What Is The Ideal Water Conditions

Hi Biggy!

Ideal water conditions are 0 for ammonia, 0 for nitrItes, 20 for nitrAtes. However, some people's tap water contains more nitrAtes and so their nitrAte reading from their tank water may be higher - Sue will correct me if I'm wrong but I think you should aim for no higher than 20 above the tap water. So, if your tap water reads 20 for nitrAtes, then you should aim to keep your tank water under 40. Many fish don't do well if the tank water nitrAte level is above 20, though.

As for water hardness and PH, there isn't really a set answer for that as it depends on the type of fish you have. For example, the very soft water I have is ideal for the types of fish I have but would not be ideal for guppies, mollies, platies or dwarf puffer fish. Someone with very hard water would have ideal conditions for those type of fish but it would not be ideal for neon or cardinal tetras. Softness/hardness of water is a more important factor than PH in terms of suitability for fish, but generally a PH between 6.5-8.5 is fine and some fish do very well with a lower and possibly even higher PH than that. (Very, very soft water does run the risk of a PH crash, though, although there are ways to counteract that such as a piece of limestone rock in the tank.)

Hope that helps.