Softening My Water

[suecee]

Hi,

After a 10 year break I've gone back to keeping tropicals again but am aiming towards a more specialised tank this time and am very rusty.

My 2 month old tank (38 and a half gallon)now has happy pearl danios and guppies and is stable but my tap water is very hard ph 8.2 and I find rain water hard to collect because of strong local salt laden winds ( I live on the coast).
I'm adding RO water 20% with each water change but the ph drops for a day or two then bounces up again.
I have been told this is caused by a "buffering" effect but don't really understand.

I have got the water down to 7.8ph and the existing fish are showing much brighter colours already but how much further do I need to go?.

I do very much want to keep mixed peaceable gouramis and rainbowfish eventually but am capable of a lot of patience if this is necessary!

I hope someone can tell me exactly how to go about this task as I really don't want to just give up and settle for a (for me) second best community tank.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

have u tried bogwood and peat

 

[smegforbrains]

It's more important to find out the PH of the water the fish are kept in prior to you bringing them home.

 

[suecee]

It's more important to find out the PH of the water the fish are kept in prior to you bringing them home.

I live on an Island and all the tapwater is high ph so wouldn't the fish shop conditions be the same?

 

[waterdrop]

I think what smeg is suggesting has to do with the fact that its always better to first analyze the situation try to have stocking selections that will live happily in whatever your natural source water situation is, rather than trying to alter your source water to suit the "theoretical" ideal pH for a species. Often, especially with many of our common trops in the hobby, it doesn't even matter much what the original "in the wild" preferred pH was, as the fish you get are tank bred and/or very used to the pH of water at your shop or supplier. So you might be able to get by without hardness/pH alterations, which would be best because of what you've already seen.. its hard to manage on an ongoing basis.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[suecee]

I think what smeg is suggesting has to do with the fact that its always better to first analyze the situation try to have stocking selections that will live happily in whatever your natural source water situation is, rather than trying to alter your source water to suit the "theoretical" ideal pH for a species. Often, especially with many of our common trops in the hobby, it doesn't even matter much what the original "in the wild" preferred pH was, as the fish you get are tank bred and/or very used to the pH of water at your shop or supplier. So you might be able to get by without hardness/pH alterations, which would be best because of what you've already seen.. its hard to manage on an ongoing basis.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks very much for that very helpful reply. I will stop stressing about trying to recreate the fish's world from scratch and just enjoy keeping them.
Cheers

 

[drobbyb]

I keep and breed rainbows, so I can tell you that they can live fine in a higher pH. As a matter of fact, some african cichlid keepers employ them as dither fish. Usually the pH for african lift lake cichlids is 8.2 and very hard water. I am sure that your water will be just fine, and to acclimate your fish slowly using a bucket and a piece of airline tubing (with a small knot tied on one end to restrict the flow to a few drops a second.)

Hope that helps!

 

[petertr]

Adding 20% RO with each change will slowely bring up to the total mix to 20% over the course of 5-10 changes.

Until this point, you have less than 20% RO in your system, and yes, you're very hard & high pH water will buffer to some degree.


You need to get a pen and a calculator and work out what your current mix is, and then formulate a plan to gradually get to more of a 50/50 mix.

Don't go adding 50% RO water straigh away though, it will shock the fish.

have u tried bogwood and peat

When you have really hard water, Bogwood and Peat really don't do much. I tried with my tank, and it made no difference at all.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i would definately suggest a conversation with your fish shop to find out the conditions they keep these fish in and the conditions their suppliers keep them in. i think you'd probably be pleasantly surprised at how little you need to change things.