litres.

 

[Lynnzer]

Just FWIW the TDS out of my RO unit is typically < 10. Out of the tap its around 400 - also a hard water area. Since I switched to RO I no longer have to de-scale the kettle, coffee machine or iron, and also drink the RO water .

I also use the "stand the bottle in a sink of hot water" method for temperature. Its not as critical as some people think as long as it is somewhere close. I just have several cheap digital thermometers to go in the bottles - but my bottles are all 10 or 25 litres.

The only problem I have in heating the bottles is that I just can;t get a reliable thermometer. All of the ones I have are up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in difference. They don't even match the temperature setting on the heaters, I checked the tank I'm in the process of setting up for the arrival of the chili rasboras tomorrow morning and it was at 74F which is about right for the heater. However the TDS shows it to be 30C - 86F. That frightened the hell out of me. Given the professional nature of the TDS 3 I suspect that this the more reliable one to use.
If anyone knows a really accurate in-tank thermometer I'd appreciate knowing what it is. I don't want to cook my new fish

 

[seangee]

I use these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GNDTX9B/?tag=

You see them with lots of different brand names but they are all the same. Buy a pack of 4 and they should all be within 0.1 degrees of each other. Bin any that aren't or get a refund. They are pretty reliable and last a couple of years before you need to change the battery. Usually I replace them rather than change the battery as (IME) they seem less reliable after that.

 

[seangee]

I checked the tank I'm in the process of setting up for the arrival of the chili rasboras tomorrow morning and it was at 74F which is about right for the heater. However the TDS shows it to be 30C - 86F. That frightened the hell out of me.

You need to verify this - but in general if a heater and thermometer show different temps its the heater that is incorrect. Heaters are notorious for this. When I get a new heater I always test it in a bucket with a known good thermometer and adjust the heater to the setting I want rather than what the heater says.

 

[Lynnzer]

I'm really miffed to be honest. I am already using one of those digital thermometers you link to and that's the one that creates so much uncertainty. I just got up and it's showing tank temp at 65.9 F - way below my required 78F.
I have checked with the TDS and it says 26C .
The digital dipped into my other tanks show a discrepancy of around 10F. This is going to be binned.
I'm also going for a new heater this morning just in case.

I've already ordered a couple of in tank thermometers. The way I see it is that there are no parts that are reliant on batteries or other intricate stuff that may be susceptible to faults.

 

[Lynnzer]

New thermometer in tank now and getting ready to take fish. I have also bought a bag of peat and put a small sockful, about 4 teabags size, into the tank with a piece of what I thought was bogwood but as it floats it's more than likely just driftwood. That should bring down the PH even more. Problem now is that my NT Labs test kit has run out of the GH B liquid so I can't really do any more testing. My last test showed between 7 and 8. A long way down from the original at 22'ish
Anyone know where I can get my hands on a replacement bottle or suggest where I could even buy a bottle of whatever liquid it contains?