how would you stock at 55 gal with hard water?

[SnakeIce]

give me the whole run down....

rock, substrate, fish, plants?

55 gallon acryllic tank
has what was the diy saltwater filter on it but I want to get a canaster... suggestions? what would be a good one for the tank

going to change everything else that is in the tank any way so suggest on

how much rock if any and maybe tips on how to arrange it

the water supply is hard and very alkaline part of the year so don't want to mess with it during that time for soft water fish

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

well id go for rift lake cichlids malawi or tangs
for rocks i go with fist size rocks stacked up on top of each other to make caves and tunnels

playsand for suntrate and thats about it id also suggest a powerhead about 1000l an hour for current and circulation but thats about it just do abit for studing and fisnd what you like

[demon_surfer]

when you say hard water exactly what rating are you talking about?

is the water like that from your tap?

if the water is very hard then African rift lake cichlids are likely your best bet but options might open up depending on your Ph etc.

tell us about your DIY filter too, you might be able to use that for the fresh water.

[SnakeIce]

well part of the year we get aquifer water that has a ph of 8.5 or higher and the rest of the year we get water that is 7.2 or so and pretty soft... I just thought that it would be easyer to buffer the soft, neutral water instead of dealing with the hard water for soft water fish

the filter hmmmm there are two syphon tubes that come out of a device in the tank that keeps it from being broken when you change water and a submersible pump... the out flow of the pump is pvc pipe with a section that has holes in it to trickle over batting and the rest of the water returns to the tank... I have no idea how the water flow through it is
the reason I want to replace it is that is is so noisy, it is the loudest thing in that room and most of the other things are only on sometimes

[demon_surfer]

it *sounds* like you have a wetdry system setup. They are one of the better types of filters. But if you are unhappy with it then junk it :)

there are ways to make them quieter, a few DIY articles have been writern on it I can probably dig up if you would like.

but back to the fish.

The change in water is a bad thing, Im going to look around and see if I can find any suggested solutions for you.

I would suggest looking at the african rift lake cichlids, such as the Lake Malawi Mbunas and Haps, or you could do lake Tanganika Shelldwellers. Those are much smaller and you could have more in the tank.

[demon_surfer]

is the water of PH 8.5 well water by anychance?

[SnakeIce]

yes the 8.5 ph water is aquifer or well water, the other source is a watershed which stayes closer to neutral
the well water has high silicates as well as normal buffering

[SnakeIce]

"the change in water is a bad thing"

no joke, I started keeping fish when I had the soft water so I got fish that went with that. then a couple of months later I started getting the hard water and well it is just a pita!!

[demon_surfer]

I would like you try try something for me.

get some water from the aquifier (hoping you can at this point in time) and put it in a tub or bucket or whatever and then let it sit for a day or two and check the PH again. THe pH may lower if the water is left to sit for a while.

wetmans site (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com)

there is all the chemistry info on that site explained nicely.

[demon_surfer]

heres a direct link to some possible solutions (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/filtration/softening.shtml)

[AquaticEnt]

There are plenty of fish that will do just fine in harder water. Ours here is basically rock (conductivity around 1300-1600 uS, about 650-800ppm GH), so you'd think it would be limited. Wrong.

I have a 75g planted tank (the only plant not to do well thus far has been a Madagascar lace plant, but I didn't really expect it to) with discus, rummynose tetras, bolivian rams, multiple corys and a couple bristlenose plecos (white-spot ancistrus sp.). The pH in the tank is around 8.2.

With the exception of some extremely sensitive fish, like some tetras and blue/gold rams, most fish will adjust. What's your hardness like? That's a much more important factor than pH.

If you get younger fish, they'll grow better and faster in harder water as well. I grow out my angelfish and rams in RO wastewater, around 700-900ppm GH and pH around 8.2-8.4.

If you want to see how the fish fare, here's a pic of my rummynoses. You can see the coloring, though they're fast little buggers: Rummynoses (http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/paa75e15dcacd43dba57514bc75842e44/fb220048.jpg.orig.jpg)

[AquaticEnt]

Whoops, hit send before I was done. Another good candidate for that tank would be rainbows. Many of them, most notably the Australians, do great in hard water.

[Rare Cichlids]

There's a lot of Central American crater lake cichlids that prefer a pH of 8.0+. You might look into that.

[SnakeIce]

good for you that your plants do ok in harder water, but you probably have consistent water you are dealing with

the other thing that has been giveing me problems with my tank is that there is lots of construction and upgrades of the water system here lately and that always throws things whacky.

so I have a grand twice yearly change in the water and then all this mucking around gives me more changes so I don't know what a water change will do to my tank any more

demon surfer nice link but the time I would need to use 'rainwater' to lower the hardness of the water that is comeing out of the tap none falls from the sky.... we only get about 12-15 inches of rain here a year, and most of that is in the winter

I would do the well water time test IF I could get some now. that will have to wait till may or so

[demon_surfer]

ok, Im afraid Im out of ideas. Hopefully someone with more knowledge about water chemistry can help you out.

[SnakeIce]

at this point moveing would be the best way to deal with it, cause Walla Walla proper has the near 7.0 ph water year round unlike this periferal district