If You Stand Over Here, You Can Almost See The Sea...

[STRiDER]

Here are the newest test results:

Tank Water:
PH : 8.3
NO2 : 0
NO3 : 5
GH : 220
KH : 110

Tap Water
PH : 8.2
GH : 100
KH : 50

These are fairly alarming as it seems something in my tank is pushing up the hardness.

The fact that I added bogwood and peat obviously did not help at all.

The only other options I can still consider is RO unit / deionized water for changes. Both will be quite expensive though

Any other advice?

 

[BigIan]

Personally i`d start suspecting the substrate and the rock work in the tank,
sometimes the gravel and stones arent entirely inert and so will releace lime and carbonates into the water pushing the kh/gh up.
so try removeing al the rocks from your tank before doing your next water changes and leaving them out for a little while and see if that has any effect on the GH.
if that hasn`t done it i`d suspect your gravel.

asd for the R.O unit they arent that expencive, over here 50-70 pounds. (i have no idea what they will be like over there)
but personaly i think it may be the best option for you, as co2 and other ph lowering methods can come with a whole hoast of other problems

 

[300hp+vr6]

Other experts here have told me adding Neons to a new tanks is a very bad idea. The tanks needs to be a few moths old first, because there a bit touchy. I have lost 5 Neons in our new tank

that is perhaps a maybe maybe not situation. i fishles cycled my tank and the 1st fish that went in were neons (approx 3-4 weeks ago) we got 6 and thy were all fine till last week when 2 got into the filter got stuck and died we now have 8 and theyr all doing fine

 

[STRiDER]

(back from holiday )

Thanks BigIan

I will try and isolate what's causing the hardness.

However, here's my (inexperienced) theory...

There is virtually no change in PH from my tapwater to my tank water. (Both 8.3).
The only difference is the GH/KH that is higher in my tank.

I spoke to a lot of people struggling with low hardness and they keep adding stuff to raise their hardness. I dont have that problem.
So what I'm trying to say (in theory) is that the hardness is actually good

The real question therefore is this: If I can lower the PH of my tapwater before adding it to the tank, will it then stay at that PH. If that happens then I guess everything should be fine...

(I might of course be reasoning like a idiot...

 

[InaneCathode]

Well, trying to wrap my head around this but,
If you raise your pH, you'll probably end up starting out by adding some sort of acid. If your water has any buffers in it (what makes it 'hard') your buffers will, well, buffer out the acid (it'll react, neutralizing both the acid and the buffer) so yes your pH would be higher, but your hardness would take a huge hit. Most hard water is quite basic, reason being some of the minerals dissolved are actually OH- ions (read, the oppisite of H+ acid ions). If you lower the pH of your source water before adding it, and then add it to your tank, whatever it is thats making your tank water harder will both make your source water harder, and make it more basic. If that makes any sense.
Basically (pun not intended) if you try lowering your pH of your tap water, you'll end up with a lower pH yes, but also very little buffering capacity, meaning that your tank water will end up incredibly fragile (read, one tiny bit of acid will sink your pH quick enough to kill fish).

 

[Miss Wiggle]

or put simply, don't bugger around with your ph and hardness unless you really have to!

if your fish are happy and well then leave it as it is, you should be aware of it and not choose fish who prefer a really low ph. also if you speak to all your lfs's and find out what ph they keep they're tanks at and what ph the fish they buy are bred in you should be able to find some that are happy in it.

 

[InaneCathode]

or put simply, don't bugger around with your ph and hardness unless you really have to!

if your fish are happy and well then leave it as it is, you should be aware of it and not choose fish who prefer a really low ph. also if you speak to all your lfs's and find out what ph they keep they're tanks at and what ph the fish they buy are bred in you should be able to find some that are happy in it.

Lol well put wiggle!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

 

[STRiDER]

Thanks everyone.

So far no fish problems. I will keep track of everything very closely.

I've been informed by a local expert that my high hardness can sinply be because the tank is still fairly new and not yet settled in. So I will leave everything as is for now and see what happens.

 

[STRiDER]

Here's a few new photos.
Aquascape still need work on the right hand side. Plants on order...

Some inhabitants...