Help!! My water is super hard!!

[Isaac M]

I agree with @Schwack about the plants. Another thing to add about the betta is indian almond or catappa leaves. They have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and they may also help soften your water as they break down and add tannins to your water. 

Yes swords do like nutrients. If you do not mind the look, a cost effective way of doing it is to grow the plant in a pot in the aquarium with organic soil capped with sand. The soil will last for a few years and is not very expensive. I would just do your research before you just jump right in. I personally have 3 aquariums that are dirted and I never add any additional fertilizer like root tabs or fertilizer into the water. 

[KaitieG]

I agree that you should be able to keep a lot of fish with your water parameters.  I have PH 8.0-8.2, 300+Gh, and 200 Kh, and I've successfully kept a betta for well over a year and corydoras for 3 years with no losses.  I've even kept neons, though they are sensitive if anything else gets whacky (like when I moved the tank--I had 2 losses from that experience).  Any of the livebearers like platies, mollies, swordtails, guppies, etc. do well with hard water, and I have a fun mix in a tank right now.  

For plants, I've had good luck with anubias, val, swords (but yep to root tabs for those), hornwort, and crypts.  I've had BAD luck with java fern and floaters in general.  You may have a different experience, but maybe this will help since we have similar parameters.  If you're in love with corydoras, I don't think there's anything really stopping you from giving them a try!  They are some of my favorite fish to watch!

[Emika_B]

Just for comparison - I have a pH of 8.2-ish and GH is generally 13 degrees with KH of maybe 3 degrees.  No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the KH to rise - Wonder Shells, aragonite, removing mopani drift wood.  I gave up chasing it.  It’s probably my substrate sucking up the KH and acting as a buffer.  Lots of plants, mostly slow growers, not to many inhabitants yet but the ones I have are happy.  I’ve given up chasing parameters.  As long as ammonia and nitrites are in the acceptable range, I’m good.

[Samanthabea]

Honestly chasing parameters is what got me in trouble when I was younger all I did was set the tank up and wait a bit and everything was fine and now that I'm older and got tests ive done more harm then good trying to follow exacts I found online with bettas though we always bought water(I think it was spring water but can't remember for sure been while sense I had bettas)

[HenryC]

I got cories, oscar, angelfish, tetras, bettas, gouramis and several american cichldis in the same water as you and got zero problems!

[Chlo]

13 hours ago, KaitieG said:

I agree that you should be able to keep a lot of fish with your water parameters.  I have PH 8.0-8.2, 300+Gh, and 200 Kh, and I've successfully kept a betta for well over a year and corydoras for 3 years with no losses.  I've even kept neons, though they are sensitive if anything else gets whacky (like when I moved the tank--I had 2 losses from that experience).  Any of the livebearers like platies, mollies, swordtails, guppies, etc. do well with hard water, and I have a fun mix in a tank right now.  

Oh that's good to know that other people have had success keeping fish in hard water and high pH.

13 hours ago, KaitieG said:

For plants, I've had good luck with anubias, val, swords (but yep to root tabs for those), hornwort, and crypts.  I've had BAD luck with java fern and floaters in general.  You may have a different experience, but maybe this will help since we have similar parameters.  If you're in love with corydoras, I don't think there's anything really stopping you from giving them a try!  They are some of my favorite fish to watch!

Right now I have anubias in my betta tanks and java fern in my 20 gallon. I'm not sure about the java fern because when it came it was already pretty brown and dying, but we'll see how it does. Yeah, I really love corydoras! I'm obsessed with them even though I haven't had any yet...

9 hours ago, Samanthabea said:

Honestly chasing parameters is what got me in trouble when I was younger all I did was set the tank up and wait a bit and everything was fine and now that I'm older and got tests ive done more harm then good trying to follow exacts I found online with bettas though we always bought water(I think it was spring water but can't remember for sure been while sense I had bettas)

Yeah I've heard other people say that trying to change your water parameters could do more harm than good, and that most fish can adapt to your water.

[KaitieG]

17 minutes ago, Chlo said:

Right now I have anubias in my betta tanks and java fern in my 20 gallon. I'm not sure about the java fern because when it came it was already pretty brown and dying, but we'll see how it does. Yeah, I really love corydoras! I'm obsessed with them even though I haven't had any yet...

 

If you really love corydoras, I'd say GO FOR IT!  😃 Mine have even bred in my super hard water!  They are fun fish and seen relatively hardy in my experience!  

[Chlo]

1 hour ago, KaitieG said:

If you really love corydoras, I'd say GO FOR IT!  😃 Mine have even bred in my super hard water!  They are fun fish and seen relatively hardy in my experience!  

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be getting some! How many do you think I can fit in my tank? I'm planning on getting 6 panda corys, and if it is possible, I also want to get a school of julii or three stripe corydoras (Aqadvisor says I could, but I'm not sure).

[KaitieG]

1 hour ago, Chlo said:

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be getting some! How many do you think I can fit in my tank? I'm planning on getting 6 panda corys, and if it is possible, I also want to get a school of julii or three stripe corydoras (Aqadvisor says I could, but I'm not sure).

