Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: barneyadi on March 10, 2018, 03:59:44 PM

Title: GH query
Post by: barneyadi on March 10, 2018, 03:59:44 PM
So I got from fish from LFS today and thought I would test there water just to ensure it was similar to mine. I checked the KH and it matched mine but when I tried GH even after 22 drops I couldn't get it to change from orange to green. Am I missing something? Added some water to bag and fish now in big tank, and seem happy.

For anyone following my tanks are like this.

TANK 1
8 Ember Tetras
8 Lemon Tetras
4 Pepper Cory
Hoping to get sparkling gourami and rasborars and then tank will be 80% there.

TANK 2
10 Neon Tetras
7 Penguin Tetras


Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Sue on March 10, 2018, 04:12:59 PM
It is possible that the shop adds things to their tanks. Some do, most don't. The ones that do add things to harden water for hard water fish if tap water is soft and vice versa. But I would not trust them to get it right.
They could, of course, not do water changes, just top up as water evaporates and this would also harden the water. Replacing the water that goes in the bag when people buy fish shouldn't affect things though.


They sound like a god combination of fish. Looking forward to photos before too long  :)
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: barneyadi on March 10, 2018, 05:51:00 PM
Just need to decide what else to put in tank 2. Some cories for sure but will wait for tank to mature first. Like black widow tetras whenever I see them but my list of likes is long.
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: fcmf on March 10, 2018, 05:55:44 PM
Fantastic news and also looking forward to seeing the pics, irrespective of whether you've fully populated Tank 2 yet.
 :fishy1:
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: barneyadi on March 10, 2018, 06:40:49 PM
Well at the moment they are all at one end of tank but hopefully will settle down in the next day or two.
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: barneyadi on March 14, 2018, 08:37:13 PM
When I was at my LFS they had XL Rosy Tetra. Any idea what size I should allow for them?
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Matt on March 14, 2018, 09:16:30 PM
Normally this indicates the fish are fully grown, not that they are a different species. Often times the fish in stores of juveniles to be grown into adults once purchased.  These have been grown on already and so can command a higher price.
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Hampalong on March 14, 2018, 10:42:58 PM

They sound like a god combination of fish...

I didn't see any Angels...


This reinforces why we should never assume the water in a bag is the same as the water in our tank. Always check it. It's the only way to find out how long they'll need to be mixed/acclimatised for. The whole of the 'North' of England has fairly soft, fairly neutral water, but my local Maidenhead gets its water from an onsite borehole. It comes out like liquid concrete with a pH of 10.

XL fish are more expensive. They shouldn't be, because they won't live as long. But all that extra time, food, leccy and tank space has to be recouped somehow...
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Sue on March 15, 2018, 09:07:29 AM

They sound like a god combination of fish...

I didn't see any Angels...



Ooops  :o



You should see the spelling mistakes I do spot and correct in time. To paraphrase Eric Morecambe, it's usually a case of typing all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order  ;D
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Littlefish on March 15, 2018, 10:09:39 AM

This reinforces why we should never assume the water in a bag is the same as the water in our tank. Always check it. It's the only way to find out how long they'll need to be mixed/acclimatised for. The whole of the 'North' of England has fairly soft, fairly neutral water, but my local Maidenhead gets its water from an onsite borehole. It comes out like liquid concrete with a pH of 10.


Holy pants Batman! A pH of 10  :yikes: and I thought my water here was bad enough.  :o
I'm guessing it's a bit of a nightmare to acclimatise fish from that store to standard tap water conditions at home.
I went to a fish store recently which I was very impressed with. It actually labelled specific bays of tank with the water parameters (including GH, etc.) so that the customers would know the exact conditions that the fish were kept in. Very useful to see the difference between the soft water fish, discuss, hard water fish, brackish fish, etc.
Title: Re: GH query
Post by: Hampalong on March 15, 2018, 01:54:57 PM
Well, they have RO being made constantly to mix with it but it's very random. Their tanks range from '7-' to 8+ but you never know what it is till you get fish home...