Hard water = high PH?

kyperman

kyperman

LOVE THE FISH !!
Dec 6, 2005
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Michigan
www.kyperman.blogspot.com
All,

I live out in the country and have well water. It's pretty hard and I believe that my PH is high due to this...I am talking high 7's and maybe even low 8's.

What I have done to try and combat this is when I do a water change, I use 1/2 my water, 1/2 distilled. However, is this neccessary, am I just wasting my money.

I have heard from some of you that trying to use these PH down products is not a good idea.

I think I should just try and buy fish that can tolorate hard water and high PH levels.. I hate to have to limit the kinds of fish I can enjoy. We do have a water softener, but still it remains a bit of a problem. :huh:
 
Mixing distilled and tap should help, but yuo should always test first before you add the water.

Yuo shuold also consider an Ro/Di unit. Although the initial cost may seem high (200$), it will save you money over time, and it's much less of a hassle.
 
First test you GH & KH & pH, then post back with the numbers. A realistic suggestion cannot be made without knowing where you really are. I have moderately hard water, GH 9, KH 7, pH 7.6-7.8. I have no issues with any common fish, but I do not breed any blackwater fish. Maintaining them is no problem with no water modifications at all.
 
am I just wasting my money.
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in my opinion, definitely. high 7's - low 8's is actually not particularly high nor is it a problem for almost any fish i can think of. if you're planning to breed discus or some of the west african species such as Hemichromis, Chromidotilapia, Nanochromis, or Amazon species such as Apistogramma, then you'll have an issue in which case, mixing distilled water with your tap would be a reasonable way to go.
 
I would recommend Aquarium Pharmeceuticals Tap Water Purifier... that is a DI unit... but it would be good to know the size of your tank, and what your tap water measures at for pH and the various hardness tests-

The reason for knowing that is, the DI unit is relatively cheap- but only if you can get a lot of use out of it. If your water volume and quality exhausts the unit too fast, you might be better off in the long run with a RO unit, costwise.

My general rule:
Smaller tanks, better water- DI
Larger tanks, worse water- RO

One other consideration- the cost of water where you live. RO's "waste" a lot of water in their process, so if you live in Los Angeles or Phoenix, you might find an RO unit much more costly than it would be in say, Portland Oregon- at which point the cost per gallon might trump the cost of replacing DI units often...
 
A general recomendation thet is often thrown in this forum, is to keep your tank water as close as possible to your tap/source water.

This is less costly and you'll job as an aquarist will be easier since you'll be able to keep a constant water chemistry with "almost no" effort.
 
if you've never kept mbuna from Lake Malawi... try it. they will thrive in your water, barring any toxic water problems you might encounter, of course.

mbuna are sooo much fun to keep. pound for pound, they are some of the most interesting fish around, IMHO. if you do it right, you'll have constant breeding. i've stocked my 20 gallon almost completely off trades for my malawi juviniles. (if you can catch them, that is). :D

i think every avid aquarist should have a mbuna tank at one point or another, and since you have the water for it, i thought i'd throw it out there.

:cool:

edit: i'm a little high on my malawi tank... i've had it set up for three years and it still fascinates me nearly everyday. i spent the better part of two hours tonight watching a female Saulosi spit and feed the new-to-the-world fry... watched as she placed them in different spots of the tank, and continue to PIG OUT, all the while, visiting the different spots with a little bit of food.

then the acei started to spawn.... good stuff. anyway thats the reason for the suggestion.
 
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indiginess said:
if you've never kept mbuna from Lake Malawi... try it. they will thrive in your water, barring any toxic water problems you might encounter, of course.

mbuna are sooo much fun to keep. pound for pound, they are some of the most interesting fish around, IMHO. if you do it right, you'll have constant breeding. i've stocked my 20 gallon almost completely off trades for my malawi juviniles. (if you can catch them, that is). :D

i think every avid aquarist should have a mbuna tank at one point or another, and since you have the water for it, i thought i'd throw it out there.

:cool:

edit: i'm a little high on my malawi tank... i've had it set up for three years and it still fascinates me nearly everyday. i spent the better part of two hours tonight watching a female Saulosi spit and feed the new-to-the-world fry... watched as she placed them in different spots of the tank, and continue to PIG OUT, all the while, visiting the different spots with a little bit of food.

then the acei started to spawn.... good stuff. anyway thats the reason for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

Too cool- I like the idea of being able to have other fish- I have a hard enought time convincing my wife that we need a 300 gallon tank for a highly planted Characin and Botia tank...

but I love the idea of smaller species specific tanks...

You guys are spawning evil you know...
hehehe


Did any of you hear of the earthquake that they had over in Africa near Tanganyika??? Was very big I heard...

Being an aquarist, when I heard that on the news, my ears perked..
 
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