Tap water, distilled or RO?

[moh]

So, I finally got my 20 gallon tank setup. The aquaclear is making a bad rattling noise so itll be going back tomorrow, so I havent started the fishless cycle yet so I dont lose any bacteria atarting to grow in the filter. I put some live plants in the tank last night (which arent going so well) and they came with snails (and some kinda small water bug?).

Anyways long story short - I had an itch to use my test kit for the first time and tested PH. The normal PH test was too blue (higher) than 7.6. So I did a high range oh test kit and it came out between 7.8 and 8. So then I tested the tap water directly out of the faucet.. same results. Then I figured Id test for nitrite and nitrate as someone told me tap water can contain them as well.. got 5 nitrite and 5 nitrate.
So should I drain the tank and use RO water to fill it and do bi weekly water changes? Or is distilled better?

Or should I just put neutral regulator in to even out the oh and cycle it as is and see if the cycle can handle the nitrites and nitrates that come with my tap water?

[Welch4]

What do you have for substrate and other decor. Also do you know what your waters hardness is?

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, please test your tap water.

[moh]

This is my tap water.. the only thing Ive done to the water in the tank at this point is put in Prime to dechlorinate it. How would I test for hardness of the water?

[moh]

Oh and I have gravel, driftwood, a marble rock and live plants in my tank currently. There are some snails (and apparently some kind of water bug that came in on the plants?).

[Welch4]

Bring it to a shop to have them test kh gh or pick up an api kh/gh test kit.

[moh]

So my understanding is the gh of my water is at 400ppm , forgot what the kh result was, ph 8.2, amonia and nitrite both 1. My idea at this point is to empty the tank. Get 20 gallons RO water. Buy and use seachem acid buffer, alkaline buffer to get a ph of 7.0. And then buy and use seachem equilibrium to replace minerals nessacary for plants. Also using envy liquid ferts and will get root ferts if nessacary for my jungle vals.

Is this a good plan for my 20 gallon that I am planning to house 3 dwarf puffers and 3 otos in? (Id also love to attempt to house some neon tetras with them, with a backup tank in case they get attacked but thats another topic)

[luigimbu]

Just stick to your tap water test it directly from the tap before you write it off as you have put in plants and snails which could have had some die off contributing to the small amount of nitrite it's probably not like that straight from the tap.
Also nitrate from the tap in small quantities like you have is not a problem as long as it's not like 20 or somthing.I have 10ppm nitrate in my tap water somtimes ut the nitrate in my tank is always below 20.

[moh]

Those numbers in my last response are pure tap water. Took it out, let it sit 24 hours and took it to a store where they tested with api tests. Wanted to be sure I wasnt testing wrong since Im new to this. Just was curious if my plan of attack for the RO water seems sufficient?

[luigimbu]

You could go half and half with tap and ro for waterchanges but not pure ro as you have to put minerals back into it

[moh]

Thats what the equillibrium is for. Ia that not sufficient??

[Welch4]

Yes it would be sufficient, but cutting the ro with tap water is cheaper(no need for commercial trace elements) and will get you closer to your desired Ph level. The main thing to consider when deciding on a method to reduce your ph is that fish like stable conditions. From your GH being 400ppm you have very hard water. kh and gh have a correlation to ph. So some methods you can use in your case. Cutting your tap water with RO, adding peat moss to your filter, filtering your tap water over peat, adding bogwood to the tank, and injecting C02. Each method will vary in the amount of time and equipment it will take. Ideally you want to pick a method that you feel you can keep consistent with in the long term. Remember the key here is stable conditions.

[TheStig]

I suggest using an alternative to peat moss, since it isn't a renewable resource, like Indian Almond Leaf. I like it, used it for my Bettas back in Asia as well as here.

Driftwood also softens the water.

Quick google will give you ideas on softening your water for a tank, as well as where to buy them.

[Pufferpunk]

Love, love, love the almond leaves! It saved my plecos for certain death! I even have a giant seed the supplier sent to me, so I can grow my own tree!

[moh]

Where would I buy almond leaves, and how do I know when they need changed? Just put them in the filter? I did decide Im going to try to cut 50/50 tap and RO once the tank is cycled and then see how my numbers are. I already bought the seachem products which stinks.. but would be a lot cheaper to cut tap and RO. I feel thats the easiest way to keep stable conditions too.. for me at least.