TheDesktopAquarium Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) I was setting up my new tank, and then I tested the water in my tank. The parameters are off charts, I was putting my plants in and then I decided to do some tests, the water parameters turned out to be very very high, I bought some bio stratum, I heard it lowers the pH. Should I wait-and-see if the substrate works or should I remedy it right now? I should let you know that this is a new aquarium. I just set it up just an hour ago. Edited February 7 by TheDesktopAquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) Can't really tell what the values should be. could you get a picture besides the chart? And depending on where you are, these may be perfectly normal for you, Edited February 7 by Tony s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 If you're from the east or west coast, then, yeah, they'd be high. Midwest, southwest, plains, or mountains, they'd be normal. Gh, ph, and kh are geographically linked to the type of stone and soil where the majority of the water comes from. Hydrology maps show that 85% of US has slightly to very hard water. While this does limit you from keeping some sensitive species, most fish will adapt to your local conditions. You may have trouble breeding some species though. It's actually better to understand your local conditions. Then adapt your fish species to what works for you. otherwise, you could be trying to adjust your water to meet your ideal ph by constantly add ph buffers, gh buffers, kh buffers. This is what's called chasing ph. it's a serious pain and for most people it's not worth doing. I should know, my well water has way too much iron in it, I have to "manufacture " every gallon of water i use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galabar Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 On a side note, did you add dechlorinator to the water in the bucket? That would explain why the bottom green went to yellow... 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDesktopAquarium Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 On 2/7/2024 at 4:50 PM, Tony s said: Can't really tell what the values should be. could you get a picture besides the chart? And depending on where you are, these may be perfectly normal for you, On 2/7/2024 at 5:09 PM, Galabar said: On a side note, did you add dechlorinator to the water in the bucket? That would explain why the bottom green went to yellow... 🙂 Surprisingly, no, I don’t know how there is no chlorine when I just added the water, but I did put some water conditioner seachem prime into the tank not too long ago On 2/7/2024 at 5:09 PM, Tony s said: If you're from the east or west coast, then, yeah, they'd be high. Midwest, southwest, plains, or mountains, they'd be normal. Gh, ph, and kh are geographically linked to the type of stone and soil where the majority of the water comes from. Hydrology maps show that 85% of US has slightly to very hard water. While this does limit you from keeping some sensitive species, most fish will adapt to your local conditions. You may have trouble breeding some species though. It's actually better to understand your local conditions. Then adapt your fish species to what works for you. otherwise, you could be trying to adjust your water to meet your ideal ph by constantly add ph buffers, gh buffers, kh buffers. This is what's called chasing ph. it's a serious pain and for most people it's not worth doing. I should know, my well water has way too much iron in it, I have to "manufacture " every gallon of water i use. I live in the very south of Louisiana, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) You may well live in an area with fairly high Generah Hardness, gh and Carbonate Hardness kh, water that is hard like that typically has higher ph as well. What size tank are you starting up, and what are your goals with it? What fish, is it going to be a heavily planted tank, a few live plants mostly easy plants such as anubias, java fern etc, or artificial plants? There are fish that prefer and do better in hardwater with higher ph. Some people with tap water that is hard and alkaline opt for those fish. Most Plants tend to do better in soft slightly acidic water… Softer slightly acidic water is most easily obtained by reverse osmosis which while fairly easy to keep stable is not an inconsequential cost to get the equipment and to run it…. Edited February 7 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 you have my exact water. it's going to be your baseline. works really good for almost everything. I'd be cautious with german rams, discus, apistogramma. even discus could work if you could get the ones raised in hard water from Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 For Ideas you can do, there is a guy named Jason Adams that runs the youtube channel Primetime Aquatics. He puts out species profiles on the fish he keeps, and only the fish that he personally has kept successfully. Same water as you and I. So, if it's in that playlist, we can raise them successfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDesktopAquarium Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 5:53 PM, Pepere said: You may well live in an area with fairly high Generah Hardness, gh and Carbonate Hardness kh, water that is hard like that typically has higher ph as well. What size tank are you starting up, and what are your goals with it? What fish, is it going to be a heavily planted tank, a few live plants mostly easy plants such as anubias, java fern etc, or artificial plants? There are fish that prefer and do better in hardwater with higher ph. Some people with tap water that is hard and alkaline opt for those fish. Most Plants tend to do better in soft slightly acidic water… Softer slightly acidic water is most easily obtained by reverse osmosis which while fairly easy to keep stable is not an inconsequential cost to get the equipment and to run it…. Just a planted tank, with some neocaridina shrimp and chili rasboras, I live in the south of Louisiana, might what are used to be so soft and the pH was about 6 On 2/7/2024 at 5:54 PM, Tony s said: you have my exact water. it's going to be your baseline. works really good for almost everything. I'd be cautious with german rams, discus, apistogramma. even discus could work if you could get the ones raised in hard water from Germany. Someday in this year, I am going to get an RO system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Welcome to the world of stupidly hard water. That looks like my tap. There are such a variety of absolutely amazing fish that will thrive and breed in that water. You are not limited to the ones you will find when you Google hard water fish. Agree 100% with @Tony s on not chasing parameters for fish health. Check out most goodeids, limia, neoheterandria elegans, heterandria formosa, many many NANF (North American native fish) For more color platies, guppies, endlers, mollies. To answer your original question with active substrate you want to wait a few weeks and test until it settles out. Also check ammonia levels as some of it leeches ammonia for weeks or months. It’s always best to test tap after dechlorinators and 24 hours with an airstone. Chemicals and co2 in water lines cause shifts that settle with time and aeration. