Soft water?

[corylover5]

Months ago, I was told by my water company that I had hard water on the phone. I also had it tested at my LFS and they said my water was good for livebearers.

I stocked my tank with livebearers and I called to ask for exact numbers today because I had been having issues with some of my livebeares in seperate threads. They said the PH was 7.25ppm and the GH was 19mg per liter. I'm pretty sure that is soft water? If it is soft water what should I do? I love my fish but I want what's best for them. @AdoraBelle Dearheart @NCaquatics

 

[CassCats]

I would get some Seachem Equilibrium and manage with that for the livebearers and move any soft water fish to a separate tank for the softer normal water

 

[Guyb93]

Sound softer than harder , hmmm maybe small changes like crushed coral sand and sea stone might take you to a better Gh

 

[Essjay]

19 mg/l (assuming it's calcium carbonate) is roughly 1 dH. It's not just soft, it's very soft. Even if it was mg/l calcium, that's only 2.6 dH so still very soft. It needs more than just coral to raise it to high enough for livebearers.

Byron suggested Seachem Replenish rather than Equilibrium as Equilibrium is aimed at plants rather than fish.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Months ago, I was told by my water company that I had hard water on the phone. I also had it tested at my LFS and they said my water was good for livebearers.

I stocked my tank with livebearers and I called to ask for exact numbers today because I had been having issues with some of my livebeares in seperate threads. They said the PH was 7.25ppm and the GH was 19mg per liter. I'm pretty sure that is soft water? If it is soft water what should I do? I love my fish but I want what's best for them. @AdoraBelle Dearheart @NCaquatics

Sorry to hear this, but it might explain why you've had so many losses with livebearers! I did wonder, which is why I suggested checking the hardness again.

@essjay , would cichlid salts raise it high enough for the livebearers @corylover5 has at the moment? I've no experience or knowledge about them myself, have just heard them recommended for hardening water.

@corylover5 I wouldn't necessarily rehome the fish you have now, but at least going forward, you could make choices about stocking to suit your water. The good news is that you'll have so many more options with soft water than with hard!

 

[Essjay]

I've seen Rift Lake salts advised to harden water and I've read people saying not to use it for other types of fish. I don't know which version to believe which is why I suggested Seachem Replenish.

I know those who have Rift Lake cichlids do often use a coral based substrate, but with such soft water it probably won't raise GH enough on its own.

 

[StevenF]

Yes your water is very soft. Equilibrium and Replenish both will work for plants and fish. Equilibrium is calcium / magnesium sultate. Replenish is calcium / Magnesium chloride. Only the Calcium and magnesium will effect GH. Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfate, and Chloride are needed by fish and plants. Due to the treatment process most tap water will have some chloride in it. Note chlorides are chlorine containitng salts that are safe for fish and plants. Only chlorine gas and Chloramine are hazardous to fish. And you should assume all tape water has beeen exposed to chlorine gas and or Chloramines and pretreat the water before adding it to your tank.

For My RO water tank I Don't
have any livebearers in my tank.My tank is currently a shrimp only tank with plants.

 

[corylover5]

I use Seachem Fresh trace every other week. Would that do anything?
I would be nervous hardening the water because I have Corydoras (I know poor choice on my part stocking wise since I have hard and soft water fish now I didn't know at the time) but I wouldn't want to hurt the cories or the Livebearers.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I use Seachem Fresh trace every other week. Would that do anything?
I would be nervous hardening the water because I have Corydoras (I know poor choice on my part stocking wise since I have hard and soft water fish now I didn't know at the time) but I wouldn't want to hurt the cories or the Livebearers.

which type of cories do you have?

 

[Essjay]

I use Seachem Fresh trace every other week. Would that do anything?

No, I'm afraid not. Fresh Trace does contain calcium and magnesium but only in trace amounts.

Guppies, platies and swordtails need over 200 ppm hardness; mollies need over 250 ppm.
Some cories can tolerate hard water, other cory species can't.

 

[corylover5]

I have quite a few different types. Albinos, Peppered, Emerald, trilineatus, Panda, and 2 other unidentified corydoras.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have quite a few different types. Albinos, Peppered, Emerald, trilineatus, Panda, and 2 other unidentified corydoras.

All in the same tank? Only that peppered cories like it on the cooler side.

If you post photos of the unidentified cories, and the albinos, I'm sure @NCaquatics could ID them for you. The albinos are probably aeneus, but could be paleatus or something too.

Just that aeneus and a few other species are okay with harder water, so could cope if you hardened the water for the livebearers, but I don't think pandas could cope with it, or some of the other species.

 

[corylover5]

Yes, they are all in the same tank. I got most of my corydoras from a tank my LFS has where they place all the fish people dropped off to them.
The Albinos are indeed aeneus.
My water is typically 77 to 78 degrees. Is that a good temp for them?
It is late here but I will try to get pics of the 2 tomorrow

 

[StevenF]

Seachem Fresh trace every other week. Would that do anything

It would only add trace amounts of calcium and magnesium to the water. Get a proper GH booster. Question do you have a home water softener?

 

[corylover5]

no we do not. Those were the results my water company gave me