Water Sources

[ceecrb1]

Ok. I live in Valencia, spain.

Here.. tap water is totaly out of the question, (according to the LFS)
I need to do a test to find out what he was on about and confirm it but he was stating that PH is over 8 and various other things. It IS also VERY heavily laiden with calcium (i have to clean the taps monthly!) we have recently fitted a machine/filter that uses salt to remove/cancel this..
I;m not sure on its workings........


So the LFS has told me I have to make monthly trips to him to buy water from his distiller... Not sure if this is just a sales pitch.... It is 1hr drive from where i live in the mountains outside the city!
I asked him about bottled water (as its far cheaper here than in the UK, I can get 5ltr bottles for about 2€).


So.. ideas

LFS did say I can do the initial fill and cycle with tap water but there are long term effects on the fish's kidneys using tap water..


Will go do a tap water test in a while....

 

[KittyKat]

..does it rain where you live? I used rainwater for years to keep my wild caught blue rams and angels.

Worth listening to him, although some hardwater fish can probably deal with it (look into African Rift Lake cichlids).

 

[ceecrb1]

..does it rain where you live? I used rainwater for years to keep my wild caught blue rams and angels.

Worth listening to him, although some hardwater fish can probably deal with it (look into African Rift Lake cichlids).

not really... too hot.

There are however lots of natural springs all over the place.. I should take a drive to get some water out of one to test too..

 

[ceecrb1]

Tap water test:

PH 7.6
kh 214.8ppm 12dGH
GH 125.3ppm 7dGH
amonia 0
NO2 0ppm

 

[ebross67]

I don't see why you couldn't use a mixture of tap and bottled. It would save you money and time. You could play around with the chemistry. Add soda ash to remove the calcium (it makes it insoluble). Use peat moss to lower the ph caused by adding soda ash. It's not an exact science, but it might help.

 

[ceecrb1]

ok so..

Been to the mountains and got a water sample from the most remote of the fountains..

ph 7.5
kh 14
gh 28
amonia 0
nitrite 0

so seams like its bottled water for me... maybe 50-50% bottled and tap water mix?

 

[drobbyb]

A pH of 7.6 isnt unsuitable for fish. In fact, you can keep almost amy species of fish with that pH. It's only medium hard. The fish you get will acclimate to your pH.

IMO It sounds like the LFS just wants to make more money off of you.

 

[ceecrb1]

Got that opinion after he sold me "rocks" which turned out to be broken up bricks for 3€s a "rock"... and he had broken a brick into 4 or 5 parts......

Think the "sand" came from the med as well.....

 

[Tolak]

Your tap water is just slightly harder than mine, 200gH, around 170kH. I keep a variety of species in my tap water, I would try it before listening to the shop, sound like they are looking for sales.

 

[KittyKat]

A pH of 7.6 isnt unsuitable for fish. In fact, you can keep almost amy species of fish with that pH. It's only medium hard. The fish you get will acclimate to your pH.

The hardness and not the pH are the problem here.

ceecrb1, you should be fine with a 50/50 mix of tap and spring (given that there is no excess of any particular mineral in the spring).. but just to confirm that what the LFS guy is saying is true/not true.. why don't you do a calcium test on the tap water? Or even better, ask the LFS guy to do it for you while you watch?

 

[ceecrb1]

A pH of 7.6 isnt unsuitable for fish. In fact, you can keep almost amy species of fish with that pH. It's only medium hard. The fish you get will acclimate to your pH.

The hardness and not the pH are the problem here.

ceecrb1, you should be fine with a 50/50 mix of tap and spring (given that there is no excess of any particular mineral in the spring).. but just to confirm that what the LFS guy is saying is true/not true.. why don't you do a calcium test on the tap water? Or even better, ask the LFS guy to do it for you while you watch?

i'm now past the 1st 24 hours of the cycle and ph has risen to 7.8

Yeah calcium test seems sensible.
We do have a calcium filter in the building... but I'm not sure how effective it actually is.. nor at what level the water started with..
Dont have one though... will go looking..

Now i've been investigating... hes trying to sell me water that HE produces withi his de-ionizer... I wasnt sure on what he was saying so had to go translate it then work out what it was.. (i'm scottish, not spanish).
From all acounts putting that water alone into the tank is also bad, lacking of minerals etc?

 

[waterdrop]

From all acounts putting that water alone into the tank is also bad, lacking of minerals etc?

correct, water without mineral content is definately not something you want!

 

[ceecrb1]

From all acounts putting that water alone into the tank is also bad, lacking of minerals etc?

correct, water without mineral content is definately not something you want!

Really loosing confidence in this LFS guy.

 

[waterdrop]

Its ok though, you just have to adjust to realizing that its great to have him there as a store where you can quickly get things sometimes but now that you've found a place like TFF you can just get your info from a ton of experienced aquarists and then just pick up things at the store with a smile and perhaps a friendly chat that has no content, especially not seeking advice

 

[OldMan47]

I just read the stats you posted on your tap water and I have harder water with a pH of 7.8 from my tap. My fish do fine in my water although I would be a bit suspicious if the tap you are measuring has already been through a water softener, that thing that uses salt, before you measured it. If it has, your natural water is far too hard to use and will have far too many minerals in it after substituting sodium for most of the calcium and magnesium in he water and still measuring over 200 ppm GH. You should probably try to measure some of the water before it is processed or as an alternative measure it with a TDS meter. The spring water is a great idea for diluting the tap water but at only about 1 degree of hardness is too lacking in minerals for all but the most soft water tolerant of fish. What you are seeing is water in those springs that is comparable in purity to the water they are trying to sell you at your fish shop.