Hello and thanks for the advice in advance.

[Jeepin59]

I am converting from saltwater to freshwater. I have a 300-gallon aquarium with a 70-gallon sump. I had the saltwater tank running for 11 years but lost interest. Not sure where I am going at this time for the type of fish. Looking forward to something different. I am using well water with a high PH. I will be limited to the type of fish because I do not want to chase the PH.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh wow! A 300 gallon would give you a lot of options, lol! And an amazing project! Any chance of seeing photos of the tank? Especially from when it was set up as saltwater, must have been breathtaking!

Welcome to the forum and to freshwater

 

[Rocky998]

I am converting from saltwater to freshwater. I have a 300-gallon aquarium with a 70-gallon sump. I had the saltwater tank running for 11 years but lost interest. Not sure where I am going at this time for the type of fish. Looking forward to something different. I am using well water with a high PH. I will be limited to the type of fish because I do not want to chase the PH.

Thats like a dream tank size... You just made most everyome jealous here . If you have soft water that is even better, cause you can do a TON with soft water... But a 300 gallon tank still has a ton of.options even with hard water... Do you want to do larger fish or are you looking at schools of smaller fish?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Do you know the GH (general hardness) of the water?
If you have hard water with a high pH, perhaps African Rift Lake cichlids from Lake Malawi or Lake Tanganyika. They are easy to keep and breed, and you can use the old limestone rock from your marine tank to set up in their tank.

Rainbowfish and most livebearers do well in water with lots of minerals and a high pH. They can be kept with plants if you want to go in that direction. You marine lights should be fine for plants, just don't use UV for freshwater, it's not necessary.

 

[Jeepin59]

I will see about a photo of the tank when it was salt. I have always liked the Africans but not sure this time. One thing I know is no really large fish been that route and not for me they are impressive though and understand the work involved. I do like the idea of schooling fish however would need a large number of them. Our water not sure about GH. I would say soft because we use very little shampoo to lather up. However, my test kits say high PH. My first question can you have soft water with high PH.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

Well water, depending on where you live, is usually very hard

 

[Rocky998]

can you have soft water with high PH.

In very weird cases like mine where the KH is super high but the GH is very low, that can cause a high PH qnd therefore the water is soft but the PH is very high

 

[Byron]

Two things about GH. If the water really is soft, with a high pH, it is possible you have some sort of water softener installed? Check into this; many of these use sodium chloride (common salt) to replace calcium and magnesium salts, so the water is "softer" but the sodium is even worse on freshwater fish. If there is a softener, test the well water on its own, before it runs through the softener. Depending upon the results, you may be better off using the well water.

Adjusting pH can only be done when it also involves the GH and KH as the three are related. The GH has the most direct impact on freshwater fish. This chemistry (GH/KH/pH) is something the freshwater side of the hobby has to deal with more than the marine side because the water in the oceans is basically the same. But freshwater can be very different depending upon the area. Water is a powerful solvent, and it assimilates substances like minerals, organics, etc as it passes over or through these, and the fish in that specific area have evolved to function in that water.

 

[Jeepin59]

Two things about GH. If the water really is soft, with a high pH, it is possible you have some sort of water softener installed? Check into this; many of these use sodium chloride (common salt) to replace calcium and magnesium salts, so the water is "softer" but the sodium is even worse on freshwater fish. If there is a softener, test the well water on its own, before it runs through the softener. Depending upon the results, you may be better off using the well water.

Adjusting pH can only be done when it also involves the GH and KH as the three are related. The GH has the most direct impact on freshwater fish. This chemistry (GH/KH/pH) is something the freshwater side of the hobby has to deal with more than the marine side because the water in the oceans is basically the same. But freshwater can be very different depending upon the area. Water is a powerful solvent, and it assimilates substances like minerals, organics, etc as it passes over or through these, and the fish in that specific area have evolved to function in that water.

There is no water softener used. I have RO unit that was used for the saltwater tank. Will that help in any way with the high PH.

 

[OldTimeFisher]

I'm in the same boat as you are. I just recently converted my 90g reef tank into freshwater 2 weeks ago. I am on well water too, very soft water. Also with no softener.

My tap water results are as follows;
pH 8.7 to 8.9
GH 2
KH 8
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 0.0
I have driftwood in my tank with live plants. I'm currently going through a silent plant cycle. (No fish) The included picture is my 90g all set up and cycling for 6 weeks. The driftwood tannins natural lowers the pH from 8.7 to 7.9.
You can follow my freshwater tank journal here;
Thread '90g Planted Aquarium Journal' https://www.fishforums.net/threads/90g-planted-aquarium-journal.478990/
I look forward to following your build.
And welcome to the forum!

 

[Byron]

There is no water softener used. I have RO unit that was used for the saltwater tank. Will that help in any way with the high PH.

You need to sort out the GH first, and the KH. The pH is connected to these. Using RO will--or should--reduce the GH, KH and pH. I say "should" because without knowing the numbers of the source water we are stumbling in the dark. I would not use soap lathering as an indicator of soft water. If you do not have a report on the well water (I would assume you would if you drink it) you can take a sample to a reliable fish store to test. Make sure you get the number and their unit of measure so we will know.

 

[OldTimeFisher]

I agree with @Byron. It is essential to know your well water KH, GH and the pH. I would recommend against using your saltwater testing kit for freshwater. Saltwater master test kits are very different from a freshwater test kit. I would recommend getting a API freshwater test kit. You will also need to purchase a separate API GH and KH test kit. They are not included in the API master kit. These are liquid test kits. More reliable then stripes.

 

[Jeepin59]

I am home now and beginning the freshwater build. I purchased the API kit to test GH and KH. However I have added over 30 drops and it never changes color from blue. Could the kit be bad. It is not expired. I have tried testing several times over different days.

 

[Essjay]

More than 30 drops sounds very hgh - I have never come across KH that high before. If you have any bottled water in the house you could try testing the KH of that to see if you get a change from blue to yellow as a check of the tester.

What about GH, how many drops did that take to turn from orange to green? That's the more important parameter.

 

[Essjay]

I have never heard of water being that hard. Are you on well water or mains water? If it's mains it could be worth looking on your water provider's website to see if they give hardness - if they say it's that high you'll know your test kit is working properly.

To be honest, I have no idea which fish would be OK in water that hard