Brett in Brisbane Australia

[Brett_cowan]

Hi all!

I’ve got a new 5ft, 160gal tank. The fish I’m keeping are Pacific blue eyes, cardinals, ember tetras, some striped Kuhli loaches, a few bristle nose plecos, and some phantom glass ghost catfish. I’ve also got two left-over guppies that I can’t bring myself to remove out of the tank, but they’ve been looking after themselves without bothering anyone so they’re cool.
I’ve been amazed by the impact of getting a great light for the tank. I just invested in a Chihiros WRGB 2 and the impact on colours in the tank was astounding.
I’m still trying to stabilise the whole unit - it’s currently getting too hot so I have a chiller on order (hopefully arriving in the next day or two).
And I’ve discovered the water here is way too hard (GH). So I’d happily take any suggestions as to how to bring the hardness down as quickly and safely as possible. It was at 12degrees and now I’ve managed to get it to 8, with my target being 3. Water out of the tap here is 12degrees.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Welcome!

I always recommend choosing fish to suit the water you have, rather than trying to modify the water to suit the fish. That gets to be too much work and hard to sustain over a long time, especially in a tank as large as yours. You already have some beautiful hard-water species (blue eyes and guppies; I'm not sure about bristle noses and glass catfish--you'd have to research them a bit). If it were me, I'd find new homes for the softwater fish and put together an amazing hardwater tank.

 

[jaylach]

 

[Brett_cowan]

Welcome!

I always recommend choosing fish to suit the water you have, rather than trying to modify the water to suit the fish. That gets to be too much work and hard to sustain over a long time, especially in a tank as large as yours. You already have some beautiful hard-water species (blue eyes and guppies; I'm not sure about bristle noses and glass catfish--you'd have to research them a bit). If it were me, I'd find new homes for the softwater fish and put together an amazing hardwater tank.

That’s an absolutely great idea! Thanks for the suggestion. Let me look into it

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

Hi from somewhere near your general proximity! Great to have you here

 

[jaylach]

I totally agree with @WhistlingBadger as to adjusting your fish to the water rather than trying to adjust the water to fish. In the long term trying to keep the water adjusted rarely works. For instance my tap water runs around a PH of 6.2. I would never try to keep most live bearers such as guppies as they want a PH of around 7.0 or higher. It just isn't fair to the fish. It is also unfair to you as you will spend so much effort trying to control the water you will lose enjoyment with your tank.

You might even consider some rift lake African cichlids. They like a high PH and many are totally stunning.