Guppy Tank Water Changes?

[bradmarsh]

Hi all, i have a tank with 6 female guppies and i set it up approx a month ago. They've been happily swimming away for a week now. Obviously i'm due a 20% water change now but i have a dilemma...

...do i use normal tap water with a de-chlorinator or..

purified water from a reverse osmosis and de ionisation unit i have purchased from an aquarium store. It contains a 5 micron sediment pre filter, a carbon filter, a membrane to strain out heavy metals etc and mixed bed resin to bring the TDS down to 0.

i have 2 conflicting thoughts in my head. I read somewhere that guppies prefer hard water. but the purer the water i put back in, the better it will dilute any ammonia / nit etc.

so what do you all think? Pure water for my lucky fishies? or plain old tap water? would love to hear from anyone who uses an RO/DI unit. and the millions that dont!

thanks

brad

 

[theotheragentm]

Your Ammonia and Nitrites should be at 0 levels, so diluting wouldn't be the reason to go with a certain type of water. You should have bacteria built up to convert Ammonia to Nitrites and Nitrites to Nitrates. Fish can tolerate more on the Nitrate side, which is why weekly water changes normally take care of things there.

I would check out this site to get some information on the chemistry of an aquarium.

 

[bradmarsh]

a good site theotheragentm thank you. So i notice the gH is measured im ppm. would this give the same reading as a TDS meter? my reading for my tap water TDS is 310ppm which is defined on the site as "hard".

another member here advised me to aim for medium hard water for my guppies. i added ro/di water mixed with tap water and aquasafe when setting up my aquarium. the TDS / gH (if they are the same thing as i assume... please confirm!!!) is at 163 which is ideal.

do you think i should add a tap / RO/DI mix as appropriate to keep the TDS / gH within the 140 - 210 ppm range as suggested?

many thanks for your help

 

[chibi]

So many big words and numbers and abbreviations I don't understand...!

I have female guppies, and they are fine with treated tap water. Simply add tap water, then a water conditioner. Better yet, let the water sit for a few hours with the chemicals, then dump it in. I use a declorinizer and stress coat. It works fine. Removes all the bad stuff and leaves your water fine for fishies.

 

[bradmarsh]

hi chibi. I didnt think it was all that technical before i visited this forum. all i really wanted to know is ...is the hard water in my area too hard for my fish or would they like me to reduce it a bit! i have the means to do it easily so if i did would they be happier?

does anybody know? lol

cheers

 

[theotheragentm]

Can you give us measurements on your tap water? Every area is different.

 

[helterskelter]

Most livebeares prefer hard water and i kepet many species in tap water perfectly fine.

RO removes far to much and I'm see people have problems keeping livebeares when using RO.

Guppies are very hardy as long as you water is in good condation. the important thing is to watch ammonia, nitrites and nitrates

 

[dwarfgourami]

Bournemouth water presumably is similar to Southampton water- just right for gups. Hard and alkaline is what they like, they'll be fine. Not to mention that using dechlorinated tap water is saving a lot of water compared with the RO, so you're doing the environment a bit of good too. This is why I choose to keep fish that are happy with my water.

 

[helterskelter]

bradmarsh i see ur in bourmenouth as well.

The fish are fine in your water trust me.