Hardening Water

[eldomingo]

i'm baffled.
i'm getting blind cave fish but i don't know how to get their water conditions, which are:

medium hard
pH 7.0-8.2

i want to do it right with as few deaths as possible.
any ideas or advice?

 

[RadaR]

Well.. what are your tap water conditions? Not alot of changing your water if it could be the same. I've not heard of Blind Cave fish being delicate. The majority of fish you will find in shops are have adapted to a wide variety of water conditions, as long as it is good quality (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite).

 

[eldomingo]

my tap water's quite hard but it's got high nitrate levels. would that be a problem?
it's ammonia 0 and nitrite 0 though and i'd change it continuously til it was anyway, even if it meant using my friends kitchen for water.
i really wanna get them, they're so interesting and i'm going looking at tanks today if my dad'll take me.

 

[RadaR]

I wouldn't alter the water chemistry then.
Depends what you mean by high nitrate. I've seen fish live comfortable in levels that are never lower than 50ppm.
Just keep the water quality up to scratch (a well mature filter, 25% water changes a week), provide cover with real or fake plants, and you should be fine.

 

[eldomingo]

it's below 50ppm cos my other fish are happy as larry living in their tank. i wasn't going to put many plants in because i was going to try to make it look cavey if you get me

it's a new tank so i'm gunna have to mature it anyway.
i'm putting my tuxedo and sunset platies in it to cycle it.
how do you increase the pH though?
coral sand?
i've only got a community tank so far.

 

[RadaR]

Again, you don't want to mess with the pH. A stable pH from the tap water is better than a fluctuating pH, which will result if you start fiddling with it.
If it made you feel a bit better about it, then I guess you could put a small filter bag of crushed coral in your filter. Still do the 25% water changes though to ensure the calcium and magnesium doesn't get to dangerously high levels.

 

[tenohfive]

Whats your pH? If its not much different to the tetras requirements, you've got nothing to worry about. Or put it another way: I've got Rams (that like a pH of 5-6) living in a tank with a pH of 8.

There are ways of raising and lowering pH but most of the time its just not necessary, a stable low pH will do more good than a fluctuating but closer pH.

By the way - when you say you're cycling with platy's, you are going to be doing daily water changes, right?

 

[eldomingo]

my tap water's about 7.2 i think.
i just want to do it properly because i rushed into it with my last tank and i lost a load of fish from diseases and not thinking about which fish i was buying and whether or not they'd get eaten.
i might get a bag of crushed coral sand though and keep it in my fish box (i don't have a cabinet or stand cos my dad's mean) just incase.

also, will it matter if i don't have plants in or just one plant?
or will i have to do more water changes to keep the levels down?

'By the way - when you say you're cycling with platy's, you are going to be doing daily water changes, right?'
yes i am and i'm investing in a decent testing kit cos i've only got those strip things.

 

[tenohfive]

Ah good, sorry if that sounded patronising but I wanted to check.

By all means grab some coral just in case, but don't rush in to use it - as said above, a stable pH in the wrong range is better than a fluctuating one in the right range.

 

[eldomingo]

yeah, i'll do that.
i'm spending all my holiday money for france on this so it'd best be worth it, which of course it will.

thanks for the advice everyone
much appreciated