NEW DREAM TANK?????

[missdiane]

I'm starting to think & literally dream about my next tank. Would like a 30 gallon. Originally I was thinking Gardneri Killlifish. I have very hard waterso now I'm thinking they might not fare well. Any advice?
Now I'm wondering about fancy guppies - blueberry and maybe cherry shrimp - 2 dojo loaches - possibly a couple of snails. Of course well-planted & I'd like a sandy bottom.
Help me dream folks. We can build this tank together!

[missdiane]

Also thinking it would be a good idea to use 50% RO water to soften & lower PH. Can anyone advise on this: my Cory Cats & Dojo loach seem healthy/happy in my 20 gallon with GH 300 ppm, 8.2 PH > should I leave them there or move them once the new tank is cycled?

[parker002]

Carl can offer more detailed advice than I can but cutting with RO or distilled water can be a lot of work. If you're looking to lower pH and soften your water, I would recommend almond leaves or a couple hunks of African mopani wood. The tannins will turn your water yellow but they have other benefits to your fish outside of just lowering pH.

That being said, I have extremely hard water, similar to yours. First, between the plants and driftwood, I have quite a bit of natural decomposition going on. That process, along with de-nitrification, lowers pH all by itself. I do 15G water changes once a month (it's a 55G tank, so that's just a shade more than 25%) and my pH runs just under 7 most of the time. If I were to cut with RO water, I'd actually have to ADD buffer or my pH wouldn't be stable. Planted aquariums actually require a higher GH and KH from my understanding, although Carl would be better able to explain the exact chemistry.

Second, I would really concentrate on getting your tank STABLE rather than chasing certain parameters. For example, prior to me starting with plants, my tanks would run 7.5-7.8 pH. I kept tetras and cory cats in that environment without any issues as long as my parameters stayed stable. I'm sure some of them might have lived longer in an ideal environment but I can't complain when I have some fish that have lived DOUBLE what the average life expectancy in a "less than ideal" environment.

Finally, are sure you want to go with guppies? We started with 2 Endler males and 3 hybrid females. We now have well over 100!

[Carl]

I actually cannot much to what parker stated.

IF water is cut with RO water, I generally recommend to start with no more than 25%.

Guppies prefer very mineralized water, so I would not 'cut' water that contains guppies.
See:
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Livebearers.html#guppy]Livebearers; Guppies

As for the use of natural Tannins, I would add to the list:
*http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/FrogMoss.html]Pillow (Frog) Moss
*Peat
*http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/MangoWood.html]Malaysian driftwood (this leaches the tannins more slowly than Mopani)

Carl

[Carl]

Planted aquariums actually require a higher GH and KH from my understanding, although Carl would be better able to explain the exact chemistry.

Here is a quote from resource I cite in my www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumPlants.html#nutrients]Planted Aquarium Care Article; Nutrients, as I am not all that good at explaining complicated processes:
Because phytoplankton use CO2 in photosynthesis, the pH of pond water increases as carbonic acid (i.e., CO2) is removed. Also, phyto-plankton and other plants can combine bicarbonates (HCO3-) to form CO2 for photosynthesis, and carbonate (CO3-2) is released.

The release of carbonate converted from bicarbonate by plant life can cause pH to climb dramatically (above 9) during periods of rapid photosynthesis by dense phyto-plankton (algal) blooms. This rise in pH can occur in low alkalinity water (20 to 50 mg/L) or in water with moderate to high bicarbonate alkalinity (75 to 200 mg/L) that has less than 25 mg/L hardness.
High bicarbonate alkalinity in soft water is produced by sodium and potassium carbonates which are more soluble than the calcium and magnesium carbonates that cause hardness. If calcium, magnesium and photosynthetically produced carbonate are present when pH is greater than 8.3, limestone is formed.
Ponds with alkalinities below 20 mg/L do not usually support good phytoplankton blooms and do not commonly experience dramatic pH increases because of intense photosynthesis.
Source:
srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/112/

Second, I would really concentrate on getting your tank STABLE rather than chasing certain parameters. For example, prior to me starting with plants, my tanks would run 7.5-7.8 pH. I kept tetras and cory cats in that environment without any issues as long as my parameters stayed stable. I'm sure some of them might have lived longer in an ideal environment but I can't complain when I have some fish that have lived DOUBLE what the average life expectancy in a "less than ideal" environment.

This is an observation I made over and over probably a 1000 times in my years running an aquarium maintenance company and is what led me to later challenge many of the "beliefs" held by many in the hobby and industry, often still to this day.
This is what also got me going into my research about www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Redox_Potential.html]Aquarium Redox, which IMHO has explained much about these results, that you and I have both observed.

My results & research has shown that the high pH and GH numbers so many have been taught to fear are not actually bad when all other aspects of aquarium parameters are in balance. This includes sources of natural tannins as Parker has described.
This has also included sources of ongoing Redox Reduction which often raise GH to numbers many so-called experts will poo-poo .

Carl

[babygeige]

A lot of your typical community fish adapt well to most water conditions. You usually only have to worry about soft/hard, etc if you're looking to breed.

If you don't feel like chasing water hardness and pH, there are a lot of choices out there for fish that like harder water conditions.

Celebes rainbows do well in harder water. I had those when I first set up my 30 gallon. I've got one old girl left (I've had her for over 6 years!). They are very pretty, active and peaceful fish. They only get to be about 3 inches long, so they're a nice choice for a 30. (Mine is a long 30 gallon - 36 inches long)
I highly recommend them, but make sure your tank is cycled and stable before you get them. And you'd want a group of 6 or so.

I know there are others, I just can't think of them right off the top of my head.