True or false?

[jredouard25]

Im very very confused. I’m learning about 1 trillion things everyday about fish keeping. And I found this. . “Filter bacteria work best in hard, alkaline water conditions. In very soft and acidic water, filter bacteria may not work at all, forcing the aquarist to use less efficient methods of filtration, such as the use of zeolite”.

I dont have hard water and do I have to use zeolite now? I don’t have acid water but it says and Soft water. So yes for zeolite or no?


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[Demeter32]

No, unless you have straight up black water conditions you should be fine. Can you get an exact pH and hardness reading?

 

[jredouard25]

No, unless you have straight up black water conditions you should be fine. Can you get an exact pH and hardness reading?

I don’t measure hardness cuz I heard it wasn’t needed. But my ph is 7.5-7.6


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[Colin_T]

Beneficial filter bacteria live in all sorts of water, ranging from soft acid (GH less than 50ppm & pH below 7.0) to hard alkaline water or even seawater with a GH above 350ppm and pH above 8.5. There are also different species of filter bacteria and some do better in hard water and others do better in soft water.

As long as the pH is not extreme (pH below 5.0 or above 9.0), the filter bacteria will develop normally. Even in extreme pH conditions, bacteria will still develop, just not as quickly. Your pH is 7.5 so you have nothing to worry about in that respects.

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Do not use Zeolite or any other ammonia absorbing granule/ substance because it can prevent the filter bacteria from growing. The bacteria need some ammonia in the water or they won't develop. The ammonia comes from fish food, fish waste, dead plants, rotting wood, etc. When the ammonia absorbing substance is full (they absorb ammonia until full) they no longer absorb ammonia and you get an ammonia reading and the fish get sick or die from ammonia poisoning.

Allowing the filter bacteria to develop normally is the best thing to do. The bacteria that grow in your filter will be fine with your water chemistry and do their job without you needing to add ammonia absorbing substances.

If the filter bacteria stop growing, you can do a 50-75% water change and that can help get it going again. The filter bacteria will stop growing if the ammonia or nitrite levels get too high. A water change will dilute ammonia or nitrite and allow the bacteria to keep growing.

 

[Discus-Tang]

At a lower pH, ammonia begins to change to ammonium (NH4) which cannot be nitrified easily by bb, which can lead to bacteria starving.

 

[Essjay]

I don’t measure hardness cuz I heard it wasn’t needed.

Hardness is actually more important than pH. Fish can live in water with a pH slightly outside their normal range provided the hardness is within their normal range.

You don't need to measure hardness yourself. Look on your water provider's website, or ring them and ask. Make a note of the number and the unit as they could use any one of half a dozen different units.




pH is a measure of the amount of hydrogen ions in the water. It's an upside down measurement so the more hydrogen ions there are, the lower the pH.
Hardness is the measure of the amount of divalent metal ions in the water. In reality this means mainly calcium, some magnesium and trace amounts of other metals. Fish have evolved to live in water with a certain level of calcium. Fish that have evolved in soft water (not much calcium) have to save as much calcium as they can from their natural water. If they are put in hard water (lots of calcium) they store too much and it harms their bodies. Hard water fish have evolved to remove a lot of calcium that their bodies absorb from hard water. If you put hard water fish in soft water, their bodies still get rid of a lot of calcium but there isn't enough in the water to replace it so they suffer from calcium deficiency.