So I moved (from Canada to Belgium!), gave my 10gal with Amano shrimp and a catfish who apparently are still alive at 3 and 6 years old, respectively :y220e: and haven't had a chance to set up a new tank of my own yet. But I've been asked to take a look at a friend's tank, who seems unable to keep anything alive longer than 6 months :irked:
Turns out... as far as I can tell everything is basically OK. You know, except for the dying fish and all...
It's a 30 gallon freshwater tank, fully cycled (ammonia =0, nitrites = 0, nitrates = 15 ppm), planted with a couple plants (not sure what they are, but they're fully submerged and look like grass). It's currently filled with rainwater (!), and populated by 4 guppies (1 male 3 females) and a bazillion tiny snails (!). He switched to rainwater from tap because neon tetras and other softwater, acidic-water fish weren't doing well, but then tried guppies (who apparently prefer hardwater) because he figured they'd be easier to keep alive. All things considered, you can imagine what I suspect the problem is :duh:
Now, since rainwater is, I happen to think, less than ideal because it basically has nothing dissolved in it (and I also suspect the snails originated from the rain barrel...), I'd like to recommend that my friend switch (slowly, so as to keep the guppies alive, if he feels so inclined) back to tap water (dechlorinated, of course). But before I do that, I wanted to find out what fish should do well in the tap water here, so I went ahead and tested it. Here's what I discovered:
pH = 7.4-7.5
KH = 12-13 (German) degrees (so about 200 ppm)
GH = 5 (German) degrees (so about 90 ppm = moderately soft)
Now for the reason I'm confused: according to municipal sources, the hardness of the water in our province is about 38 (French) degrees, or TDS = 380 ppm, which is apparently considered "hard to extremely hard."
Qualitatively the tap water here is definitely what *I* would call "extremely hard" - soap doesn't lather well, mineral deposits are left when washed dishes air-dry, it feels sort of "dry" on the skin if that makes any sense... oh and it tastes great :cheers:
So... which of these "hardness" measures do fish care about? It sounds as though GH is more important for KH in terms of the 'hardness' preferences, but that TDS would be even MORE important and most people don't test for it because of cost issues... with these values, should I recommend fish that appreciate soft, or hard water?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Turns out... as far as I can tell everything is basically OK. You know, except for the dying fish and all...
It's a 30 gallon freshwater tank, fully cycled (ammonia =0, nitrites = 0, nitrates = 15 ppm), planted with a couple plants (not sure what they are, but they're fully submerged and look like grass). It's currently filled with rainwater (!), and populated by 4 guppies (1 male 3 females) and a bazillion tiny snails (!). He switched to rainwater from tap because neon tetras and other softwater, acidic-water fish weren't doing well, but then tried guppies (who apparently prefer hardwater) because he figured they'd be easier to keep alive. All things considered, you can imagine what I suspect the problem is :duh:
Now, since rainwater is, I happen to think, less than ideal because it basically has nothing dissolved in it (and I also suspect the snails originated from the rain barrel...), I'd like to recommend that my friend switch (slowly, so as to keep the guppies alive, if he feels so inclined) back to tap water (dechlorinated, of course). But before I do that, I wanted to find out what fish should do well in the tap water here, so I went ahead and tested it. Here's what I discovered:
pH = 7.4-7.5
KH = 12-13 (German) degrees (so about 200 ppm)
GH = 5 (German) degrees (so about 90 ppm = moderately soft)
Now for the reason I'm confused: according to municipal sources, the hardness of the water in our province is about 38 (French) degrees, or TDS = 380 ppm, which is apparently considered "hard to extremely hard."
Qualitatively the tap water here is definitely what *I* would call "extremely hard" - soap doesn't lather well, mineral deposits are left when washed dishes air-dry, it feels sort of "dry" on the skin if that makes any sense... oh and it tastes great :cheers:
So... which of these "hardness" measures do fish care about? It sounds as though GH is more important for KH in terms of the 'hardness' preferences, but that TDS would be even MORE important and most people don't test for it because of cost issues... with these values, should I recommend fish that appreciate soft, or hard water?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
