Hardness and Ph

[Aaron Muth]

I have a Ph of around 7.6 and yet I’ve been told we have a water softener on our tap water. I use bathtub water for water changes and I would like to keep guppies and maybe breed them. My Ph is stable in all my tanks. Is there any way I can increase the hardness in my tank and not cause my Ph to fluctuate?

 

[Colin_T]

GH and pH are linked. If you have lots of minerals in the water, the pH will usually go up.

Tap Water Softeners can replace calcium with sodium and that is not good for fish. Calcium is actually good for guppies and other livebearers and you don't need to soften the water for them.

You need to find out what the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply is before it goes through the water softener. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

If your GH is above 200ppm, then it is fine for livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies).

If the pH is above 7.0, it is fine for livebearers.

 

[seangee]

DO you have an outdoor tap that does not go through the softener?

 

[Byron]

I agree, find out the GH, KH and pH of your source water. Softeners are not good for fish, so if you can bypass this somehow, and if the GH is adequate, good.

 

[Aaron Muth]

I can use an outdoor hose, but that might be a bit of a gasket. I’ve had plenty of fish for a while, but no issues with them dying from the water.

 

[Byron]

I’ve had plenty of fish for a while, but no issues with them dying from the water.

This is a common problem in this hobby...read Nathan Hill's comment in blue in my signature block. The fact that fish don't die doesn't mean all is well with them. Fish can be detrimentally affected, or harmed (the next step up), and then die from some other issue because they are now too weak to fight that off, or die years later but still prematurely. As things affect fish they weaken, making them work harder just to maintain the normal every-day bodily functions, and the stress further weakens the immune system.

Salt (common salt or sodium chloride, which is the normal method used in softeners) does impact fish negatively and the longer it continues the more trouble the fish will experience.

Think of it like humans who smoke tobacco and seem to have no problem...we all know they are usually having considerable internal "problems" but un-noticed--until it is too late.