cheap easy way to harden water for guppies ?

[anewbie]

Now that i have put most of my guppies in their own aquarium (40B); i'd like to make the water a little harder (tap is 120 tds); question is what is a cheap easy way to do this. Rather not use table salt as that will kill the plants. Someone a long time ago recommended wonder shells but those seem like a vendor product of some sort and it is not clear what they do since they talk about removing chlorine and other stuff. Is there a cheap easy way to make the water a bit harder - would tooth paste with lots of calcium work ?

[Odd Duck]

Toothpaste is a very bad idea since it contains all sorts of other things that are not likely to be good for fish or plants.  You actually can use aquarium salt (never iodized table salt) at a low dose, 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons.  That dose should not hurt even fairly sensitive plants and some species will appreciate it.

Or you could move to Texas where we have liquid rock coming from the taps.  😝 

Guppies are quite adaptable and I wouldn’t think you would need to do anything different with a TDS of 120.

[Galabar]

Seachem Equilibrium for GH.

Seachem Alkaline Buffer for KH.

...and a test kit.

Measure your source water (tap?) and add accordingly.  TDS doesn't tell you too much.

 

[Lennie]

First,  I would be cautious about tds bcoz we have a water softener in the house, the tap reads around 300ish tds yet my gh tests, both tetra 6in1 and sera's liquid kit says 0 gh, so softener takes it all but the tds is still there. And my 300ish tds has nothing to do with gh (mainly calcium and magnesium?)

I like gh+ products, otherwise when one uses stuff like crushed coral or anything else that is expected to slowly affect the parameters, I feel like we are getting away from the stability in the tank environment and I'm not sure how good this is

[anewbie]

my gh is 6 and kh 3 - unless my memory is all misty from today misty exercise in which case my tap is gh 3 and kh 6 but i'm pretty sure it is gh 6 kh 3. 

 

[Ben P.]

Used crushed coral or aragonite sand as substrate

[Ken Burke]

Crushed coral. Definitely crushed coral. it is gentle, and won’t let the hardness get away from you.
 

Adding some sea shells also works.  Just make sure they are clean. 

[Galabar]

On 9/27/2023 at 5:11 PM, anewbie said:

my gh is 6 and kh 3 - unless my memory is all misty from today misty exercise in which case my tap is gh 3 and kh 6 but i'm pretty sure it is gh 6 kh 3. 

 

With that tap water and routine water changes, you should be fine.

[Andy's Fish Den]

Crushed coral in a media bag if you have a power filter, or put a handful behind some decor if you don't want to see it. You can mix it in the substrate if you want as well. Aragonite sand that is marketed for the saltwater side of the hobby will help as well. I have also heard of people using crushed eggs shells sprinkles in the tank. Wash and dry them well and crush them up. 

But, with your water, I would just keep up with regular water changes and you should be good to go. 

[anewbie]

ok folks - i'll look around for some coral to crush.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/30/2023 at 3:23 PM, anewbie said:

ok folks - i'll look around for some coral to crush.

I'm willing to bet they likely want added GH as opposed to just KH.  I couldn't tell you the necessary PH you need for guppies, but some live-bearers are mid-upper 7's.   Depending where your water is at now, you'd be looking at something like salty shrimp (or other similar pre-mix buffer at ration) which would just be a mix of commonly available cooking items or other things easily available. 

If you're literally just looking for "harder water" for calcium and minerals, just use equilibrium or find a homemade recipe for the same thing.  It's extremely easy to use and you'll thank yourself for that ease. 

[Galabar]

I use about 1/3 teaspoon of SeaChem Equilibrium to get a GH of around 5-6.  Also, I use 1/4 teaspoon of SeaChem Alkaline Buffer to get a KH of 3-4.  My water is very soft.  Your needs might be different.

 

[Matt B]

Wonder shells actually seem to work great for adding calcium and minerals for shrimp, snails and guppies. I use them all the time. .  And crushed coral in all my tanks,  from Aquarium Co-Op.  Seems to keep the GH and water hardness where they like it.