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I do all RO because of my high iron content. I can control the water, mostly, but every gallon requires addition of buffers. I use Seachem equilibrium, alkalinity buffer, and acid buffer. It's not horrible producing water this way, but it can be hard to be consistent. A better solution for you would be to use the RO water in a solution with your tap. That would eliminate all the buffers. Say 50% RO added to 50% tap. you'd have to play around and see what % of tap and RO gives you the water that you're after. and when you've got it, try to be very consistent. varying ph causes serious issues in your fish. and I really wouldn't worry about most plant species. they may prefer neutral ph, but the higher gh and kh add more calcium and magnesium, which are great for plant health Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDesktopAquarium Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 6:31 PM, Guppysnail said: Welcome to the world of stupidly hard water. That looks like my tap. There are such a variety of absolutely amazing fish that will thrive and breed in that water. You are not limited to the ones you will find when you Google hard water fish. Agree 100% with @Tony s on not chasing parameters for fish health. Check out most goodeids, limia, neoheterandria elegans, heterandria formosa, many many NANF (North American native fish) For more color platies, guppies, endlers, mollies. To answer your original question with active substrate you want to wait a few weeks and test until it settles out. Also check ammonia levels as some of it leeches ammonia for weeks or months. It’s always best to test tap after dechlorinators and 24 hours with an airstone. Chemicals and co2 in water lines cause shifts that settle with time and aeration. Unfortunately, I am limited to how many gallons I have, I have a 5 1/2 gallon tank and I was planning to get some chili rasboras On 2/7/2024 at 6:34 PM, Tony s said: I do all RO because of my high iron content. I can control the water, mostly, but every gallon requires addition of buffers. I use Seachem equilibrium, alkalinity buffer, and acid buffer. It's not horrible producing water this way, but it can be hard to be consistent. A better solution for you would be to use the RO water in a solution with your tap. That would eliminate all the buffers. Say 50% RO added to 50% tap. you'd have to play around and see what % of tap and RO gives you the water that you're after. and when you've got it, try to be very consistent. varying ph causes serious issues in your fish. and I really wouldn't worry about most plant species. they may prefer neutral ph, but the higher gh and kh add more calcium and magnesium, which are great for plant health You know, I might be able to try that, and don’t worry I know all about remineralization 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 8:31 PM, TheDesktopAquarium said: I was planning to get some chili rasboras Chili rasboras, almost all rasboras, will do just fine in this water. really, with the exception of very sensitive species, hard water is a non-issue. Most species have (borrowing a horticulture term) a great degree of plasticity. they will adapt with no issue. Even discus can adapt. Don't think for a second that because you have hard water, you're very limited to what you can raise. you're really not. I've seen almost everything in our water. fish like rams, which are very sensitive and finicky anyway are just harder. I am breeding angelfish here and raising rainbowfish. all kinds of tetras and corys. I've seen geophagus of all types here, Severums. Most south american cichlids will be good here. and the african species love our water. Everybody seems to be scared of hard water. mostly, i find it's not an issue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDesktopAquarium Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 7:53 PM, Tony s said: Chili rasboras, almost all rasboras, will do just fine in this water. really, with the exception of very sensitive species, hard water is a non-issue. Most species have (borrowing a horticulture term) a great degree of plasticity. they will adapt with no issue. Even discus can adapt. Don't think for a second that because you have hard water, you're very limited to what you can raise. you're really not. I've seen almost everything in our water. fish like rams, which are very sensitive and finicky anyway are just harder. I am breeding angelfish here and raising rainbowfish. all kinds of tetras and corys. I've seen geophagus of all types here, Severums. Most south american cichlids will be good here. and the african species love our water. Everybody seems to be scared of hard water. mostly, i find it's not an issue I wasn’t really worried about the fish. However, I was worried about the shrimp that I want to put in this tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 9:17 PM, TheDesktopAquarium said: I wasn’t really worried about the fish. However, I was worried about the shrimp that I want to put in this tank. Neocaridina do just fine. Mine overpopulate like crazy. I give them away in droves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galabar Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Maybe you'll have extra potassium (K) in your water and you'll have better luck with Java fern than me... 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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