FishProfiles.com Message Forums

thank to a previous post and the gracious feedback of so many members i thought i would try for the first time simply post my local water sources report and getting feedback to the best way to maintain the ph and gh and kh for my livebearer. please feel free to tell me how u would do it.. any post will be greatly considered and appreciated.

substance & range of results
aluminum ppb 25-305
chloride ppm 5-153
color CU 3-6
Hardness
(CaCO3)ppm 90-248
Iron ppb 0-187
Odor TON 0-78
pH 7.2-8.5
Sodium ppm 35-87
sulfate ppm 16-21
total disolved
solids 174-498

added info
when i usually check my water the pH is something like 6.0 6.5 really basic... dont know why.. i think my testing drops work. not much to it

I think your getting the ph backward. I noticed it in your other thread too. Below 7.0 is acidic and above 7.0 is alkaline or basic. 7.0 is neutral. Lowering the ph means the numbers are going to get smaller ie from 7.2 to 6.8 is lowering. Raising the ph means the number will get higher. Your ph is fairly acidic. Ok for most fish but make sure it doesn't drop any. The hardness you listed is quite a range. 90ppm is kinda low but should still give you a stable ph while 248 is medium to almost high hardness and should be giving you a much higher ph than you have. What test kits do you have? Is that the ph straight out of the tap? If it is try leaving some water sit for 24hours and then test it again. The ph may raise a little as it degasses since it seems rather low for even the low range of your kh.

Adding co2, peat, or driftwood lowers the ph so if your going to do co2 injection and your ph stays that low even after degassing you may want to buffer it a little. Otherwise you could end up with a ph below 6 and alot of fish won't like that. Perfect for softwater south american fish but not for alot of others. Limestone, coral, and baking soda raise the kh and buffer the ph. Limestone and coral will cause a ph of around 7.8 to 8.0. My water which filters over limestone before reaching my well tests 8.2-8.4 ph. Very alkaline or basic. The upper range of what most fish will tolerate.

ahh raise ph mean basic..lowering acidic... got it... ... so you right sound my local water is about right. its about 6.5 out of the tap..

If it doesn't go any lower your tapwater is fine but keep an eye on it. If it isn't buffered well enough it may start to slowly drop over time as your tank gets established. If that happens you may have to add something like baking soda to buffer it and keep the ph closer to neutral unless you keep fish that love acidic water.

Hi,
First, your tap water pH of 6.5 seems a little too acidic.
Nearly all the water treatment plants in the USA strive
for a pH around 7.0. If it is too high (called basic or
alkaline) then the minerals can precipitate out and coat
the pipes. This, over time changes the diameter of the pipe
and can cause severe problems as the "hollow section"
becomes progressively smaller and smaller.
If it is too acidic, then it can cause etching problems
and even leaks.

City water treatment plants regularly (seasonally) change
where they draw their water from to compensate for lower
water levels due to evaporation and lack of rain to
seasons when there is large amounts of rain. In the
dry seasons, the will draw from deeper levels of the
lake or stream, and in the wetter seasons they will
draw from nearer the surface. Where water is drawn from
large wells, they will have more than one well in more
than one aquifer and alternate drawing from them to
maintain plentiful water supply. Each change presents
different problems as far as mineral content, and
types of bacteria, and results in different chemicals
or ratio of chemicals used to treat the water.

If you check with your plant regularly, you may find
different pH's during different seasons. That being
said, they will strive to furnish the water around 7.0.

As the water in the aquarium ages it will naturally
become more and more acidic. This is the result of the
accumulation of organic acids. These acids come from the
decay of plant life, fish food, and the accumulation of fish
waste. Only through regular water changes, and regular
aquarium maintenance (gravel vacuuming) can you control
this shift in pH.

How fast it occurs will also depend upon the species
of the fish in the tank, their size, amount of food,
and even the brand of food..
Carp like fish (goldfish) give off tremendous amounts of
waste and that increases as the fish grows in size. Messy
eaters like Oscars, that scatter fragments of food about
the tank, can also cause a more rapid shift than a tank
full of tetras.
Over feeding leaves excess food to rot on the bottom and
between the grains of substrate increasing the organic
acids.
Different brands of food have different ratios of basic
nutrients. Many include fish oils that can cause an oily
scum on the surface of a calm tank.

Watch what you feed, and do regular (weekly) gravel
vacuuming and water changes and you will be rewarded
with a healthy tank.
Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

If you are worried about your water, you should get a kit that has KH, GH, and pH testers in it and test your water. My water is 6.6 pH out of the tap and has 0 GH and KH. Therefore I was able to know that I could keep tetras without much problem, but livebearers usually want harder water than that, so now I add things to my water to increase the KH and pH when I do water changes, and I also add calcium and magnesium for my plants (besides the normal fertilizers).

If you just want to keep livebearers, there's a good chance your water may be just fine the way it is. The only way to find out is test it yourself.

thanks for all the great advice..