Engineering your water

[VinsonMassif]

Who engineers their water so it is optimum for the fish species they *want* to keep or breed?

I am talking about freshwater setups, not saltwater. If you keep rift lakes cichlids do you monitor the water parameters closely?

We just had 5" of rain in a 10 day period. We are on a ground water bore supply which is 100% unadulterated. With the rainfall level in this area equivalent to rain-forest levels it plays havoc with the buffering capacity. This leaves the water very soft and basic.

My water crashed this week. The pH plummeted below 6, the KH dropped to <2, and the GH was basically nonexistent.

With such a low pH in association with low KH my bacteria colony was going thorough mini cycles leaving the tank with detectable ammonia levels. My plants did not have enough calcium and are white and stunted even with an over-supply of ferts and supplements.

So I am experimenting with Aragonite Sand as a buffering agent in my canisters to see if I can't stabilize my water parameters. I really don't want to be engineering my water every single water change to buffer for KH and GH, that is just way to much hassle.

Does anyone else regularly engineer their water artificially?

[Afrikan]

We use the buffer recipe from the cichlid forum for some of our rift lake tanks...

And of course add accordingly doing water changes.. right amounts measured.

[doch]

i keep a very close eye on my water and use the rift lake buffer at water changes and have limstone in my sump as well

[Ant N]

You may need to set up a barrel to pre-condition water intended for your tanks,

[Dixon1990]

You may need to set up a barrel to pre-condition water intended for your tanks,

Im going to do this when i setup my discus tank, and have a pump to get the water to the tank, so i can get the right temperature and PH.

[Navarre]

Hi Vince,

I used to have a stainless steel tank ( its now in Grey at a mates house and he uses it for his water changes,but you could use a plastic tank) to collect water of my roof.

I was lucky to have a shed with a good roof...no rust and no chimney and no leaves... that I just plumbed the tank into the spouting.

Maybe you could do the same.

Then you dont have to worry so much about the tannins, the clay pan and ground water contaminants.

I used to take water from a creek near my house but found even tho 7 or 8 kms from mouth of the grey was salt contaminated. Great for collecting Natives in Tho....lol

Just a thought but HTH

Navarre

[peanut2110]

We live rurally and are also on rain water. I use aragonite sand in my substrate (just mix it in with the black granite chips) and this help keeps everything stable. I also never change more than 20% of the water at any time.

Last year when I was setting up the new 400L tank I had the opposite problem where the ph of our water (which had been sitting in concrete water tanks) was over 9! I had to mix it with some irrigation water (ph 6) just to get it to where it is normally around 7.8. It was a hassle but once I got the mix right the aragonite sand keept it there without any difficulty at all. Not sure how much aragonite sand you actually need though for it to be effective...??? :roll:

[Ira]

My tank is concrete too. But the PH has been 7 every time I've tested it.(Which hasn't been in years see no need to) I do use bird grit in my filters though to keep the PH from dropping too low.

[VinsonMassif]

Yeah I have been looking around at the different options for water tanks to collect rain water. The house is far enough away from the trees so it doesn't have leaves collecting in the guttering. I think it is a very good idea.