Hi, There a house where the GH in the water thats coming out of the tap is really high, over 21D . I wanted to ask what effect can it creat on the fish? and do you know of ways to solve it? is there some kind of tap filter that can be used to make the water better for the fish?
Very high GH
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The GH (general or total hardness) is due to the level of dissolved minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium, in the source water. There are fish species that live and thrive in hard water, but there are many that cannot.
The easiest thing is to stay with the species that live in such hard water. Livebearers, rift lake cichlids, and some rainbowfish are general examples.
The only effective way to soften water is by dilution using "pure" water such as Reverse Osmosis, distilled, or sometimes rainwater. You mix the source (tap) water with pure water, and the ratio will determine the GH. For example, mixing half tap water and half pure water will half the GH. There are two issues doing this: you have to pre-mix the water for water changes, and if you have to buy the pure water it can get very expensive long-term.
Houses with hard water sometimes use a water softener, but these can be bad for fish depending how they do the softening. Most use sodium chloride (common salt) in exchange for the calcium and magnesium salts. But the salt water is just as bad if not even worse for soft water fish.
You can use organics such as peat, along with dried leaves, wood, etc, but these are not very effective with very hard water. In most cases, especially with a GH of 21 dGH, this will not work at all as it would take an enormous amount of peat and it would lose its capacity very quickly.
The easiest thing is to stay with the species that live in such hard water. Livebearers, rift lake cichlids, and some rainbowfish are general examples.
The only effective way to soften water is by dilution using "pure" water such as Reverse Osmosis, distilled, or sometimes rainwater. You mix the source (tap) water with pure water, and the ratio will determine the GH. For example, mixing half tap water and half pure water will half the GH. There are two issues doing this: you have to pre-mix the water for water changes, and if you have to buy the pure water it can get very expensive long-term.
Houses with hard water sometimes use a water softener, but these can be bad for fish depending how they do the softening. Most use sodium chloride (common salt) in exchange for the calcium and magnesium salts. But the salt water is just as bad if not even worse for soft water fish.
You can use organics such as peat, along with dried leaves, wood, etc, but these are not very effective with very hard water. In most cases, especially with a GH of 21 dGH, this will not work at all as it would take an enormous amount of peat and it would lose its capacity very quickly.
No, carbon will not adsorb calcium and magnesium. There is no filter media that will, so far as I know. And if there was, I am sure it would be well known as this is an issue for many people who have hard water. Reverse Osmosis is the usual method. I have never done this so I will leave it for other members to explain, but in summary it involves forcing tap water through a partially permeable membrane that removes ions. It is expensive.
TO KYO
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Try wood , might work best for you
While wood like all organics can sometimes help, this is buffered by the initial GH and KH. When it is as high as it seems to be here, it would be impossible to lower the GH without diluting the water to begin with, as the buffering capability of the GH/KH would counter acidification.
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