New 60 gallon breeder set up

[Cat23]

Hello all,

This is a question for the experts out there.  I just bought a 60- gallon breeder and wanted to know if it's wise to use tap water for set up sicne it's such a large amount of water.  I have a water filtration on my kitchen sink to remove lead etc Watts pure H20.  Would this be more of a pain in the butt in the long run?  I did a test and my and this was the results.

GH is 30 ppm 

Kh 240 ppm

PH 7.5 or 8

NO 2 -.05 ppm

NO3 -20 ppm

Again this is just out of the tap in my kitchen that has the filtration system. 

 

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

-Cathy

[mynameisnobody]

Hello @Cat23 There are many ways to tackle this, personally I prefer to stick to the simplest way. I only use tap water with water conditioner. I do not alter my water in no manner. I purchase fish from my area and I’ve had no issues. Once you start tinkering with altering water parameters, you will begin a long, endless journey in search of numbers. For most, this search leads them out of the hobby. I would watch as many aquarium coop videos and/or livestreams and you’ll hear @Cory repeatedly state that chasing water parameters is a recipe for disaster. This simplest also leaves time for enjoying the aquarium which is why we are in this hobby in the first place. Good luck to you

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed with @Mynameisnobody. I made the decision early on in my hobby to work with fish that do well in my water. Straight tap water with dechlorinator has worked well for me as I don’t want to “make” water and chase numbers. 

[Rewcolee1]

Agreed 1000%. Tap water (which is city water for me) and dechlorinator and that’s it. There are some fish you may need to change water parameters for it get that, but I’ve always steered clear.

[Cat23]

Wow everyone thank you I was hoping it would be that easy.  I'm going to take your advice and do more research but I'm very much leaning towards this direction.  😁

[mynameisnobody]

@Cat23 Good luck on your journey, this is a great hobby. One thing I’ve learned over the years is just because you can cook a pizza with a match doesn’t mean you should. Stick to this and you will steer clear of numerous issues. 

[jwcarlson]

My personal opinion is that pH, hardness, etc are overblown except in cases of breeding and, maybe, wild caught fish.  I keep "finicky" discus in basically the exact opposite of their ideal parameters and they are just fine.  They will never successfully breed in my tap water, but that's no concern until I want them to do so and that might be never. 

A lot of that might stem from people starting a tank with tetras, killing them while cycling, and then retroactively learning they're a "softer water fish" and assuming that's why they died.  Clean and consistent is more important than chasing anything for what you're doing. 

Tap water and dechlorinator.  Only otger caution I would give is to check pH straight out of the tap and then after aging in a cup or jar with airstone overnight.  If your pH shifts drastically, it is something to consider when changing water if you are changing large amounts. 

[Procrypsis]

Your ideal water parameters are dependent on the the inhabitants you keep or the biome in which you want to create.

Yes, you can keep fish/inverts outside of their preferred parameters. Just like you can survive at 40F or 120F temps. Not ideal, but you can live - although your quality of life is not great.

I like to "chase" the correct parameters for the creatures I am fortunate enough to acquire. I do this by running an RO system and adding peat/minerals etc to the desired parameters. Doing so eliminates that concern.

[Lennie]

Welcome to the forum! Hope you like it here.

My suggestion would also be: Don't mess with your water parameters. I agree with @jwcarlson and @Mynameisnobody.

Try keeping locally tank bred fish and you are less likely to face any problems. The point here is, the fish raised in your parameter knows your parameter its whole life. A wild caught fish/any fish with different parameters lives in that other environment parameters in its whole life and thats what it knows and is used to. They simply do better whatever they are used to live in. And they do better if things are being kept stable. That's really important.

However, "being used to parameters" does not work exactly with every shrimp and most snails tho. Please keep that in mind. Because shell erosion and molting problems have nothing do to with being used to a parameters really, but may happen in case if you lack calcium content or acidic ph in snails scenario for example.

On 2/7/2023 at 2:26 PM, Procrypsis said:

Yes, you can keep fish/inverts outside of their preferred parameters. Just like you can survive at 40F or 120F temps. Not ideal, but you can live - although your quality of life is not great.

I personally believe quality of life situation is really easy to observe on fish or inverts. Colors, prone to diseases, breeding action, eating, being active, succesfull molting, etc. 

My sterbais are breeding once every two weeks in 8.2 ph, this is above their "normal" range but this is what they have been raised into since fry-hood. It would become problematic if I suddenly put them to 6.0 ph. If you get your fish from somewhere far away, trying to match the parameters there is just a chore to me, meanwhile getting fish locally does the same job and lets you keep everything stable.

My only advice would be, If you happen to keep snails and some shrimps(based on which species!!), they would like calcium content and higher gh, so you may consider dosing something like equilibrium or adding a calcium source&increase gh. Thats what I do and I just dose the needed amount with every water change, to make sure my plants and snails get enough minerals, as my water is also lower than 3mgL currently. Believe me, it is by no means a chore. Scoop some and ta daa. It directly tells you how much to dose so you don't even need to worry how much to add every single time. If you don't want snails or shrimp with such requirements, It should be okay I guess, unless your fish to be known liking really high mineral content. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Lennie

[Cat23]

Thank you everyone I love this group so helpful it makes this journey fun! ❤️