Water parameters

[Oldspartan]

Linda and i "work" pretty hard to match our water parameters at least close to what our research indicates as ideal. So far because our stock are relatively simple beginner fish it has not been that difficult. However in the future we will be tackling what I think will be more demanding fish.

A couple of weeks ago we were perusing Dan's Fish and noticed what follows on every listing we looked at"
"Our pH measures around 8.3 with a KH and GH a bit over 300ppm. That being said, we want to caution folks with different water parameters from thinking that they need to change their water for our fish. We have many customers in the Pacific Northwest, Upstate New York, and other areas that have very soft water. Our fish do just fine in their water without any parameter matching. What is most important is that the water our fish are put in upon arrival have steady parameters, not that your water parameters match ours."

I am now somewhat confused because Dan's seems to be very well regarded.

 

[MaloK]

Soft water fishes will adapt to a wide range of soft water parameters, same for the hard water fishes with hard water.

But forget long term keeping in adverse conditions, that has been dead pan proven.

The only part I agree, is being able to maintain steady parameters once acclimated.

 

[Oldspartan]

BUT -- What about hardwater fish in soft and soft in hard.

I am just thinking the advice is more sales oriented than it is good. I tried to talk to the guy at the not so LFS and (to his credit I guess) he was squeamish about discussing the issue.

 

[gwand]

The consensus I absorbed from the majority view point on this site is that a mismatch of GH and fish species will shorten the life of the fish. How much it will shorten lifespan is anyone’s guess. I assume there are some studies out there that have looked at it for a few species of fish. However, does it generalize to most fish that we would be interested in?

 

[gwand]

The consensus I absorbed from the majority view point on this site is that a mismatch of GH and fish species will shorten the life of the fish. How much it will shorten lifespan is anyone’s guess. I assume there are some studies out there that have looked at it for a few species of fish. However, does it generalize to most fish that we would be interested in?

Addendum. I have heard from several qualified sources that a GH mismatch Will not only shorten the lifespan, but can mute colors of the fish.

 

[MaloK]

BUT -- What about hardwater fish in soft and soft in hard.

Just an intuitive, without any science involved consideration of the problem leads me to think.

Soft water critters in hard water will have a tendency to build up minerals in their body.

Hard water critters in soft water will have a tendency to lose minerals from their body.

How long it takes, be my guess... But that was like 3th grade biology at the time I when trough this.

 

[Oldspartan]

Just an intuitive, without any science involved consideration of the problem leads me to think.

Soft water critters in hard water will have a tendency to build up minerals in their body.

Hard water critters in soft water will have a tendency to lose minerals from their body.

How long it takes, be my guess... But that was like 3th grade biology at the time I when trough this.

This matches what I have read.

 

[MaloK]

To just stretch a bit on the clever "phrasing" of the claim:

"Our pH measures around 8.3 with a KH and GH a bit over 300ppm"

What does that even mean....

A General Hardness of 200 ppm and Alkalinity of 100. Or the opposite.

With a PH over 8 I assume a mid range to semi-high GH with a good load of Carbonates. at least 70 ppm.

They are trying to keep the water as middle ground as possible for a variety of staging fishes...

So theoretically if you stage another chemistry change on top of theirs...

It's been a lot of changes in a few months for fish in movement.

But all that rambling... Test water in the bags, to evaluate the shock the fish will have...

I got rasboras from very soft water that did very well in harder water after.

Once quarantined and cleared out. Water parameters are a joy to play with.