ph for cardinal

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guppies

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Sep 22, 2003
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do I have to make the water softer or the other way around for my cardinal. store try to sell me something to put into the water don't know what it looks like, because is out of stock, he said he will have it by monday. snd my cardinal will grow larger and more color to it.
thanks !
p.s is there anyone know what kind of stuff, he might trying to sell to me.
 
Unless your water is exceptionally hard and alkaline, the proper conditions for your cardinals are what comes out of the tap, with appropriate anti-chlorine of chloramine agents added.

My water is GH 9, KH 7, pH 7.6-7.8. Cardinals have great color and live ~6 years for me with no water modification. For me maximum size is a function of tank size and understocking.

Before buying and using whatever he is trying to sell you, post back here on what it is. Some shops push salt exchange resins to make the water "softer" and they do by GH tests, but by TDS they make the water more highly mineralized - which is the opposite effect. Other push buffers, which also increase the mineralization of the water and tend to be highly unstable as well- that being the worst thing you can do for your fish.
 
What are your water parameters? I have cardinals in my tap water ph 7.8 kh8 gh11. They are doing fine, good color,growing nicely. I think mine have done so well because the LFS i bought them from made sure to acclimatize them to our tap water before selling. I had to wait 2 before he would sell them to me.He wanted to make sure they were doing ok in our water as most aquarist don't change their ph.
 
I have 60 cardinals , so far 2 die since february 2003, i think that not bad, I age the tap water for 1 - 2 0r more days before i use them, so do I have to add aqua+plus (tap water conditioner) into the water.
sorry i ask, i heard about ph, what is gh or the other number mean, should i go out and purchase a tester kit for testing the ph....
i will post this again later and find out the name of the stuff that guy want to sell to me.

he got around 6 - 8 cadinals with other fish in a small tank for display, very nice try to make him sale to me, he say no.
and he got around 2 hundreds of them in other tank (no very good) the color is not bright enough, maybe i wait for a few more days and see.
Is there any trick how to select cadinals in a fish store ?
 
A "water softener pillow" is a bag of salt-exchange resins which trade sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions, therefore making the water "softer" in laundry terms, but increasing the total dissolved solids in the water as it takes two sodium ions to charge balance each calcium or magnesium ion. But on the GH test, the water will read "softer". That would be great if you were doing laundry and not keeping fish. For low TDS fish, it is making the water less suitable, not more. The dealer is, at best, mistaken. You do not under any circumstances need a salt exchange resin.
 
wow, thanks alot for the information.
after i post a few questions here, i need to learn more and more.
i also post another quetion about what level of ph,gh.. for cardinal and guppies and how to adj. it if it too low or too high and should i purchase a test kit for that and which brand name is good. and what temp. should i set to ?
i kept the temp very warn (i guess) around 28c
is that too high.
 
The answer to the pH question is the same as here, you do not do water maodification unless you have to do so, and for cardinals, guppies, etc. you do not. Water partial changes should keep your water parameters stable.

I use Tetra tests for routine measures, but there should be other brands which are reliable also.

28C is a bit warmer than most tropical tanks, excepting Discus and similar, but that is not enough warmer to be troublesome. Is there a reason to have the tank at 28C instead of perhaps 25-26C?
 
the problem with keeping fish like cardinals and other fish used to soft water is that they can't get rid of the extra calcium and other minerals in their bodys and they have a shortened life because their organs get calcified and don't work as well, but this is usually only a problem if your water is very hard like the african rift lakes.
 
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28c

maybe another bad idea from local fish store, when i purchase the cadinal 8 - 9 months ago, maybe the cardinal is still too small
he ask me to keep the temp a little higher, he recommand 28C
and i get the new born guppies to 28c to am i making a mistake ?
if yes, i can slowing low the temp down to 25 - 26 c
thanks !
 
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