Soft Water Help

[hghlndr85]

seems that my water i get out of tap is great for drinking but sucks for aquarium use. i think this is where some of my cloudiness is coming from i tested tank and its fine ph and hardness is low but nitrates,nitrites and amonia are all 0 well nitrates are like 10ppm. ph is 6.5 and kh is almost 0 gh is around 30 ppm
i tested my tap water and ph was below 6! and both hardness were 0. how can i raise my harness and my ph to make the water a little more stable, im thinking adding some crushed coral but i dnt know how much to put in filter the tank is 150g.

 

[hghlndr85]

nothing?

 

[mdb_talon]

Use aragonite or similar. As much as you can fit in there and then add some more in the tank somewhere else. It works well, but it is a slow process. You cant really overdo it assuming you are wanting a PH in the upper 7s and somewhat hard water (in my experience substrate alone wont get you that high even if you start with really soft water but it will help). If your PH is really that low the aragonite will signifigantly raise it and increase water hardness. Remember though that if you all the sudden do a 50% water change the PH in your tank is gonna have an immediate shift and you fish might not appreciate it. If your tap PH is that low and you are raising it be careful with water changes. There is liquid version called aragamilk i think??? Never used it but maybe can check that out too for when doing water changes?

 

[Krawnik]

I use 0.25 teaspoons of baking soda per 10 gallons of water to harden it up a little and keep pH more stable.

A little baking soda goes a long way. When I started figuring out how much I needed to achieve the desired effect I added 1/8th teaspoons per given volume at water change time (1/8th per 50 gallons, then 1/4th per 50 gallons, etc....) and slowly increase it with every water change until I came up with an accurate quantity to achieve the desired result (which ended up being 1/4th teaspoon per 10 gallons). My pH doesn't budge nowadays.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

What problems does the water chemistry cause you?

I have pretty much the exact same tap water, and my tanks are all running fine. Granted, it's not suitable for Tanganyika cichlids, but for pretty much everything else. My planted tanks are fine, my fish are healthy and happy.

Maybe it'd help if you let us know what species are are having trouble with, and how these trouble manifest (symptoms)?

HarleyK

 

[hghlndr85]

seems the water coulds up quickly, tank is 150g and i have a fx5 and a fluvla 405 on it so filtering isnt a problem, has 4 peacock bass in it,arowana and bichir

 

[mdb_talon]

Howdy,

What problems does the water chemistry cause you?

I have pretty much the exact same tap water, and my tanks are all running fine. Granted, it's not suitable for Tanganyika cichlids, but for pretty much everything else. My planted tanks are fine, my fish are healthy and happy.

Maybe it'd help if you let us know what species are are having trouble with, and how these trouble manifest (symptoms)?

HarleyK

Water without any buffering is pretty much just asking for trouble as small things can cause huge PH spikes. Regardless of the fish he has (unless discus or similar that needs soft water) it is better if he can increase buffer in his water.

 

[fox3]

Our water here is very soft and we need to buffer when doing WC's. We went from sand to aragonite and our PH came up and hardness is more consistant throughout the week or two between WC's.

We still add some baking soda and epsom salt when changing more than 75G since we get a swing in readings that cause the fish to itch if we don't control it.

 

[ward1066]

I use about a cup of epsom salt and a few tablespoons of baking soda about every third water change(180g tank). it is the cheapest and easiest buffer to make. I also add a few heaping tablespoons of pickling salt for the homemade buffer. your cloudiness may be from a incomplete cycle it sounds like though.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

seems the water coulds up quickly, tank is 150g and i have a fx5 and a fluvla 405 on it so filtering isnt a problem, has 4 peacock bass in it,arowana and bichir

Cloudy water, if not caused by stirred up sediment, is almost always of biological nature. What media are you using in your filters, and how long have they been running? Any wild cleaning that might have disturbed your beneficial bacteria? How long have you been having trouble for? Is it the same problem in all of your tanks?

Water without any buffering is pretty much just asking for trouble as small things can cause huge PH spikes. Regardless of the fish he has (unless discus or similar that needs soft water) it is better if he can increase buffer in his water.

That's absolutely true - in theory. Good tank hygiene, however, as I assume most of us maintain, is a good safeguard. That includes regular water changes and gravel vacs, because decay affects pH. It really depends on how much you let your tank go. Either way, pH fluctuations alone still don't cause cloudy water, and he'd see symptoms on his fish before the BB give way.

HarleyK