Adding beach rock to a freshwater tank?

[spoonsofspinach]

I've boiled the rocks for 20 minutes changing the water once. I now have them soaking in RO water. I tested the ph before adding the rocks and it was 6.0 which is perfect, I think. (Chemistry is not my forte!) I tested my own well water and it came up at 6.6. I have a question about using my own well water as it would be oh-so-much cheaper. I have a homemade reservoir (plastic and feedbags filled with soil), plastic barrel for the well, a combo of copper and plastic pipe and the water is fed by two brooks. There are trout happily swimming in the reservoir which must say something for the purity of the water. However, it is subject to runoff. This means it gets discoloured quite often. With the ph at 6.6 could my well water be acceptable for my tanks or should I stick with the RO.

 

[liv2padl]

1.

I always use bottled water as my home well is too high in iron.

2.

With the ph at 6.6 could my well water be acceptable for my tanks or should I stick with the RO.

ok, i'm confused. your water is either no good so you buy RO water, or it's fine but the ph may be too low? if you can't drink your water, chances are good that your fish won't like it either. the converse is also true. a ph of 6.6 is fine. thus ... usse your well water. or don't. ??????

 

[spoonsofspinach]

I know, I'm sending mixed messages. I was surprised when I tested my well water that the ph was 6.6. I was always told that we had too much iron in the water for me to use it in the tanks. Because of the alleged high iron level, I thought it would register much higher. Fact is, obviously, I just don't understand the whole thing. I was going with the safe (so I thought) bottled water. So, my question now is wouldn't the ph register higher if there was too much iron in the water?

I drink bottled water because the well water just doesn't taste good. And, with the current set up (open reservoir) I just don't trust it, beaver cooties and the like.

 

[rrkss]

Freshwater fish get their needed trace minerals from their diet and don't drink the water in their tank. Their bodies are actually designed to remove water since it diffuses into them constantly. Hence why a salt treatment works well since it reduces the amount of energy the fish need to spend removing water from their bodies allowing more energy to be used for healing/fighting infections. Salt water fish on the other hand have to "drink" water because they have the opposite problem where the water keeps getting pulled out of them. RO water is probably safe for freshwater fish though I don't see the osmotic pressure of being in practically pure water to be very healthy for them. To me, it would be the same as running on a treadmill 24 hours a day. Probably a bad analogy but I hope that makes the point.

 

[spoonsofspinach]

So perhaps I should do a half and half mix of my own well water with the RO water with each water change. Hmmm.

 

[liv2padl]

Freshwater fish get their needed trace minerals from their diet and don't drink the water in their tank. Their bodies are actually designed to remove water since it diffuses into them constantly.

true, fresh water fish do not "drink" the water they live in but, and this is a big but, it does enter their bodies by diffusion. fish are not able to exist in "pure" RO water that has 0 ppm of TDS (total dissolved solids). Minerals, trace and other elements are removed during the RO process resulting in basically pure raw water with nothing left but H's and O's. This water is too pure for aquaria use without reconstituting since the metabolic processes of fish, as in all living things, cannot run without them.

 

[spoonsofspinach]

So even though my fish are thriving, their lives are being shortened because they're not getting enough 'stuff' out of their too pure water. Am I finally getting a handle on this?

I'm really glad the RO water was suggested to me to bring this conversation up. I have so much to learn!

 

[Omega]

Don't listen to anybody who trys telling you don't need buffering additives for Rift Lake's.

LOL, I take that back. I thought I was in another thread when I typed this. We're talking about guppys, not cichlids. The reconstituter previously mentioned should be just fine.

 

[spoonsofspinach]

you don't need RO (reverse osmosis) water to test these rocks. take a bucket of your tap water and, using both hot and cold taps, make the temperature the same as it's going to be in your tank. then take the ph of the water. thoroughly rinse the rocks and add them to the bucket. leave them there for 24-48 hours. warm the water in the bucket with a tank heater to the same temperature as before and take the ph again. if it's the same as it was before you added the rocks, you're good to go.

After 24 hours, the ph went from 6.0 to 6.8 so I guess it's a no-no on the rocks. I didn't heat the water as instructed because being a complete newbie to fishkeeping, I only have one heater and it's in my 20 gal. Thanks for all the help to those who responded.

 

[liv2padl]

I didn't heat the water significant differences in water temperature can effect a difference in pH which isn't really there. i'd suggest you repeat the test and heat the water this time with that tank heater ... i doubt that not having one in your 29 for as long as it takes to heat the 'test' water will have a significant impact. the temperature may drop a few degrees but it will do so very gradually and it will be reheated to the previous temp. when you put the heater back.