Water report - brain overload !

[Jadzir]

Decided to get a water report from my local supplier.
So much information on there.
Think I have picked out the relevant parts.
Ph 8
Hardness german 4dh
Hardness total 71mg/l
Looking at this it rules out some of the fish I was planning on.
Still want a community tank of small fish with bottom dwellers and hopefully shrimp.
Any advice or suggestions welcome.
Thanks

 

[mbsqw1d]

Decided to get a water report from my local supplier.
So much information on there.
Think I have picked out the relevant parts.
Ph 8
Hardness german 4dh
Hardness total 71mg/l
Looking at this it rules out some of the fish I was planning on.
Still want a community tank of small fish with bottom dwellers and hopefully shrimp.
Any advice or suggestions welcome.
Thanks

Surprisingly high PH for such soft water (low General Hardness), perhaps the KH is slightly high.

Hardness is the measure of magnesium whereas KH is carbonates. Carbonates control the PH. When selecting fish, concern yourself more with GH than PH.
So, you have soft water, this removes the option of most livebearers and rainbow fish. But I'd say in general there are more options with soft water than hard. If you want bottom dwellers then corydoras are perfect for softwater. You might consider some south American dwarf cichlids too, such as apisto agassizii.
Neocardian shrimp will be fine also.

 

[ellamay]

I'll let other people advise on the fish as I'm only a couple of months into fish keeping my self!
It might be worth getting a water test kit your self at some point, my results were quite different to the results I got from the official water report for my area.

This website is great for fish information: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/

 

[Essjay]

The other thing to look at in the water quality report is nitrate. That will confirm (or not) whether your nitrate tester is accurate.

 

[Byron]

I concur with other members here. The GH is the most important parameter (along with temperature obviously) as the dissolved calcium and magnesium (both minerals are involved, usually more the calcium) directly impact the physiology of all fish, be they soft water (requiring less if any mineral) or harder water (requiring minerals, level depending upon species). Most species have fairly restrictive requirements when it comes to the GH. The pH can, within reason, be a bit out of the "preferred range" for most species, so we tend to fuss over the GH. Knowing the KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) for your source water should tell us more as to what the pH is likely to do over time, worth knowing.

You have soft water so your options are as someone said considerable. Just avoid any livebearer, they will not live long in this water, and some of the rainbowfish. But that leaves most South American fish (catfish, tetras, pencilfish, hatchetfish, dwarf cichlids) and SE Asia (rasbora, danios, loaches, barbs). Not all together of course, and some get too large, but lots to choose from.

 

[Jadzir]

Thanks for everyone for the advice and information. Have found a good Lfs who are going to do tests on my tap water for me.

 

[Byron]

Thanks for everyone for the advice and information. Have found a good Lfs who are going to do tests on my tap water for me.

Good, but check your water authority site because their GH data is very important. Something in an aquarium can affect all these tests, and you must know the source water on its own esp for GH so you know where you are starting from, so to speak.

 

[Jadzir]

I concur with other members here. The GH is the most important parameter (along with temperature obviously) as the dissolved calcium and magnesium (both minerals are involved, usually more the calcium) directly impact the physiology of all fish, be they soft water (requiring less if any mineral) or harder water (requiring minerals, level depending upon species). Most species have fairly restrictive requirements when it comes to the GH. The pH can, within reason, be a bit out of the "preferred range" for most species, so we tend to fuss over the GH. Knowing the KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) for your source water should tell us more as to what the pH is likely to do over time, worth knowing.

You have soft water so your options are as someone said considerable. Just avoid any livebearer, they will not live long in this water, and some of the rainbowfish. But that leaves most South American fish (catfish, tetras, pencilfish, hatchetfish, dwarf cichlids) and SE Asia (rasbora, danios, loaches, barbs). Not all together of course, and some get too large, but lots to choose from.

How is the KH listed on the report ?
There is just so much on there.

 

[Essjay]

UK water companies don't usually give KH. Some do, though. If yours has a listing for 'alkalinity', that's what water companies call KH.

 

[Jadzir]

Alkalinity is reported as ph 4.5
Mg/l as Ca Co3 37.5
Is that the right one ?

 

[Essjay]

Do you mean alkalinity at pH 4.5 is 37.5 mg/l CaCO3? If that's what they say, that is KH 37.5 ppm.

The way water companies measure KH is by adding an acid of a certain concentration until the pH drops to 4.5.

 

[Jadzir]

Do you mean alkalinity at pH 4.5 is 37.5 mg/l CaCO3? If that's what they say, that is KH 37.5 ppm.

The way water companies measure KH is by adding an acid of a certain concentration until the pH drops to 4.5.

That's the one.

 

[Essjay]

Like GH, KH has two units. Your KH is 37.5 ppm and 2.1 dH. That is quite low.

Ca I suggest you test your tap water pH - a freshly run sample, and then leave a glass of water to stand overnight and test it again. Water companies sometimes add things tto the water to temporarily raise the pH to stop metal pipes corroding. Tha water company may have tested a freshly run sample to get that pH of 8 in the water quality report.

 

[StevenF]

Surprisingly high PH for such soft water (low General Hardness), perhaps the KH is slightly high.

Hardness is the measure of magnesium whereas KH is carbonates. Carbonates control the PH. When selecting fish, concern yourself more with GH than PH.

Minor correction here. Hardnessis a measure of calcium and magnesium, Fish and plants need both. The calcium and magnesium are likely present in the form of sulfate, chloride, and carbonate salts such as calcium chloride, magnesium carbonate, or magnesium sulfate. Only calcium and magnesium carbonate are the only GH salts that affect PH.

It is also important to note that calcium and magnesium carbonates are not the only salt that affect PH. Sodium and potassium sulfur and chloride will all influence PH. So push the PH up, and some push it down. There is no relationship between GH and PH. A low GH can have high or low ph and the same applies to high GH levels.

It would be helpful to also provide a link to the full water quality report. While nitrate, PH, hardness, and carbonates are frequently talked about there are a lot of other imporant factors that could cause issues and influence how you run your tank. If We could all see it we might see something else that is important.

 

[Essjay]

According to my son who worked for a water testing company, GH is actually the measure of divalent metal ions. But the overwhelming majority of those are indeed calcium and magnesium.



In the UK, a link will take you to a page where you have to enter your postcode rather than the report itself, so a screenshot, or several of them, will be needed for us to see the full report. But make sure to edit it to remove any information which could identify where you live.