Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Hello all. I have been keeping fish casually for over 30 years but I am not nearly good enough to be at nerm level! I just moved to a new house and it's my first time having well water or hard water. Being a long time viewer of Cory I decided to order the COOP test strips. I ran a couple through my water. Everything was as expected except that the hardness turned a color that isn't even found on the bottle. Does this mean my water is harder than hard or what? Here are the results. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 The funny thing is that in the picture above the hardness looks like it matches 300. But in person I swear the color is much different! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tihshho Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Being that you're on a well, make sure to check if your house has a water softener and/or treatment unit plumbed in line as well as find out if it's been maintained. Some homes with wells have them and the previous owner didn't maintain it or, they let it slip knowing they were selling/moving and left the maintenance to the new owner/tenant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) My buffer and ph look to be a little lower than yours, but my hardness looks exactly the same I’m very interested in hearing what people say about this I figured the same that it’s harder than the test strips.I’m from Indiana the water in this region is prime for hard water fish. I’m on city water not well tho. Edited August 30, 2021 by Atitagain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDukeAnumber1 Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 I get similar readings on my strips from my well too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 3:53 PM, Tihshho said: Being that you're on a well, make sure to check if your house has a water softener and/or treatment unit plumbed in line as well as find out if it's been maintained. Some homes with wells have them and the previous owner didn't maintain it or, they let it slip knowing they were selling/moving and left the maintenance to the new owner/tenant. Thanks! The house is actually 151 years old and we're on a hand dug well. It's pumped straight into the house with an on demand pump. It doesn't go through anything except the hot water tank. So is this going to bad for fish? Or is it going to mean I can only keep African cichilids?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 3:57 PM, TheDukeAnumber1 said: I get similar readings on my strips from my well too. Okay good to know that I am not alone. What kind of fish do you keep and do you find it effects you much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tihshho Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 You should be fine as long as you're not dealing with fragile species or anything that's wild caught that isn't from hardwater sources. This might be a limitation, it may not, it all depends on what you plan on keeping in the long run. If hardwater species are your thing, consider it a roll of good luck. If you're after softwater species and are looking to deal with wild caught South American imports, then you might benefit from an RO/DI unit. This isn't a problem that cannot be fixed, you just need to know where your hobby goal lie and work to get there. That said, lots of captive bred and long term captive raised fish can be converted to hardwater over time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 My ph and buffer are slightly lower but hardness turns same bright violet lavender not on chart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 4:07 PM, Tihshho said: You should be fine as long as you're not dealing with fragile species or anything that's wild caught that isn't from hardwater sources. This might be a limitation, it may not, it all depends on what you plan on keeping in the long run. If hardwater species are your thing, consider it a roll of good luck. If you're after softwater species and are looking to deal with wild caught South American imports, then you might benefit from an RO/DI unit. This isn't a problem that cannot be fixed, you just need to know where your hobby goal lie and work to get there. That said, lots of captive bred and long term captive raised fish can be converted to hardwater over time. Great! Thanks for the info. I usually keep a couple of tanks with cherry shrimp and peaceful nano species like small rasboras. I guess the shrimp will do well here but the rasboras maybe not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 4:07 PM, Guppysnail said: My ph and buffer are slightly lower but hardness turns same bright violet lavender not on chart What kind of fish do you keep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tihshho Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 4:18 PM, Jumbo Slim said: Great! Thanks for the info. I usually keep a couple of tanks with cherry shrimp and peaceful nano species like small rasboras. I guess the shrimp will do well here but the rasboras maybe not? Shrimp Neos should be fine, actually Sulawesi might be your ideal shrimp here... Check them out... As for the rasbora's, being that a majority of them are captive bred in farms, I wouldn't be surprised if you could slowly convert them to being ok with harder water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intuos Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Might be worth getting a liquid test so that you can compare the results. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 I’m in Florida and I get the same reading. Currently I have livebearers that seem to love it. However I have kept various rainbows, Cory’s, goldfish, various plecos, Odessa barbs from Greg Sage, and also a 75 gallon filled with shellies, with absolutely no problems. All of the aquariums and/or ponds have also been planted and everything has been great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 4:23 PM, Jumbo Slim said: What kind of fish do you keep? Right now I have guppies, panda and Pygmy corydora, longfin lemon blue eyed bristlenose pleco, celestial pearl danio, mystery bladder nerite snails 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 9:20 PM, Guppysnail said: Right now I have guppies, panda and Pygmy corydora, longfin lemon blue eyed bristlenose pleco, celestial pearl danio, mystery bladder nerite snails Great! I am glad to hear you are keeping CPDs, because I love those fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 6:42 PM, Manny said: I’m in Florida and I get the same reading. Currently I have livebearers that seem to love it. However I have kept various rainbows, Cory’s, goldfish, various plecos, Odessa barbs from Greg Sage, and also a 75 gallon filled with shellies, with absolutely no problems. All of the aquariums and/or ponds have also been planted and everything has been great. Sounds like a good mix. That's about what I expected in such hard water. They must thrive. Good excuse to get some Odessa Barbs! I might have to try the shellies too. I am sure all African cichlids would do good in this water, but I am not really into them. Though shell dwellers are the except, they look so cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Slim Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 5:39 PM, Tihshho said: Shrimp Neos should be fine, actually Sulawesi might be your ideal shrimp here... Check them out... They're from Indonesia right? I've read about them before. They look awesome. Wonder where I can get some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall from Texas Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 2:46 PM, Jumbo Slim said: Hello all. I have been keeping fish casually for over 30 years but I am not nearly good enough to be at nerm level! I just moved to a new house and it's my first time having well water or hard water. Being a long time viewer of Cory I decided to order the COOP test strips. I ran a couple through my water. Everything was as expected except that the hardness turned a color that isn't even found on the bottle. Does this mean my water is harder than hard or what? Here are the results. My water is also off the charts hard on coop strips. I keep discus with tetras and they are thriving. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 My tap is soft at about 62 ppm GH (nearly all calcium) and 102 TDS according to my small local water company. The strips read about 150 GH. I re-mineralize with Equlibrium as per the instructions to a GH of about 120ppm, and then the strips show off the charts color. I wonder if a batch of strips were mis calibrated at the factory? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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