Water Hardness Issue

[SusanK]

I've had my 60L tank for 5 months now and have had a lot of pleasure from it. However, something is driving me mad. Our tap water is very soft ( south cheshire) but I noticed after about a month from set-up the water was very hard - >180ppm. All other parameters on the testing strips were " normal" or acceptable for the community fish. pH 7 - 7.5, carnonate hardness betwenn 0-40ppm nitrites zero, and nitrates 40-80 ( tap water has about 40 to start with). My dad suggested it could be the gravel that was causing the hardness. It was bought from a local large pet food chain who happily sold me the Elite tank kit and gravel and all the other stuff you need. The gravel is very attrcative, a mix of colours but with quite rough edges. Water tempersture is 28deg C.
I added the fish gradually over time and all but 1 neon tetra are still there. 6 weeks ago I added a couple of Gold Rams who semed very happy for about a month until 1 was dead with no signs of disease or fighting. So I bought a replacement for it from the same independent aquatics centre and after 6 days it has a cloudy eye. The original Ram is looking healthy as anything & is very beautiful. Shall I take out the fish with the dodgy eye or try to treat the tank? I'm thinking about not using this aquatics cenetre again as she sold me a "female" betta to go with my original male and things were ok but now the " female" is being terribly bullied by the true male & "her" fins are now very raggedy. I thought female bettas were supposed to be quite plain but this one was just like a mini- male, long flowing fins etc. The owner of the centre said they had been 'specially bred to look more like the attractive males. I looked in the mirror but couldn't see the word "Mug" written on my forehead.
So my main concerns are 1) are these API testing strips any good when testing water hardness, 2) Is it my gravel that could be causing it or something else?
I do a 10-15% water change each week and a 25-30% change every month.
Any comments are most appreciated - I took Chemistry A level aeons ago but I didn't expect to be submersed in it again!
Thanks
Sue

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Sue. It has been well over 40 years since I took a chemistry class but this hobby will remind you of a few things from back then.
First priority - you never put a second betta in with a male except that when the male is ready to breed you can leave a female with him for a few hours for the breeding itself. At any other time, any betta with him will get shredded and even when breeding the male can get very rough. Often a female will need a couple of weeks to fully recover after breeding while she regrows her fins.
Most of us do not trust any brand of paper test strips for determining water qualities. Instead, a good quality liquid type kit is called for that can test at least ammonia, nitrites and pH. Often the API master test kit is the chosen one.
Gravel can cause a significant change in water chemistry, especially if it is made of crushed shell or crushed coral which is a common feature of gravel made for a salt water tank. I don't think that I have seen dyed gravel made of that material but it is definitely possible. Your water change schedule makes me think your dad may be right about the gravel affecting the water hardness but large rocks as decor can also have the effect of hardening the water depending on which kind of rock it is. Frequent small water changes like that should be preventing any significant changes in your water chemistry.
I have never tried to keep rams so I will leave that alone.

 

[SusanK]

Welcome to the forum Sue. It has been well over 40 years since I took a chemistry class but this hobby will remind you of a few things from back then.
First priority - you never put a second betta in with a male except that when the male is ready to breed you can leave a female with him for a few hours for the breeding itself. At any other time, any betta with him will get shredded and even when breeding the male can get very rough. Often a female will need a couple of weeks to fully recover after breeding while she regrows her fins.
Most of us do not trust any brand of paper test strips for determining water qualities. Instead, a good quality liquid type kit is called for that can test at least ammonia, nitrites and pH. Often the API master test kit is the chosen one.
Gravel can cause a significant change in water chemistry, especially if it is made of crushed shell or crushed coral which is a common feature of gravel made for a salt water tank. I don't think that I have seen dyed gravel made of that material but it is definitely possible. Your water change schedule makes me think your dad may be right about the gravel affecting the water hardness but large rocks as decor can also have the effect of hardening the water depending on which kind of rock it is. Frequent small water changes like that should be preventing any significant changes in your water chemistry.
I have never tried to keep rams so I will leave that alone.

Many thanks for the advice. I think my second Betta will have to find a new home. I'll invest in a proper test kit, I just took my Gold Ram with the dodgy eye back to the place I bought it and they said it was just a scratch, testing the water with a chemical kit showed some ammonia & they advised a partial water change. I changed about 40% of the water & its still off the scale with regard to hardness but everything else is as it should be.
I'm just glad I've found somewhere like this forum to get help from.
Thanks again
Sue

 

[Yanks15]

API has a seperate hardness test kit that will be more accurate than strips. I agree with OldMan about the gravel. Most of the effective type substrates for hardness and Ph are not very colorfull. What else is in the tank? Rock decor? And your water changes would seem enough to keep your hardness pretty good.

 

[SusanK]

API has a seperate hardness test kit that will be more accurate than strips. I agree with OldMan about the gravel. Most of the effective type substrates for hardness and Ph are not very colorfull. What else is in the tank? Rock decor? And your water changes would seem enough to keep your hardness pretty good.

Thanks Smoke14, the only stuff in the tank is the gravel, a 12inch by 5 inch interesting pice of bogwood, 3 plants in terracotta pots ( 1.5 inch diameter) and a 2 inch high SpongeBob Squarepants as dictated by my son. If I don't get further problems ( been lucky so far for a beginner) I'll leave well alone & just get better testing kits to keep my chemical eye on things.
Cheers
Sue

 

[waterdrop]

Can't go wrong with the good advice of oldman and smoke up there! I'll just add that I agree your next move should be good test kits. I agree that the API Freshwater Master Test Kit is the basic kit many of us use and like for the basic stuff. The two liquid tests for GH and KH (general hardness and carbonate hardness) are pretty easy tests and kits by API, Tetra and others should all be ok. I think getting these GH, KH tests and combining them with the pH test in the basic kit and being sure to log the results of all these over time in your aquarium notebook will give you a much better baseline of info to work from. Either it will tell you something new or it will give info for the members here to use in helping you. After you learn how to do the tests, post up your tap and tank results for others to see and perhaps discuss your substrate/decoration details again at that time.

~~waterdrop~~