It looks like your tank's a 20 gallon...what else are you thinking of putting in there with them?  I'd tend to stick with 1 school in a 20 gallon myself--whatever your favorites are--but that's not not an absolute.  You'd just have lots of room to play with other things if you stick to 1 school of corys 🙂 

[Chlo]

9 minutes ago, KaitieG said:

It looks like your tank's a 20 gallon...what else are you thinking of putting in there with them?  I'd tend to stick with 1 school in a 20 gallon myself--whatever your favorites are--but that's not not an absolute.  You'd just have lots of room to play with other things if you stick to 1 school of corys 🙂 

I WAS going to have a school of neon tetras, but now I am probably going to do 2-3 mickey mouse platies. I just think they have more personality, are hardier, and I like that they can live in hard water. If I can do two platies I would do two females but I might do three and have two females and one male. If I can't fit two schools of corys, that would be okay. It would be cool to have two schools but then I probably wouldn't be able to add other fish besides the platies. 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Chlo

[KaitieG]

4 minutes ago, Chlo said:

I WAS going to have a school of neon tetras, but now I am probably going to do 2-3 mickey mouse platies. I just think they have more personality, are hardier, and I like that they can live in hard water. If I can do two platies I would do two females but I might do three and have two females and one male. If I can't fit two schools of corys, that would be okay. It would be cool to have two schools but then I probably wouldn't be able to add other fish besides the platies. 

If you get the platies, they'll probably breed and you'll have PLENTY in your tank soon!  Livebearers are very fun.  I'd personally recommend starting with 1 school of cories and the platies and then just wait and see what you want to do from there!  I've been loving mystery snails lately myself--they have such fun colors and I have a couple that have gotten HUGE!

[Chlo]

Just now, KaitieG said:

If you get the platies, they'll probably breed and you'll have PLENTY in your tank soon!  Livebearers are very fun.  I'd personally recommend starting with 1 school of cories and the platies and then just wait and see what you want to do from there!  I've been loving mystery snails lately myself--they have such fun colors and I have a couple that have gotten HUGE!

Yeah, that sounds good! The only thing I'm worried about is that platies are supposed to breed every month! I was thinking about getting a bigger group of them, but then I wouldn't be able to tell them apart and name them... LOL😂

[KaitieG]

5 minutes ago, Chlo said:

Yeah, that sounds good! The only thing I'm worried about is that platies are supposed to breed every month! I was thinking about getting a bigger group of them, but then I wouldn't be able to tell them apart and name them... LOL😂

You can always add more later if you decide you want to!  The platies and corys will make for a fun start!

[therealTruthSeeker]

My water is 360ppm gh. 7.8 ph. I too have had this concern and currently Stock cherry shrimp,  guppies,  and danios. But may try some otocinclus in the future.  I would caution anyone who wants to modify their water though.  It brings a lot of extra room for making a mistake.  Fish need a STABLE ph and gh more than they need the PERFECT ph and gh. When you start chasing water parameters you are mixing waters, adding products based on testing.  If you ever get into a hurry doing a water change or have a quick emergency water change and forget something (which is very easy to do and WILL happen to anyone that has kept fish a while) you run the risk of a wild swing in water parameters And that can kill fish fast. It's always better to keep things simple and avoid a lot of extra complexity that can and will lead to mistakes.  Because we all make mistakes.

[Chlo]

2 hours ago, Brian007 said:

My water is 360ppm gh. 7.8 ph. I too have had this concern and currently Stock cherry shrimp,  guppies,  and danios. 

Wow you kept cherry shrimp in that water? I really wanted to try shrimp but was worried my water was too hard. Maybe I'll try them in the future!

2 hours ago, Brian007 said:

  I would caution anyone who wants to modify their water though.  It brings a lot of extra room for making a mistake.  Fish need a STABLE ph and gh more than they need the PERFECT ph and gh. When you start chasing water parameters you are mixing waters, adding products based on testing.  If you ever get into a hurry doing a water change or have a quick emergency water change and forget something (which is very easy to do and WILL happen to anyone that has kept fish a while) you run the risk of a wild swing in water parameters And that can kill fish fast. 

Yeah, I feel like if I tried changing my water so that it is good for a specific fish I would mess it up.

2 hours ago, Brian007 said:

 It's always better to keep things simple and avoid a lot of extra complexity that can and will lead to mistakes.  Because we all make mistakes.

Yeah, I've made a lot of mistakes in this hobby, but I learn from them! Such as one time when I siphoned half of my tank's water onto the floor, not knowing that the bottom of the siphon was not in the bucket...😵😭😂

[Tyler LaZerte]

@Chlo LRB Aquatics is known for his high grade and prize winning Neocaridina shrimp and he breeds them and keeps them in water from 6.5-8 pH and super hard water with TDS all the way to 700-800. 

[Chlo]

31 minutes ago, Tyler LaZerte said:

@Chlo LRB Aquatics is known for his high grade and prize winning Neocaridina shrimp and he breeds them and keeps them in water from 6.5-8 pH and super hard water with TDS all the way to 700-800. 

Cool! I'll definitely check them out. Also, what exactly is TDS? I heard it is something like total dissolved solids? 

[Tyler LaZerte]

@Chlo Correct. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. It is compromised of all nutrients and inorganic salts i.e. calcium, magnesium, chlorides, etc. So all of your parameters equals your TDS They sell TDS meters to check yours as well. Mine has the ability to do temperature as well. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Tyler LaZerte

[Chlo]

3 minutes ago, Tyler LaZerte said:

@Chlo Correct. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. It is compromised of all nutrients in this tank including nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium, etc. So all of your parameters equals your TDS They sell TDS meters to check yours as well. Mine has the ability to do temperature as well. 

Oooh ok, thanks!