Blackwater Extract

dvd_wightman

dvd_wightman

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Dec 18, 2006
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Springfield, New Jersey
I plan on getting a 29 gallon tank for my birthday, which is in March. I would like to put about 20-24 neons in there after it cycles. First of all, does this sound ok? Second, my water is hard and alkaline, and I would like to make the neons more comfortable. I understand the rule keeping a stable ph is better than the right one, but I was wondering if I should use blackwater extract, R/O water, or just use water straight out of the tap. Any help would be appreciated.
 
maybe 20. How does your tap water test. R/O would be the closest b/c there true water is not mineral rich, but this isnt necessary unless your tap water is way off.
 
that should be fine, just keep it constant. R/Os are reasonable on ebay. Get one with several stages.
 
I have a water softener, so when I test the ph from the tap, its 7.0
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The term 'hardness' arose historically because water with higher levels of Ca and Mg are more difficult to use for washing clothes - - - it is harder to produce a lather from soap (or from detergent), hence “hard” water.

General Hardness (GH) is a measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions (Ca++, Mg++) in your water. Common ion exchange resins, both those used as pillows in tank filters and in bulk in household water “softeners” most typically exchange (Na+) for (Ca++) and (Mg++). The nature of resin chemistry dictates that the charges must balance, thus two (Na+) ions must be added to the water for each (Ca++) or (Mg++) removed. The resulting water will be 'softer' by the laundry definition but not by fish standards since the water now contains more total ions than it did before the softener. The total dissolved solids (TDS) in the water are higher than that with which we started despite the fact that the GH test shows lower readings.

The importance of this for fish-keepers is this: Those fish which we call "soft water fish" do not want "soft water" as we define it since fish don’t do laundry. They DO want water with low TDS which would include low GH as we measure it and also low Na+ and Cl-. The Amazonian fish and some of the SE Asians and riverine African cichlids come from waters with low TDS .. yes, the water would read low in GH but would be low in sodium as well. So what's the bottom line? If you want lower TDS water, you must use peat extraction, de-ionization (DI), or reverse osmosis (RO). Otherwise you do not have appropriate water for "soft water fish".
 
Neons are commercially raised, not wild caught, so they may have lived in hard water all of their lives. Or not.

Not speaking about neons necessarily, but a lot of tropical fish are commercially bred and raised in Florida, and absent some softening treatment, Florida tap water is generally pretty hard. Lots of limestone.

I doubt that Florida fish farms do anything to their water, since that would cost them money.
 
what i do NOW is teach advanced sea kayaking. what i USED to do was biochemical research. i quit the rat race 11 years ago, moved out of the northeast down here to north carolina. i think i'll probably live 10 years longer now. also i've been keeping fish for 40 years and read practically everything fish. some of it has managed to stay between my ears. ;)
 
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