Tank Stocking Help

JuiceBox52 · May 7, 2020

Something Smells Fishy said:
So the ideal would be somewhere in the middle? I will call my local water providers some time today to find out.

There is no ideal. You can pretty much only have soft water or hard water fish, not both

Something Smells Fishy · May 7, 2020

Ok, so I called my local water providers, and the GH is 0.82 mml, so it’s neither hard or soft, it's in the middle

Something Smells Fishy · May 8, 2020

Is that a good or a bad thing? Can I still keep all my fish, or do i have to give some away? :byebye:

Essjay · May 8, 2020

Assuming the unit is millimols per litre,

0.82 mm/l = 4.6 dH and 82 ppm. That's soft water.

The platies and guppies won't be happy but the other fish will be fine.

Conversion from here

Hardness of water, Cactus2000

Online conversion of the hardness of water into a number of international units.

www.cactus2000.de

FishkeeperLinz · May 8, 2020

Something Smells Fishy said:
Is that a good or a bad thing? Can I still keep all my fish, or do i have to give some away?

It's good for all but the livebearers - your guppies and Platies. Best to re-home them, as they can't get the salts and minerals they need from softwater.

With softwater, you have more choice, anyway.

Byron · May 8, 2020

Agree. Selecting fish that will thrive and not just survive for a period in your water will make life much easier for you and your fish. The livebearers will slowly weaken and die, so I would re-home them.

And before you ask what most others in this situation ask at this point...raising the GH/KH/pH of the soft water is obviously possible, but it would have to go up substantially to provide what the livebearers must have, and then the soft water species would start having problems. Not to mention that having to prepare water outside the tank at every water change before you can add it to the tank can be a lot of work.

Retired Viking · May 8, 2020

I agree with @Byron, I have hard water but like tetras which are soft water fish. I have to do the opposite and soften my water. I have to buy several 5 gallon jugs of RO water and mix it with dechlorinated tap water at every water change. It is a lot of extra work.

Something Smells Fishy · May 9, 2020

Ok

. Does that mean I can’t rehome them to any one in my area, because they have soft water too?

FishkeeperLinz · May 9, 2020

Something Smells Fishy said:
Ok . Does that mean I can’t rehome them to any one in my area, because they have soft water too?

If you want to keep them, you could set up an additional tank and use crushed coral as a substrate which will raise hardness and pH.

It's just best to keep them and the tetras separate because they need different water conditions.

Something Smells Fishy · May 9, 2020

FishkeeperLinz said:
If you want to keep them, you could set up an additional tank and use crushed coral as a substrate which will raise hardness and pH.

If I were to set up another tank, how big would it have to be?

FishkeeperLinz · May 9, 2020

Something Smells Fishy said:
If I were to set up another tank, how big would it have to be?

I'd recommend about 20gal.

Something Smells Fishy · May 9, 2020

Ok, thanks. Do you think 15 gallons would be ok, or is that pushing it a bit?

Byron · May 9, 2020

Something Smells Fishy said:
Ok, thanks. Do you think 15 gallons would be ok, or is that pushing it a bit?

Platies and guppies were mentioned...a 20g is minimum, although if you had several you would need more space.

If you do go to a new aquarium dedicated to livebearers, the best substrate would be aragonite sand. Crushed coral was mentioned but this is only calcium, and magnesium is also required; aragonite has both. You can buy it for marine tanks, just make sure it does not also have common salt (sodium chloride). The sands for rift lake cichlid tanks are also good, these two are calcium and magnesium.

FishkeeperLinz · May 9, 2020

Byron said:
Platies and guppies were mentioned...a 20g is minimum, although if you had several you would need more space.

If you do go to a new aquarium dedicated to livebearers, the best substrate would be aragonite sand. Crushed coral was mentioned but this is only calcim, and magnesium is also required; aragonite has both. You can buy it for marine tanks, just make sure it does not also have common salt (sodium chloride). The sands for rift lake cichlid tanks are also good, these two are calcium and magnesium.

That was me. I knew there was something else but wasn't sure what it was. Thanks for correcting me.

Something Smells Fishy · May 9, 2020

Byron said:
Platies and guppies were mentioned...a 20g is minimum, although if you had several you would need more space.

If you do go to a new aquarium dedicated to livebearers, the best substrate would be aragonite sand. Crushed coral was mentioned but this is only calcium, and magnesium is also required; aragonite has both. You can buy it for marine tanks, just make sure it does not also have common salt (sodium chloride). The sands for rift lake cichlid tanks are also good, these two are calcium and magnesium.

Great, thank you :thumbs: