Platy Aggression

[badbrownbear]

I thought that is how you’d determine hardness. I’m obviously miss informed by bad

 

[Essjay]

Hardness , or GH, is the amount of divalent metal ions in the water. In practice this means mainly calcium with some magnesium and trace amounts of other metals. But to give a simple number, hardness is expressed as though it was all calcium, or all calcium carbonate.
The water quality table is the amount of each individual thing, from metals to inorganic chemicals to organic chemical to pollutants and bacteria. It does list calcium and magnesium and a few other metals, but the numbers aren't the same as 'hardness'. However, we can say that if the calcium and magnesium levels are low, hardness will be low, we just don't know the exact number. The calcium and magnesium levels in your water quality report suggest you have soft water.

 

[badbrownbear]

do I need to pay special detail attention to the hardness or will that come with experience? I’m relatively new to fish keeping. Im down but not an expert with the nitrogen cycle at the minimum.

 

[badbrownbear]

I’ve been told not to ‘chase ph’ and the way I understand that is don’t worry if there is a slight change provided it’s within the range so to speak.

 

[Essjay]

Hardness is more important than pH.
It is better (easier) to keep fish suited to the hardness of our tap water rather than alter the hardness to suit the fish we want to keep.

Fish evolved in water with a certain hardness.
Fish which evolved in hard water take in a lot of calcium and magnesium from the water and their bodies evolved to remove most of those minerals. Put them in soft water and although there are few minerals, their bodies still remove them so they end up deficient which makes them get sick easier.
Fish which evolved in soft water hang on to the small amount of calcium and magnesium in the water, and in hard water they continue to hang on to them. This causes calcium deposits in their organs, particularly the kidneys, and they don't live as long as they should.