Water Hardness??

[Fev]

Hi,

I found my water tests at Mum's house the other night so i just did some tests...

A few questions:

1. What does "Water Hardness" refer to exactly? Apparently our water is Very Hard... Is that bad??

PH: 6.8 - 7.2
Amonia: Safe
Nitrite: .5 approx
Alkalinity 0-40 approx

I just did approx 25% water change about 2 days ago...

 

[jpappy789]

Water hardness is a measure mainly of calcium and magnesium ions but also others...what was the number exactly? "Very hard" is a relative term.

What type of test kit was it? Showing any nitrite is not good. My guess is the goldfish are already becoming too much for the tank to handle.

 

[Fev]

Hmm... I was confused by the notes I read availble on the forum main sticky notes...

Confused between Nitrates and Nitrites, I assume they are both bad??

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Nitrates are the end result of the nitrogen cycle (ammonia>nitrite>nitrate) and will almost always be present in some concentration in a tank with a mature bio-filter. Higher concentrations (>50ppm) of nitrate are harmful, but are easily managed by water changes and or live plants to prevent a buildup over time.
Nitrites on the other hand, should never be present in a mature tank and are very harmful; especially as the pH becomes more acidic. Nitrite poisoning renders the fish's blood unable to properly transport oxygen and the fish suffocate even with excellent O2 concentrations in the water.

 

[Fev]

Well we do have a live plant in there now and we are already doing more water changes then I ever did in the past. Had some health and emotional issues and didn't have much motivation. The old tank water in the small one was quite bad in fact I'm still shocked the two Goldfish survived! Not that I "wanted" anything to happen to them, it was just hard to keep up maintaining them with some of the issues I was having...