Questions about setting up my 90 gallon tank again...

[Essjay]

We haven't yet established whether the OP has hard or soft water. Mbuna, and all Rift Lake cichlids, need hard water.

 

[blackthidot]

We haven't yet established whether the OP has hard or soft water. Mbuna, and all Rift Lake cichlids, need hard water.

I do not know about what kind of water I have. I like in Pittsburgh (15233) if that helps?

But I am not gonna do Cichlids. I like smaller fish and they don't mesh well lol

 

[Retired Viking]

looking at the hard/soft water map for the USA, Pittsburgh is hard water 7-10.5 grains per gallon if that helps

 

[Byron]

The hobby uses two units to measure GH, degrees GH (dH or dGH) and parts per million (ppm). Converting 7 grains per gallon to ppm works out to 120 ppm (rounded up) which is the equivalent of 7 dGH (rounded up from 6.7). That is the "softest" end of the range 7-10.5 given above; the 10.5 hardest end works out to 180 ppm or 10 dGH. Assuming this range is accurate, the water could be considered to be moderately soft/hard. This is not hard enough for livebearers or rift lake cichlids. It would help to pin this down. Your water authority probably has a web site, and water data may be posted there.