philcook76 Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 I have a community aquarium (guppies, mollies, swordtails and guoramis). The water in my part of the world has a pH of about 7.6, a KH reading of 0-1 and a GH reading of 1-2. In my water changes I have been adding enough sodium bicarbonate to bring the KH up to about 6 and an aquarium salt/water conditioner product to bring the GH to 7. The sodium bicarbonate raises the pH even further (above the range of my test kit) and so I add a pH down product to bring the pH back down to about 7.4. Then I added it to my tank. Does this sound like a good regime and does anyone have any suggestions as to changes I should make to this? Thanks, Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jusdeb Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 I had the same problems with Dubbo water , and asked the same question here too. I was advised to not play with the water as the fish will get used to the water in time. Before I took the advise my Bettas had stragly fins but as soon as I stopped playing with the water all was good. Im a bit of a control freak so had to throw away all my PH uppers/downers to stop myself messing with the water. I dont do any water tests now I just do a 1/3 to 1/2 volume water change once a week with aged water with Sure Start and occasionally a bit of salt just to keep the gobies happy. Ive got gouramis / guppies /kribs/ B/N cat/girl fighters and Bumblebees in my community tank. 2 x tanks with a Betta in each and cory cats and all have got used to the water with out problems. And when I used to test the PH it was always pretty high , I could put a tonne of downer in my tank and it would climb back up in day or 2. This makes for too many fluctuations so by not adding anything it is constant although high but the fish get accustomed to it. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 Yes, what Deb said. Your life as a fish keeper will be much easier if you don't have to stuff around with the water. Have you tried using the water as is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktime70 Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 sounds like my water. i use it as is without a problem. in my aus native tank i add some shellgrit to bump the hardness up a tad (to the substrate, not to the water itself). but that's about it. obviously i use dechlorinator. there's an occasional pinch of salt too if there are any open wounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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