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I'm going to go on record as saying that water hardness is my least favorite parameter because there seem to be several different measurements. ppm, gpg, dKh...
29 Gallon Upgrade
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CaptainBarnicles
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You're not alone! But once you understand what it all means it's pretty easy
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What other factors affect the hardness? Like the presence of plants, driftwood, etc.
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Ok so every thing I could find says that my tap water is 136 ppm.
CaptainBarnicles
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Ok so heres a rough guide
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Actually a bit of a story with the tank. I got the tank itself last month at a 50% discount. Super psyched about it. So I put it away until I had a place for it. The stand I just got a couple of weeks ago, also at half off. I like bargain hunting. So I get the stand assembled and I go get the tank out of the storage I put it in. As I was putting it in place, I saw a small crack in the glass on the side of the tank. I'm a little stressed at the possibility that it's too late for a return. Not only would I lose the money I paid out, bargain or not, I'd then have to buy another tank. I call up the store and they were great about it. They said just bring it back and I can get another. But I still have to get the tank out there and bring the new one back. Which I took care of. So I'm setting up the new tank and I see something else! Is that another crack? Oh no! Not again! Turned out to be a little adhesive from a label lol. A little scare though.
CaptainBarnicles
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Sweet! Nice that they exchanged it for you, it's always a little nervy setting a new tank up. You could just fill it with water first to make sure it's watertight if you're worried. Nothing worse than agonising over gravel, plants, aquascaping for months and then it springs a leak the first time you fill it!
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I already did a leak test on the new tank. I filled it partially and let it sit overnight. I didn't bother doing that with the prior one. I figure if it has a visible crack, then it's going to leak or worse sooner or later. So I wasn't going to use it.
I'd call that soft water. Platies do best in over 200 ppm.
This is my chart, using UK water company definitions of hardness compared to fishkeepers' definitions. Water companies always make water sound harder than it really is.
| dH | ppm | Water company | Fish keeping |
| 0 – 2.8 | 0 - 50 | soft | very soft |
| 2.8 – 5.6 | 50 - 100 | moderately soft | soft |
| 5.6 – 8.4 | 100 - 150 | slightly hard | soft |
| 8.4 – 11.2 | 150 - 200 | moderately hard | soft to middling |
| 11.2 – 16.8 | 200 - 300 | hard | middling to hard |
| over 16.8 | over 300 | very hard | hard to very hard |
Thank you for posting this, very useful, I've saved it for my own personal reference.
Years ago, I purchased the API GH & KH test kit to test my own tap/tank(s) water, and at the same time, purchased a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) digital meter, calibratable
Am I correct to assume the above ppm numbers are a reference to total dissolved solids, whatever they may be?
No, the ppm numbers in my chart are GH not TDS. The same unit as given for GH in fish profiles.
I wrote that after we had UK members looking on their water provider's websites and reading the words not the numbers. They were telling us the water company said they had hard water so they needed hard water fish, while the numbers said they had upper soft or middling hardness.
The chart is from here
www.fishforums.net
I wrote that after we had UK members looking on their water provider's websites and reading the words not the numbers. They were telling us the water company said they had hard water so they needed hard water fish, while the numbers said they had upper soft or middling hardness.
The chart is from here
Hardness - words vs numbers
We always say to look on your water provider's website for hardness, and to ignore any words, look for a number. These are UK water company definitions of hardness compared to what we consider to be hard, soft and middling in fish keeping. Always look for numbers :) dH ppm Water company...
www.fishforums.net
You have soft water so no platies or livebearers. Think about Tetras, Rasboras and Barbs.
So, is TDS a consideration at all when deciding which fish are compatible with our source water?No, the ppm numbers in my chart are GH not TDS. The same unit as given for GH in fish profiles.
I wrote that after we had UK members looking on their water provider's websites and reading the words not the numbers. They were telling us the water company said they had hard water so they needed hard water fish, while the numbers said they had upper soft or middling hardness.
The chart is from here
Hardness - words vs numbers
We always say to look on your water provider's website for hardness, and to ignore any words, look for a number. These are UK water company definitions of hardness compared to what we consider to be hard, soft and middling in fish keeping. Always look for numbers :) dH ppm Water company...
It can be. Those fish which need very soft water usually need very low TDS as well as low GH. But most of us can't test for TDS, and we tend to go by just the hardness of our tap water.
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