How to low pH and water hardness?

[RVS]

Helo!

Recently the water supply for my locality was changed for Well water, and its quite alkaline and hard, not good for my DP so i build a small plastic pond to store 250 liters of water and restore the water parameters...
The water has this parameters:

ph: 7.8-8
kh:8
gh:8
No3: 0 mg/l
NH3NH4: 0 mg/l

So, for my puffs and CBS, i want to change this parameters:

Ph: 6 a 6,5
Kh: 0 a 1
Gh: 5

Does any one has a idea about how to low pH and water hardness (Kh & Gh)? i´ve heard about adding some kind of acid but it looks, kind of toxic LOL!

[Nuclear_Glitter]

There pH can be up to 7.2, which isn't a whole lot above what you have now. I know that a steady pH is better than one that's always getting whacked about. If you can afford an Ro/Di system maybe do that and then just use baking soda to raise the pH to where you need it.

[Flutter]

Are your kh and gh measured in dH? If so we'd better not tell my DP who is living in about 18-20dH water I personally, think your water is fine.

[kcartwright856]

I'd definitely leave it as it is unless you want to invest in an RO/DI system to do water changes with.

Messing with chemicals to play with your pH is going to be much more stressful on them that a slightly higher pH than they are used to.

[RVS]

RO/DI system... those words lol! i was looking for a cheaper way but i know that one is the best.
Yep flutter it is in dH, using tetra test laborett...

My puffs are actually living on this parameters Ph: 6 a 6,5, Kh: 3, Gh: 5 (from 2 months ago), ¿would the change affect them?

[kcartwright856]

Well, any cheaper way you can find will likely end up costing you more in the long run in the way of complications. It's best to just do it right the first time.

But, I'm not sure that you'll need one. Just drip everyone over to the new water.

[bertie 83]

Yes do a series of smaller changes until you get to the new water levels. Stability is key

[Christie_ZXR]

I think he'll probably be fine in that water too tbh.

But if you do want to go for RO, personally I use a mix of RO and tapwater in some of my tanks, saves mucking around with remineraliser which is easy to get wrong. My unit came from ebay for 40 quid, (Hong Kong special if I remember rightly!) But either way, it works well and it was nice and cheap to buy compared to some

[RTR]

As I bred my DPs in water with KH 7-9 (seasonal changes, more deep wells were used in summer, giving higher KH) I have to agree that that water sounds fine. Tetra no longer provides test kits in this country (USA) however, so I have no clue as what they specify as the KH standard on your kit might be. Without that, we cannot accurately comment in your water.

I can however comment on operating aquaria with very low pH and KH water. The biofilters are at risk in such tanks and susceptible to crashing. Not in my fish tanks. Water modifications and the use of non-carbonate buffers is one of the easiest ways of totally hosing your tanks. If yous must do water modifications, start with RO water at least, or RODI, and add sufficient KH back to support bacterial biofiltration. No chemical supplement other than bicarbonate can provide biologically stable freshwater tanks - no matter what the fish stores tell you. They lie.

HTH

[RVS]

Perfect! no need to act then, just did a very low water change (drop method) will be done to avoid crashing.

RTR, If your Dp lives & bree in KH 7-9, the new levels are not bad at all, Ph is at 7.5 after 2 days, i will also try to breed them so maybe i will be asking in a few months (i have 4 adults by now).

i will also try to buy a RO system, a honk kong one lol, if Christie said it works fine ñ_ñ this will only be needed cuz i have some CBS, this ones really need softer water.

Thanks to everybody!

[RTR]

I am not at all sure that my test kits and your test kits use the same standards, so my numbers may not be the same as what you get. In this country, we us calcium carbonate for both the general hardness and for alkalinity. If your kit uses a different standard, the numbers from the test will be different. I have no idea what your kit uses.

[RVS]

Let me check what does tetra uses for the hardness measurement... i know it is based on ºdH=degrees of german hardness and their test contents ethyl alcohol, thats all i know ñ_ñ

[Christie_ZXR]

Just wanted to chuck in the problems I had with remineraliser. I mucked up the dosage once and murdered a DP was really horrible! Which is why I don't use it any more, I mix RO with tap water to get the minerals back in. Depending what water you want, it's worth experimenting with a bucket of water and a load of RO and tap water to come up with the correct values! I found it easier to do it this way, since water's easier to measure than the fiddly little amounts of remin I was using!

[RTR]

The written material with the test kit will always specify what the standards are. It does vary with the country.

[suvattii2012]

My Gh and ph is quite high out the tap nitrates are 40ppm aswell it's not perfect. I use plants and have left the ph at 7.5 from the tap. Don't know what to do about the hardness but it's been a year nearly.