Getting Softwater?

[always4lora]

Hi' Guy's
I'm getting a group of ctenopoma ansorgii of Dave and as they prefer softwater was just wondering the best way to go about it ?

I have an RO unit but never looked at how to set it up which i believe will make the water soft?
also i've read about peat as a substrate and also putting peat in the external filter.

so...
What's the best way to do it
is there any risk involved in changing the water
and how to i measure the hardness? i know my ph is around 7.8-8.2 but believe hardness is measured in gh?


Regards

Ben

 

[always4lora]

and up to the top

 

[dave_oddballs]

wood, you see the wood i have for sale in the classified threads, i took that out of my tank because it sent my ph all the way down to about 6.0! so that would help if you put some wood in.
i have a few almond leaves i used in their tank which soften the water and have anti bacterial properties, you can have them if you want when you come and get the fish, i don't use them anymore as i need my ph to stay around 7.0.
the tank the ctenopoma are in is around 6.8 so if you could get it near there it would be good although i think they would do ok at around neutral. if you want them to breed, more or less cover the floor of the tank in wood, lots of small bits as opposed to a couple of big ones, lots of twig type wood sticking up to the surface, a few floating plants, some grassy ones, live vallis and a couple of these almond leaves and they should start laying eggs again.

 

[always4lora]

Do almond leaves last for a long time ? as for the wood how did you just get a normal piece and chop it up into smaller parts? Any idea if the RO unit would be usefull? i might take an afrternoon of work and try getting it installed .

 

[dave_oddballs]

the ro units are good for big tanks but they take everything out of the water, you are supposed to get trace elements back into the water afterwards, i assume it comes as a bottled product. i think you get around it by doing smaller more frequent water changes. i was inquiring about it a while back as i got offered a new 50 gpd unit for £40 but got advised otherwise so i didn't.
in short, no, the leaves don't last a long time, they last longer if you have a slow flow of water, so its the water that 'erodes' it over time. another thing i use in the ctenopoma tank is aquarium peat, in one of those filter net things and just chucked it in the tank, but if you have an external id put a bag of it in there, that will keep the ph more stable aswel.
i just had small bits of wood so i didn't have to cut them up, but if you ca get a few thin bits of bogwood like twigs then chop it up so its like a scattering of branch's covering the floor it would be perfect, with a few going to the surface along with some vallis plants it would be spot on, its around these they would make their nest's.

 

[always4lora]

Coolio will look into aquairum peet , do i just get this from LFS or is it b and q jobby? no idea what my ro unit is rated at , my dads mate sold it for £20 as he didnt use it at all.

 

[dave_oddballs]

if you want to set it up then do it, theres no harm in that, even better thing to do is when you do a water change is mix the ro water with normal tap water 50/50, this will make it softer without getting rid of all the essential trace elements. i got my peat from reef n river for a couple of pound, its special aquarium stuff, not from a garden centre!! god knows what that stuff would do?!?!