Water parameters

[ancient11]

Every fish that I want to put in my aquarium has a different water parameters. What do you do in case like this?

 

[Essjay]

The main thing to look at is hardness (GH) then pH. You need the GH and pH of your tap water, and the preferred ranges of the fish you like from the website Seriously Fish http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/ This site is written by experts rather than someone who just decided to set up a website without much knowledge.
If you don't have a GH tester, look on your water provider's website. You need a number and the unit (there are half a dozen different hardness units) rather than some vague words. If they don't give it, take a sample of your tap water to an LFS and ask them to test GH (and KH). Again you need a number and the unit.
For pH, test a freshly run sample of water, then leave a glass of water to stand overnight then test that. You'll probably find they are different.


Once you know the hardness of your tap water, look up the fish you like on Seriously Fish. Any species which has your hardness in its preferred range is good.
If all the fish you like have different hardness requirements from your tap water, it is possible to alter your tap water but it is better to keep fish which match your tap water hardness.


The only way to keep different species of fish which need different water parameters (GH, KH and pH) is to set up two or more tanks. For the ones which don't match your tap water you will need to either reduce your GH by mixing your tap water with pure water (RO, distilled or even rainwater if it is safe) or by adding minerals to soft water to make it harder.

If you can only have one tank, then I'm afraid you can't have all the fish you like. You need to buy only the species which need the same parameters.

 

[Colin_T]

Every fish that I want to put in my aquarium has a different water parameters. What do you do in case like this?

I built a fish room and had 40 tanks in it

A friend of mine built a fish room and had 200 tanks in it. Then he ran out of tank space so built another room and put more tanks in it

Build a double or triple tier stand and have 2 or 3 tanks.

 

[Byron]

Just a thought adding to what essjay posted...the species on SF will have a range for GH and pH and temperature. Most fish species have a certain adaptability, but the one thing that is extremely important is the difference between soft water species and hard water species. You don't mention the specific species you are looking at keeping, but there is usually some adaptability within these two primary groups.

 

[ancient11]

The fish that I want to keep are guppies, Mollies, neon's, Otocinclus Catfish. My PH is 6.4. I am setting up a 10 gallon tank that
will become my isolation tank.

 

[Essjay]

A pH that low usually goes with soft water. If you can find out the hardness of your water, it will be easier to advise you. Look on your water provider's website.

If the water turns out to be soft, that will rule out livebearers I'm afraid. Mollies in particular need hard water and a high pH. Too hard for neons and otocinclus. Guppies can tolerate softer water than mollies; guppies' hardness range overlaps with that for neons and otos, but I would prefer to keep them in hard water.

 

[ancient11]

Well, I think maybe I had better give up. Ill give my tank, light, filter, plants and substrate away. If I can't have what I want, then there is no reason to keep spending money.

 

[Guppylover3x]

Well, I think maybe I had better give up. Ill give my tank, light, filter, plants and substrate away. If I can't have what I want, then there is no reason to keep spending money.

Hi and welcome to the forum

You can increase your GH/PH through adding salt minerals. Most members recommend the Riftwood lake brand. Adding shells can also increase the PH.

I live in a soft water area and add minerals into my guppy tank. However, bare in mind once you start adding them you’ll have to add them in with every water change you do.

Some people find it difficult to work out dosages, but you should be fine if you follow the instructions. It’s definitely manageable if you add the same amount each time, this keeps parameters steady.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

 

[Colin_T]

Well, I think maybe I had better give up. Ill give my tank, light, filter, plants and substrate away. If I can't have what I want, then there is no reason to keep spending money.

There's no reason to give up fish keeping. Just get 2 tanks and put them on a double tier stand (one tank above the other). Set one tank up with hard alkaline water and the other tank can have soft acid water. Then you can keep neons and Otocinclus in the soft acid tank and mollies and guppies in the hard alkaline tank.