WATER HARDNESS

[Delboy50]

Hi,

My test kit arrive today (API) to test my water for KH & GH.

My KH is 6 which I understand is 106.8 ppm. However, I was totally shocked at my GH levels.

23 drops later and if i am doing it right is 409.4 ppm.

Now considering i was wanting a community tank i am not sure what fish could live in those conditions.

In fact the API chart only went up to 400 ppm.

Any advice on this would be great.

The thought of buying soft water or having a reverse osmosis unit it not appealing, yet if its the only way I rule nothing out.

I do love my tropical fish.

Thanks

Derek

 

[gwand]

That’s water for East African lake cichlids. Very hard water indeed.

 

[MattW]

Some have used rain water mixed with tap water before. I haven't done that but others have. I'm not 100% sure what sort of levels that would create though.

 

[Naughts]

Rain water is around neutral so it easily reduces pH, KH and GH.
Two problems with rain water :
1) sufficient steady supply throughout the year is not possible in some regions
2) pollutants and contaminants are likely from air and run-off surfaces like roofs.

If you don’t quite believe your test results cross reference them by checking your water providers online webpage. Look at the water quality report and it should tell you the GH etc.

 

[Colin_T]

You could also do another test just to make sure it's reading high. If it is, then Lake Tanganyika has fish suited to water with a GH around 400ppm.

The only other way is to dilute it with rain, distilled or reverse osmosis water.

 

[Essjay]

In Rotherham you'll be with Yorkshire Water.
Enter your postcode here

Yorkshire Water - Check your water hardness

Providing essential water and waste water services is only the start of what we do. Find out where we are now and where we plan to be in 25 years time. Do you have hard water? Find out more about the water hardness in your area with Yorkshire Water. Water hardness is the measure of the...

www.yorkshirewater.com

I've just entered the postcode for a high street bank in Rotherham and it gives hardness in the unit mg/l calcium. But there is also a box to 'convert your water hardness'. If you use that it gives another page with a drop down box to select other units. Look at the numbers for 'mg/l as calcium carbonate' which is what we call ppm and 'German degrees' which we call dH.


That high street bank has hard water but not nearly as hard as your tester gives, so I'd definitely look up your hardness on Yorkshire Water's site

 

[Delboy50]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses.

I went on to the website link above & got this reading 110.8 mg/l as calcium = 277 mg/l as calcium carbonate

So it's a lot lower than my test kit is showing. I did test both the aquarium water and the tap water last night.
Both had the same result on the test last night 23 drops to change the colour on the GH test.

I will test the tap water again tonight to get a second reading.

I know I can get soft water from Maidenhead Aquatics Sheffield at £3.50 for 25 litres. Yet, with a 55 gallon tank it's a lot of water.

If i mix 50% tap & 50% purchased I take it with my KH at 6 I won't have any issues with my PH buffering?

Thanks

Derek

 

[Essjay]

277 ppm = 15.5 dH. ,
With the API tester, 1 drop = 1 dH so in theory it should have changed to the end point colour at 16 drops.



My KH average on my water company's website is 51 ppm or 3 dH. Years ago I did 25% water changes every 3 to 4 weeks as the books I read said water changes were bad and I suffered a pH crash. Then we got broadband and research said water changes were good so I started doing 50% weekly changes and haven't had any problems since.

 

[Lcc86]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses.

I went on to the website link above & got this reading 110.8 mg/l as calcium = 277 mg/l as calcium carbonate

So it's a lot lower than my test kit is showing. I did test both the aquarium water and the tap water last night.
Both had the same result on the test last night 23 drops to change the colour on the GH test.

I will test the tap water again tonight to get a second reading.

I know I can get soft water from Maidenhead Aquatics Sheffield at £3.50 for 25 litres. Yet, with a 55 gallon tank it's a lot of water.

If i mix 50% tap & 50% purchased I take it with my KH at 6 I won't have any issues with my PH buffering?

Thanks

Derek

Have a look for Spotless Water (or other companies that sell RO), they're much cheaper than that. I use them as I have naturally hard water and keep soft water fish but don't have room for an RO unit. That said I also have much smaller tanks so this may not be feasible for you long-term with a 55 gallon.

 

[Delboy50]

Hi

Thanks Lcc86 I have set up an account with spotless water. At 3.5p per litre it's a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.

Never has this issue when I lived in Scotland as my area at soft water 50ppm. Anyway I should be able to get my community tank set up now.

 

[Lcc86]

Hi

Thanks Lcc86 I have set up an account with spotless water. At 3.5p per litre it's a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.

Never has this issue when I lived in Scotland as my area at soft water 50ppm. Anyway I should be able to get my community tank set up now.

My partner has it so I use his account, I checked and he said he pays about £15 for 400 litres so deffo much cheaper than Maidenhead! Good luck once you decide on stocking!

 

[plebian]

Hi,

My test kit arrive today (API) to test my water for KH & GH.

My KH is 6 which I understand is 106.8 ppm. However, I was totally shocked at my GH levels.

23 drops later and if i am doing it right is 409.4 ppm.

Now considering i was wanting a community tank i am not sure what fish could live in those conditions.

In fact the API chart only went up to 400 ppm.

Any advice on this would be great.

The thought of buying soft water or having a reverse osmosis unit it not appealing, yet if its the only way I rule nothing out.

I do love my tropical fish.

Thanks

Derek

Firstly, the API test for water hardness is not reliable. I had results similar to yours, but when I used a digital TDS meter the hardness reading was 300 ppm.

Secondly, I'm not aware of any species of tropical fish that would have a problem with your water, unless you want to breed. Some species won't spawn in hard water, and among those that will, the eggs may not develop. Live bearers actually require hard water. I have kept several species of wild tetras, and am currently keeping discus and several species of dwarf catfish without any issues.

Fish are way more accommodating than is commonly believed.

 

[Essjay]

I'll let Byron present the other side of the coin. Byron was one of our most knowledgeable members who sadly passed away earlier this year. But we still have his wealth of knowledge available on this forum.

Importance of GH over pH in Freshwater Fish Aquaria

In another thread, I was asked by @Uberhoust if I had scientific data to support my frequent advice that GH was the more important parameter when compared to pH [temperature is another critical parameter but outside this particular discussion], and rather than hijack that thread, perhaps start a...

www.fishforums.net

We also have members who have hard water and kept soft water fish. Those who switched to using RO water found their soft water fish lived a lot longer in RO than hard water.

 

[gwand]

Better safe than sorry. But were Byron cited studies done in wild caught or tank raised fish. I can envision genetic changes and adaption occurring in tank raised fish 100 generations or more from P1 founding stock.

 

[Delboy50]

Thank you EssJay for posting that info from Byron every interesting indeed. So on my original post i said my tap water KH was 6 and my GD was 23 first time and 20 the second time.

I went and bought some RO water today a 100 liters and added it to my tank. Left it for a few hours to circulate and tested it again.

KH is now 3 and GD is now ten. I will need to add tap and RO together to calculate the % required. Is that low enough for the fish I would l like to keep to be good for them?

I would like to keep Tetra fish Neons, Rummy Nose. I would like to have some pearl gourami as well.

Yet, I have read conflicting advice if it would be safe for the Neons. If not would Dwarf Gourami be more suitable?

One last question I really am a pushy git. Would it be recommended to get an electronic device to measure GH? I see they had one in the Aquatic shop today and the guy displayed it.

Thanks Derek