[Malawidolphin]

Hello, I currently have a 46g bowfront and a 55g and set up a 90g. I have a Chocolate cichid in the 90 and I am revisiting my well water GH & Kh as the well is now over a year old. My Ph out of the tap is 8.6-9.2ish and it usually settles in my tanks after a few days at about 8.0-8.2. (hard to exactly tell on the color chart). I retested my GH which shows even less than originally thought. It is at 1 or>20ppm and the KH shows 7 or 70ppm. My Ph is the problem if I want to house fish other than rift lake cichlids. If I leave the water as is with no buffers or epsom salts will I be able to acclimate Cichlids that require a Ph of 6-7. Thos well is over 500 feet down in Volcanic rock. Water changes have always been my biggest challenge because the new water is at such a high PH.

 

[fmueller]

If you want to breed Discus or Apistos you might have a problem - you'd have to get an RO unit for sure. But mostly fish will have no problem being acclimatized to a pH of 8.2. Just make sure your water quality is always top notch by keeping up with the water changes. In my experience that's far more important.

 

[Malawidolphin]

thank yoy for your reply. My biggest challenge has been water changes. The tap water is a very high PH and I do about 40% water change every week & a half. So far my other cichlid don't seem to be bothered by the fluctuation but this is my first go with "other than rift lake" cichlids. I am also finding it very difficult to find information on how water can possibly have a high PH snd be soft???? A guy at Eco-Tech Labratory (where I had my water analized) simply said "A high PH with soft water means it is corrosive and will hold onto metals like iron, so I wont see it deposit on my sink & Toilet". (we have very, very low iron) He also said it was very "interesting" water. I have surfed the net and found no real info on this occurence. any ideas?

 

[xenergyx]

maybe you need a smaller water change more frequently?

20% every week... would be changing less water out then 40% ever 1.5 weeks so that makes it a little easier.

The other thing that may help would be to get a large plastic container that you could let your water sit in so that can stabilize before adding to the tanks...

A few more extra gadgets like a water pump and a heater to keep the water at the correct temp. and also to keep it flowing and make water changes from the container easier with the pump & a hose... just a thought....

my well water is the exact opposite... it goes through a water softener and is ~6.2 pH out of the tap... :?

I have to import all my water for my malawi cichlids currently...

 

[fmueller]

I am also finding it very difficult to find information on how water can possibly have a high pH and be soft?

From a chemistry point of view that's easy to see. pH is a measure of the concentration of H+ ions in the water. They are also often called protons. Hardness is a measure of all kinds of other stuff in the water, carbonate being the most notable one.

So at first glance pH and hardness actually appear to be independent. However, most salts that raise hardness when added to water also raise the pH, and they have an effect that's called buffering, which in laymen's terms means you can add protons to those solutions without lowering the pH, because the salt will trap them.

If the water is 'soft' it lacks those buffering salts, and adding or taking away just a few protons will result in drastic pH changes. That's why even people who keep softwater fish like Discus or Apistos usually don't use pure RO water, but add a small amount of buffering salts, even if it's just by mixing back in some of their tap water. Using pure RO water would make the pH almost impossible to control.

HTH

Frank