Adoptedfish13 said:
Thanks Byron.
I saw an earlier post of yours last night which led me to try and find the info on my water and only got this:
http
/vpsfl.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/236
I suppose I would have to call them when they are open if I wanted to know from them.
I haven't tested the water straight out of the tap yet either. I don't want to mess with any of the water parameters if I don't have to. I was just curious because of the different species in the tank. We shall see if I will need to change GH when the tank is a bit more mature or stable. The move has upset things a bit even though it was only a couple hours. However, it is much better than brand new, that is for sure.
Husband added 7 Java ferns to the tank today, I am hoping that the plants help with all that. Will the plants change the GH? We also have 4 pieces of bogwood in there.
GH was 107.4 ppm which equaled to 6.4 dGH on a calculator I found online.
They are primarily concerned with contaminants in that report. I tried finding something else from their site but couldn't, so a call when they are open will be needed. If the GH is 107.4 ppm, that does equate to 6 dGH. which means soft to moderately hard water which will pose no issues for the vast majority of fish (though if you intend keeping species preferring harder water such as rift lake cichlids I would certainly increase the hardness). Generally the KH is relative to the GH, though this can be different. However, KH is much less of an issue for fish than GH.
The KH is primarily the "buffer" for pH, so it is worth knowing the KH initially. As I mentioned previously, unless you target the GH/KH they are unlikely to vary from the source (tap) water. The pH can shift, usually downward, depending upon the KH. This poses no issue for soft water fish.
Plants will have very little effect on the GH /KH or pH. I have near-zero GH/KH in my water, and need to supplement the minerals for plants more than fish. Over the course of several months I experimented with this, taking often daily GH readings, and found that when I raised the GH to say 4, 5 or 6 dGH, even the many plants in my tanks did not reduce the number at all by the end of the week and the next water change. Our test kits, like the API, are fine for our purposes, but not scientifically accurate to the point that one could detect such minimal changes.
Organic substances like bogwood also have minimal impact on GH/KH, again depending upon the initial levels. These substances have more effect the lower the GH/KH is to start with, but still this is quite minimal. I have a lot of wood in my tanks, and some have dried leaves added regularly that also acidify and more-so than the wood.
I mentioned avoiding hard water species, and you referenced a mix of fish, so I will just comment briefly. Any soft water fish will be fine (I don't know the pH, but with the GH and presumably KH this low I doubt the pH will be an issue), and this encompasses most fish from South America, SE Asia, and Central Africa. Central American fish (the larger neotropical cichlids, all livebearers) will likely manage though if this were me and these are the only fish I would increase the GH just a tad. Eastern African rift lake cichlids will not do well without increasing the GH significantly.
Ask on anything that is unclear. BTW, about the conversion from ppm to dGH, this you can do with the number 17.9, by multiplying dGH by 17.9 to get the ppm, or in reverse you divide ppm by 17.9 to get the equivalent dGH. If you come across mg/l (milligrams per litre), that is the same as ppm.
And one last comment...when using the API test for GH or KH, follow essjay's excellent suggestion and hold the test tube over something white and look down through it. This is much easier to read.
Byron.
