Hard Water W/ Chloramine

[BigMac]

I live on the west coast of CA. The water here is hard w/ so much chloramine I can smell it in the water.
I want to keep plants and soft water fish.

I am considering an RO unit to prepare my water in advance of water changes. I would need to add trace elements and buffers. I don't want to add tap water.

So am I loosing it, would I be better off using water conditioners and buffers?

What would you recommend for buffers/ trace elements other than tap water if you were using RO water?

[fins_n_fur]

How hard is the water there? What's the pH like? Most aquarium water conditioners significantly reduce the toxicity of the chorline or chloramine in water to make it safe for fish (Seachem's Prime, for example).

You might want to ask your local fish store(s) what their parameters like pH and hardness are like. Most fish can adapt to different types of water, as long as they are acclimated properly. If your local lfs's have similar conditions, you should be safe to buy fish from them as the water will be similar, or if you buy fish from local breeders where they are using water with similar properties. It's a lot easier than always needing to monitor buffer levels and reduces the need to buy an RO unit and store your water. If it were me, just back to the hobby or new, I'd keep things simple until I had more experience under my belt. But that's just me LOL.

[Lady Hobbs]

Agree with above poster. I have very hard water with a constant pH of 7.6, phosphates and silicates galore. My plants give me fits but the fish do just fine. The only fish that really are pickie on soft water is discus.

Almost all the water conditioners anymore contain chloramine removers.

[BigMac]

The PH here is about 7.8.

I'll see about getting a TDS on it. Is there a hardness test at the hobby level.

I set this up for plants and Discus. Bought a nice light, good substrata and my bio cycle is going nicely.

My job is energy management and automation. I don't exactly have a grip on the KISS principle ;)

[fins_n_fur]

You should have no problems finding hardness level test kits for kH and dH, carbonate hardness and total or overall hardness.

I didn't realize that you were wanting to set-up a discus tank which make your original post clearer as to the desire for an RO unit. I don't have experience with discus, but there are others here that do. One thought is see if you have local breeders or a local discus group where folks have breed discus in similar water conditions. Else, you may have to go the more complicated route.

If you inject CO2 for the plants, that can bring down the pH, but if need to change your water a lot, I don't know how the pH fluctuations will affect the fish. There are other members who keep discus who I'm sure will be on later and offer better advice.

[BigMac]

I know that Discus are being kept in the local water. My LFS has some in young ones in a tank. I also know they are not doing any large water changes.

I have quite a lot of water treatment experience. All of it at the comercial level. I'll go find a test kit for hardness and post my findings.

Thanks!

[BigMac]

So, I was talking with the lady at the LFS. I asked about her water peramiters.
They dont test for anything but PH. :14:

I found out our PH is over 8. She didn't have any test kits for hardness, but I had her order me some.

[BigMac]

My KH and GH kits are supposed to be in today. I think my new lights supposed to be here today as well.

I wonder rhow hard the water is here.

[fins_n_fur]

You're going to find out soon, now, aren't you? :hmm3grin2orange:

[BigMac]

I sure am, I suspect I should have looked into Mbuna instead of softwater kritters.

I told myself ten years ago if I do this again, I'm getting into Africans. Now here I am again with South Americans :c3:

[fins_n_fur]

If you haven't bought fish yet, it's not too late. I'm a die hard S American fan, but there are some stunning Africans! And, as most Africans like to eat or rearrange plants, you could have a simple, but, oh, so elegant tank, no?

[BigMac]

Too late!

I have several Amazon Swords, 7 cory cats, and 4 zebra loaches.

As soon as my new light gets installed, the darn thing is getting stuffed with plants. And maybe a dozen or so neons.

But, that 8+ PH does scream Mbuna!

[BigMac]

I brought home an API KH/GH test kit this evening and found out my KH is 4 and not too bad at all. Nifty test, couldn't mistake the change in color.

I'm curios though, what does it mean when you get to 30 drops and the solution still has not turned green?