Hello & Advice About My Hard Water

Hi there 

Unfortunately, neons need soft water too. Virtually all Amazonian fish come from soft acid water though some can take harder water than others.

I have a couple of reads for you

http://wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwhardness.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/HardWatrCommTkStkMonks.htm

Obviously some of the fish in those links won't be suitable for a 120 litre tank but you should be able to find something. If in doubt check with Seriously Fish. This gives hardness requirements in either ppm CaCO₃ or German degrees. Using the converter on here, 267 ppm = 20 German deg.

The problem with trying to soften water is that it often has a hidden problem. Hard water is that water which has a lot of calcium and magnesium. Hardness doesn't measure other minerals. Adding chemicals to soften water replaces the calcium and magnesium with something else so the water still has a lot of minerals to affect soft water fish. This is the basis of a lot of water softeners which replace Ca and Mg with sodium.

A better way, as you suggest, is to use rainwater - as long as there is not much atmospheric pollution where you live - or to use RO (reverse osmosis) water. If you haven't come across that term before, it is water that has had all the minerals removed and can either be bought from some fish shops or made at home using an RO device. The downside to either rainwater or RO to mix with your tapwater is that you have to use exactly the same ratio at every single water change. This could work out expensive for RO and difficult for rainwater if we have a drought. Provided that you make sure you always have rain/RO water on hand, this is the best option for soft water fish.

That's the advantage with seeding, the cycle goes much faster. It's getting the bacteria started that's the slow bit.

Mixing RO with your tapwater sounds like a good plan. At first you'll be going by trial to see what is the exact ratio you need but after a few times you'll know exactly how much RO to add to get it right. The time to start mixing is as soon as the cycle finishes so the fish go into tap/RO mix. Another reason for waiting till then is that the bacteria prefer high pH and lots of carbonate to multiply quickly so mixing RO in before the cycle finishes could slow it down a bit.

So I asked my LFS about RO water and they sell 25L for £3, so there's my solution.

I've found a 25L container on Amazon, and a little heater to bring it to temp. I just need to find the right, cheap pump to do my monthly water change.

Thanks Sue.

My initial plan is to do 10% weekly and 25% monthly.
But regular water tests will tell me if I need to change that regime.

I'm going with fairly heavy planting, just considering liquid carbon ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001B5SIEI

Does anyone have any experience of using liquid carbon? Perhaps I should start a new thread ... ?

just as an aside really, whats the water conditions at your local dealers like? dont forget a lot of these fish (in fact most nowdays) are tank bred, you'll see that their parametres are sometimes adjusted, I hate to play devils advocate but I'll be a monkey's uncle if you cant keep cardinals in your setup............. you may not breed them without having more of a match but you'll still have healthy fishies that live out their lives happy and content. Please dont think I'm saying water quality isnt important, it defo is but please dont lose sight that a fish will prefer slightly off hardness and PH but zero nitrites rather than the other way around. I'm sorry, i feel like you'll read this and think.......... is this guy for real?! but what I'm trying to get accross is that you can get too hung up on the numbers sometimes and lose the experience through nerves.

honestly.......... I think they'll be fine, R/O water is excellent but please dont forget that it strips so many good things out of the water too, I've seen many marine systems using cheap salt mixes fall foul of that, added to the fact that its a pain in the posteria lugging the stuff about unless you get your own unit and throw hundreds of gallons away every year. someone somewhere on here is keeping cardinals in the same water conditions as you have, I bet theres thousands of people that are including dealers and retail outlets. as I said before, dont lose sight of your water parameters but dont let them rule you either........ I've had community tanks all over the UK and i would say that 75% of them have had cardinals in that were healthy and happy.

Tank bred Cardinals will be more well suited to a higher pH and hardness than their wild relatives. If you can find a dealer that stocks locally bred fish then I'm sure you'll have no problem with them. I did read that hard water will significantly lower life expectancy due to organ failure when I was researching fish stocking option, but do you think I can find the link now?!?

Thanks for the advice Rich.

I am still considering all my options.

Cardinals will be in my tank - and I don't want the hassle of RO if I can avoid it.

I think I'll buy a cheap TDS meter from Amazon and compare the water in my tank; with the bogwood and the plants and fertilisers and copepods, with the water in the Cardinal tank in my LFS.

If it's not a huge difference I may go for it.

I worry, if they're in RO or a RO/Tapwater mix then the drastic change in GH may be too much for them.

Exciting times ahead though ...

Currently keeping my bacteria fed whilst I plan and select my planting which I'm ordering on payday.

Then, when they arrive, the plants will go in and probably settle for a few days, and then the decision about RO or not RO and then the first fish will start to go in ....