Water parameter question

[IrishJord]

Hi all,

I have been keeping fish for around 1 and a half years now and I have tried asking this question else where and never quite got the help I was looking for.

Hoping someone here might be able to help or has a similar situation to me.

Using a liquid test kit (NT LABS), my tap water has a PH of 6.6, GH 0 and KH 0.

So for last year and a half since I started keeping fish, I have had limestone rocks in my tanks which raises PH to around 7.5, KH 5, GH 6.

My question is how does one go about water changes in this situation without putting the fish under massive stress? I have always stuck to 20% water changes and the fish seem to be ok. Of course when I do any water change the GH/KH will drop a bit until the limestone raises it back to normal. Do I simply just stick to small water changes more often? Is that best?

I only wish I had tap water with a good amount of minerals so bigger water changes could be done if ever needed. It's always a bit stressful when I do water changes, worried about shocking the fish.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ichthys]

The safe way is always to adjust the water before it goes into the tank.

Seachem make quite a large range of remineralising salts, mostly for making water hard enough for the African Rift Lake Cichlids. You could draw your tapwater into a container, mix in one of these products, then add the water to the tank. You'll soon learn how much you need to achieve the hardness you want. If you're keeping soft water fish you won't need much, just a little KH to keep the pH stable.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What fish do you keep?
If you keep South American tetras, rasboras or other soft water fishes, you don't need to adjust the tap water because these fishes naturally occur in acid water with little to no minerals. If you keep hard water fishes, then you need to adjust the pH, GH and KH.

When I had Rift Lake cichlids I made their water up a week in advance. I had holding tanks with water and added minerals to the water. The solution was aerated to circulate and mix the water and minerals. When the pH, GH and KH were correct, I used that water for the water change.

In you case, you could get a large plastic container and fill it with tap water, add some limestone and leave it for a few days to a week (until the pH, GH and KH are the same as the tank), then use that water to do bigger water changes.

 

[Ichthys]

I haven't really delved into all these Seachem products, but they do a Lake Cichlid buffer, American Cichlid buffer, a Malawi buffer, a Tanganyika buffer... and a few more. They're basically just adding GH and KH and other trace minerals, in different proportions.

Storing water with limestone will not be an instant fix, but if the container is big enough you could have treated water always available. Once you've emptied it, fill it again and it should be ready for next week's change?

 

[GaryE]

A lot of hobbyists would kill for that basic rainwater you have. It depends on which fish interest you, and what you have.

How you handle it depends on space and time. @Ichthys probably has the best solution - it's what I would do if I wanted to ruin my soft water (I keep rainforest fish). You could also store water in containers with limestone, but I don't know how quickly that would work. In my old city, the soft river water was stored in giant limestone reservoirs, and it was moderately hard by the time it came out of the tap.

If you use a product like a rift lake salts mix, you would have to play with it and use a test kit til you had the concentration right. It wouldn't be hard, as the results would be quick.

 

[Ichthys]

I don't adjust my water but I do filter it all through PolyFilter before it goes near fish. I use a garden water butt (indoors). I pump the water into the tank, refill the butt from the tap, then it sits for a week with a small internal filter full of PF.

Sat there for a week, it does need to keep moving, so a small internal full of coral gravel might be all you need.