Just wanted to add my experiences with having extremely hard water and keeping South American cichlids.
Much earlier into my fish keeping hobbyist career, I wanted to lower the pH of my water so as I could keep a nice South American tank. However I didn't want to use chemicals and using RO water wouldn't be a very good long term solution for me at that time. So I tried the natural methods like peat moss in filters, drift wood that releases tannins (Mopani was always the best at this for me), almond leaves, etc. In the end I stumbled across what a few people have been saying on this thread - While the pH of my water never really dropped, I never had any issues like HITH and I believe it was due to the tannins and natural things I was using.
I didn't mind the tannin colored water and the fish were striving so I stopped worrying about the water hardness. Had that tank going for years like that.
Plan on doing a SA tank with my free 125 and have already ordered my Mopani DW and almond leaves.
Much earlier into my fish keeping hobbyist career, I wanted to lower the pH of my water so as I could keep a nice South American tank. However I didn't want to use chemicals and using RO water wouldn't be a very good long term solution for me at that time. So I tried the natural methods like peat moss in filters, drift wood that releases tannins (Mopani was always the best at this for me), almond leaves, etc. In the end I stumbled across what a few people have been saying on this thread - While the pH of my water never really dropped, I never had any issues like HITH and I believe it was due to the tannins and natural things I was using.
I didn't mind the tannin colored water and the fish were striving so I stopped worrying about the water hardness. Had that tank going for years like that.
Plan on doing a SA tank with my free 125 and have already ordered my Mopani DW and almond leaves.
