New to Aquariums! Is my planned tropical tank good + tips and tricks (Angelfish, Gourami)

[Essjay]

My water is hard at 104 Ca mg/L.

This converts to 14.5 dH and 260 ppm, which are the two units used in fish keeping. It is indeed hard.

 

[jomix]

For tetra you need a shoal of at least 6 and the more the better. I have a 55 gallon tetra tank which gives them plenty of room to swim, 64 liter is around 15 gallons which does not give a lot of room depending on if it is a long or tall tank. Also tetra are soft water fish. I use RO water to soften my water. I keep my hard water fish in separate hard water tanks. If you have hard water fancy guppies may work out. Do you know what type of water you have? soft or hard and the GH and PH levels?

Thank you for the tips, So if I was to keep tetras or similar fish I should look for a water softener? My water is hard here...

 

[Essjay]

The only way to reduce hardness is by mixing your tap water with pure water - usually reverse osmosis (RO) water. Half and half would reduce the hardness to 7 dH. But if you were to do this, you would need to have some RO water to hand at all times in case you ever needed to do an emergency water change.

RO water can be purchased from some fish shops or you can buy the equipment to make your own.



Water softeners 'soften' the water by removing the hardness minerals and replacing them with something else. RO water just removes them and doesn't replace them with anything else.

 

[jomix]

The only way to reduce hardness is by mixing your tap water with pure water - usually reverse osmosis (RO) water. Half and half would reduce the hardness to 7 dH. But if you were to do this, you would need to have some RO water to hand at all times in case you ever needed to do an emergency water change.

RO water can be purchased from some fish shops or you can buy the equipment to make your own.



Water softeners 'soften' the water by removing the hardness minerals and replacing them with something else. RO water just removes them and doesn't replace them with anything else.

Would you be able to recommend any equipment and would said equipment be expensive?

 

[Essjay]

Living in a soft water area I have not needed to use RO, but other members have and I'm sure they'll be able to point you in the right direction

 

[jomix]

Living in a soft water area I have not needed to use RO, but other members have and I'm sure they'll be able to point you in the right direction

Thank you for the advice. Would a water softener work almost as well? Or would it be unhealthy for the fish?

 

[Essjay]

Water softeners shouldn't be used for fish. There are different types.
The ones that use salt swap the hardness minerals, calcium and magnesium, with sodium should not be used for fish. No fresh water fish have evolved to cope with sodium in the water. And soft water fish need water with a low TDS (total dissolved solids). Swapping one mineral for another won't lower TDS. The same applies to the type which swap the hardness minerals with potassium.
Another type swaps the minerals with hydrogen ions (Brita filters are this type). The problem with these is the pH. pH is a measure of the amount of hydrogen ions; the more there are the lower the pH. We used to have a Brita jug, and that dropped the pH from 7.6 to off the bottom of the scale so somewhere less than 6.0. I have no idea how low the pH actually was.

 

[Retired Viking]

I use RO water that I purchase in 5 gallon jugs. Like @essjay said water softeners water would not be good. I wish is was alright so I did not have to lug around 5 gallon jugs.

 

[jomix]

Water softeners shouldn't be used for fish. There are different types.
The ones that use salt swap the hardness minerals, calcium and magnesium, with sodium should not be used for fish. No fresh water fish have evolved to cope with sodium in the water. And soft water fish need water with a low TDS (total dissolved solids). Swapping one mineral for another won't lower TDS. The same applies to the type which swap the hardness minerals with potassium.
Another type swaps the minerals with hydrogen ions (Brita filters are this type). The problem with these is the pH. pH is a measure of the amount of hydrogen ions; the more there are the lower the pH. We used to have a Brita jug, and that dropped the pH from 7.6 to off the bottom of the scale so somewhere less than 6.0. I have no idea how low the pH actually was.

I see so RO water is the only option really... Luckily I checked in with my local pet shop and they provide it. So if my tank is 64L(14 gallons) should I try to have half of that 32L pure water at all times?

 

[jomix]

Does my friend have too many fish in his tank? All them fish in a 12 gallon tank sounds a bit too much...

 

[Crispii]

Does my friend have too many fish in his tank? All them fish in a 12 gallon tank sounds a bit too much...

I would say so.

 

[Byron]

I see so RO water is the only option really... Luckily I checked in with my local pet shop and they provide it. So if my tank is 64L(14 gallons) should I try to have half of that 32L pure water at all times?

When you mix hard tap water with RO water, it is a proportional measure. For example, if you have 12 gallons of water in the tank (the substrate and decor displaces some of the original 14 or 15 gallons) and you mix 6 gallons of tap water and six gallons of RO, it will reduce the GH and KH by half. Remember that this has to be done for every water change so that the "mix" is always the same.

Some soft water fiish require very soft water, some do well with soft or even moderately soft/hard. Knowing the fish species intended will help you and us work out a viable mix.

 

[Byron]

Does my friend have too many fish in his tank? All them fish in a 12 gallon tank sounds a bit too much...

Definitely. The fish in post #15 have a number of problems, one of which is the tank is way too small for any of them really, and there are shoaling species that need a group, etc.

 

[jomix]

Ok, just a quick update! I went to see my friend’s fish and they were in a bit of a bad condition squeezed in that tank and the water was very dirty, I said I wouldn’t be able to take any if he’s fish but I told him that he should find some kind shelter for them or take them to Pets-at-Home(as they adopt fish to look after and resell).

As for myself I did some more research on what I can fit in my tank, keeping loosely to the 1 Inch/1 small fish per gallon and have found a good selection I would like to keep:

3x Male Guppies
2x Platys
6x Neon Tetras
(I was originally thinking of getting of getting 4 Neons and 4x Danios for more variation but I think it would be better if I just had 1 larger school)

After research I found that all three of these fish should get along just fine and they all eat the same kind of food and are good in the same kind of water conditions. I think the variation of colours will look great as I really wanted to make an as vibrant tank as possible.

So what do you guys think? Does this sound like a good set up for my 64L tank? Is it at least a step in the right direction? (Please tell me it is ).

 

[jomix]

Also I forgot to add, I was thinking of getting a couple shrimp as well but apparently Platys can sometimes eat shrimp as they get a little larger. Also I read that shrimp should not really be in the same tank as fish as they tend to hide away and not eat! Is this true? I could just forget the shrimp, it’s no big deal