ACO Test strips

[cavdad45]

Just moved into new home. Used the test strips to learn about my well water

Hardness reads 150/ppm, pH is 6.8, buffer is 40ppm

Overall, are there any fish (I do mostly community aquariums) that are going to be negatively effect by the hard water?  Who will thrive?

 

 

 

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

sounds like my water slightly.  I've kept a lot of fish, the main thing is stability.  Having the KH (buffer) at 40 is right on the edge and that just means that if you have a lot of waste, PH and KH would crash slightly.  So.... for my tank I use an additive from seachem to slightly stabilize things. For most situations, and this is something @TeeJay did with his, was to go ahead and used crushed coral to stabilize the KH (slightly boost it to the 60-80 range) and then that will go ahead and give you lower risk of PH crashes and a more stable environment.

As for what does "well" there's a long list.  Most tetras, rasboras, barbs, community fish, corydoras, etc. will all do perfectly well in that setting.  It's also a fantastic base for a blackwater setup and for Caridina shrimp. I also think that most cooler water species will do fine like shrimp, corydoras, vast array of plecos, rice fish, and mountain minnows.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

[Kurt Brutting]

There is a lot you can do with your water. Prime Time Aquatics has great hard/soft water stocking videos on YouTube.