Chemistry for Beginners...

Ripples

Ripples

Mad fish lady
Feb 14, 2005
126
0
0
51
London UK
Hi

I'm not strictly a complete newbie since I've had my tank about 3 years. However, I have bumbled along and lost some cute fish along the way... so in an attempt to sort myself out (prior to buying that EXTRA large EXTRA expensive tank I've fallen in love with) I'm learning up.

And here's my dilemma...

I live in London UK. Which means that my GH is completely off the scale (the tester kit only goes up to 16 and I'm definitely that or above).
My KH is low (only around 3).

Got to love those london sediments.

I know that slight additional of baking soda will raise my KH. But what in heck do I do about that GH without paying £400 for a water softener (you really don't want to know what that is in dollars!)

As an aside - thanks to your help on snails, my fish are now on a diet, I have some lovely Amano Shrimp (and want MORE MORE MORE!) and my tank is looking much more sparkling. Now I just need that snail population to quietly die off from starvation.. (yeah yeah in my dreams!) as I'm just too small for clown loach lunch patrol.

Advice more than welcomed

R
 
If nobody told you, make sure you dip your plants in a bleach and water solution before putting them in your tank next time (afterwards, rinse them off in water with a lot of dechlorinator in it!)
 
Sigh. Nobody told me. What a good solution (and what a BAD pun!)
R
 
Ah. I assumed since many of the fish descriptions I read state that the fish prefer 'soft' water that this is what was being referred to. If I can ignore it so much the better.

For the snails - I *think* I have most of that covered. I'll try the dish with food thing again - but last time it wasn't a bit hit (they seemed to find their food elsewhere!)

Ta
R
 
You could try and collect rain water. Put some buckets under your down spouts. You might have to do the initial fill using RO water from a LFS, but since you live in England Rain might be able to supply enough soft water for your water changes

It sounds dangerous to put rainwater from your roof into your tank, but I've heard alot of experienced fishkeepers say that they have done it for years.
 
Too bad we can't share each other's water. I have a KH of around 20 and a GH of 1/2. Mix our two waters half and half, and you've got good buffering and plenty of GH for a planted tank.
 
Ripples, where in the city are you? In south London my tap water readings are gh 15, kh 11 (using Sera test kits). When I mix it 50/50 with RO I get gh7, kh7 readings.
I bought a cheap portable RO uniit of eBay for about £40 which is great for me, but it's real slow so would want something faster if I had a tank larger than 50g. But check eBay out anyway. There were still much better deals than £400 on it for top of the range models. Plus last time I looked in the back of PFK monthly they had good deals there too.
HTH
 
Weird.. am also South London (delights of Tooting in fact). I'm keeping an eye on the hardness but with much less fear now. Basically for about every 5-10 buckets of water I put in I'll add a tiny pinch of bicarbonate of soda, and that seems to have leveled out the ph. Certainly I haven't had any mysterious 'tank of death' moments for some time (which is a relief).

Cheers for advice on RO. When I get a pad that's big enough to house my growing addiction I may look into it again..

Thanking you
R
PS what LFS do you use out of interest?
 
Very wierd. I'm in Clapham. Would've thought we use the same water supply. Maybe it's the pipes.

LFS wise. The best one I know in London is Wholesale Tropicals on Benthnel Green Rd. Loads of fish to choose from. The fish are ALL well bread and in excellent contidion, and the advice is always spot on. Worth the extra travel.
At The Aquatic Design Centre on Gt Portlant St you get really good advice off the fella with a pony tail. But the others are still learning. And there fish selection is'nt quite as good. There fish are in pretty good condition in general.
In the south there are good quality fish in the LFS on Brook Drive in Elephant & Castle (can't remember what it's called) but they don't have much of a FW selection as they're mostly marine specialists. And there's a pet store called Pets Place in the shopping mall in Wandswoth that i buy equipment and supplies off as it's so nearby, but i would'nt buy their fish. I've bought really good quality plants of them though.
 
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