Importance of water paramters to fish

GillesF

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Nov 1, 2010
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Antwerp, Belgium
Hi Tom

In litterature and forums, the importance of water parameters (pH, GH & KH) is often emphasized depending on the species of fish. Fish x should be kept at a pH of ... and a GH/KH of ...
Are these parameters correct and should we consider them when keeping fish?

Cheers
Gilles
 

Tom Barr

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Jan 23, 2005
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I would think KH, but not pH and GH are really of much concern.
 
A

aquarist

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Importance of water paramters to fish

Over the years I have learned it is never good to chase parameters, you will think you are doing good by fixing one thing and end up messing two other parameters up in the process.

You need to use the water you've access to, your fish and plants will adjust. But, if you are keeping sensitive fish or shrimp it is best to do a little research on them. Yes cichlids like higher PH, but I have kept cichlids for years in aquariums with PH as low as 5.5, and I haven't even a clue how low the PH gets in my 75g with my German blue rams and angelfish once the co2 kicks on. Think my RO water sits around 6ph. I used to add API cichlid buffer to my aquarium for my Red Devil Cichlid but I never noticed any difference in the way he acted, so I quit using it.

If your really worried about it I would suggest investing into an RO filter or simply buying RO water from the grocery store.
 

Yo-han

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Feb 6, 2011
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For breeding, yes! For keeping, stable parameters (not too extreme) are better than trying to get the precise parameters but having water swings all the time.
 

Wilson

Junior Poster
Oct 23, 2014
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Iowa
Over the years we have tried modifying our water to suit what we wanted to keep but found it is far easier and more stable to match the plants and fish to the available water. It is actually a fun challenge to research fish and plants that are capable of thriving in the conditions you have. For us it has been a lot of experimenting as our tanks settle in at a pH of 8.8, KH of 19d and GH of 29d. In some of our winter holding tanks the TDS can go from their normal mid 500s to over 1800 if we neglect water changes too long and just top off evaporation loss. New fish are started with 50% distilled water in a temporary tank which almost gets it to single digit KH and a pH of about 8.2. Fish lines that were marginally hardy in our water thrive in it after many generations of culling the ones that can't cope. But every time we try to set up a tank by modifying the water parameters to something else, we end up regretting the decision.
 

kc6794

Junior Poster
Oct 23, 2015
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I started using RO water for my 12gal long. My water here in Phoenix is very hard and I don't wanna deal with water related problems later. I add Equilibrium and a little alkaline buffer to get the parameters to where my fish and plants like them. This hobby is fun.
 

LittleTinGod

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Oct 4, 2015
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kc6794 said:
I started using RO water for my 12gal long. My water here in Phoenix is very hard and I don't wanna deal with water related problems later. I add Equilibrium and a little alkaline buffer to get the parameters to where my fish and plants like them. This hobby is fun.
Yeah, I do the same thing here in Lubbock, The sodium is 160ppm and TDS is almost 700. I've toyed with using 20-30% tap but it just seems like too much trouble when I can use RO and just get it exactly where I want it. I basically dose enough Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer to raise them both by 2 meq/L. I have to go to a store about a mile away from me to buy RO that is 15-30 TDS for 50 cents a gallon but I only have a 10 gallon and a 5.5 gallon right now so its not too bad. I might buy one of the RO Buddies later to make my own RO but it just seems to make more sense to buy it for now. I don't do full EI right now so I don't have to do water changes weekly anyway.
 
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