is all city water in southereast texas hard

[cm12setx]

1. In my first tank only used distilled water and test strips, water seemed to be very good, new tank used city water tested today results are PH 7.6, Ammonia 0, n2 0, n3 5 ppm, kh 196.9ppm. so I am disappointed in the change. oh well lol. so what is the best way to reduce KH and PH for cardinal tetras.
2. does anyone know the effects of Seiryu Stone on water chemistry. I think like Texas holy rock is a form of lime stone an i right or wrong. and lime stone makes water harder over time?

[Fancyfish]

Holy rock is a form of limestone and yes it does make or maintain harder water. I've lived in several different areas of Houston and the water is always hard.

[troy tucker]

Our water is 8.2 from the tap.

Try almond leaves. and stay away of limestone.

[Jason]

What are you going to have in your tank? If you're doing plants then CO2 will help.

If not then almond leaves and driftwood also lowers it down.

[mnemenoi]

The most effective manner to reduce GH & KH is by mixing RO/Distilled water with tap to achieve the PH you wish to have. Ph reducing substrate makes this far easier (Aquasoil, Brightwell) though it does lose this effect over time if subjected to straight tap far quicker. I have found driftwood and IAL to be useful if you have water close to your target, but against our straight tap water it has never done anything for my PH, GH, or KH. A TDS tester will assist in monitoring those levels and they follow hand in hand with the other 3.

[mistahoo]

The most effective manner to reduce GH & KH is by mixing RO/Distilled water with tap to achieve the PH you wish to have. Ph reducing substrate makes this far easier (Aquasoil, Brightwell) though it does lose this effect over time if subjected to straight tap far quicker. I have found driftwood and IAL to be useful if you have water close to your target, but against our straight tap water it has never done anything for my PH, GH, or KH. A TDS tester will assist in monitoring those levels and they follow hand in hand with the other 3.

+1 RO/Distilled water mixed with tap water is the best route to go if you're trying to attain a certain pH that is lower than much lower than tap. IAL and driftwood didn't really do much when using tap water unless I left my tank for a while without a water change. You could always increase the amount of IAL you use. I would also suggest Alder Cones. They're tiny, easily stored, and don't break up like the IAL does. I've found them to get the job done great! Just watch out for how many you use as adding too many will drop your pH too fast and could harm your livestock.

What kind of livestock did you had in mind? There are quite a number of livestock that does great in our tap water. Also, if you're on city water the water is most likely going to be hard.

[cm12setx]

thanks for the info. we are trying to keep cardinal tetras and otos. in in this tank. on a plus side they are doing good. but wanted to make in better for them and possibly bring more color out in them. . so what is your opinion to peat use or Seachem disucs buffer?

mnemenoi, I used API liquid test kit. my resulst for 20 gal. were different than my 5 gal tank in with I had only run distilled water.

Jason, only a little java moss and I am not sure if I want to spend $ on co2

[mnemenoi]

Peat - My opinion is that is great for buffering nuetral or slightly mineralized water down. I have a feeling with our water it would do nothing but produce tannins.
Discus Buffer - is great with Distilled/RO water as your start, with our tap it would only add more TDS and further complicate the issue.

Our water is ridiculously high in TDS (300-400ppm and occasionally even higher) these added minerals buffer the Ph and water up. CO2 can buffer them down, but at night you can experiance swings as the minerals are still present in the water. Using Acid to try and buffer down will produce the same results. Wild Swings of the Ph. The only effective and long term solution is to dramatiacally reduce the TDS of the water, which will eliminate the buffering effects of the minerals. Once you achieve low TDS you can use peat, driftwood, IAL, or substrate to maintain the PH and the water will stabalize at a lower Ph. Avoid adding any shells/rocks/ or anything that might contribute to the TDS and possibly buffer the tank up.

Seiryu stone has been argued to add to the TDS in many shrimp tanks and is discouraged in any breeding tank on most shrimp forums. Most are used in show/picture tanks. With many shrimp the relationship between TDS/Ph/GH/KH are more studied and many of the higher line bred Crystal variants only reproduce in very low TDS tanks, thus the knowledge of what has worked and what has failed. Try searching the Shrimp Now forum for Seiryu stone and you should get some very good quatified numbers from aquarists who have attempted it.

[decal]

My experience with peat is that it is very effective at dropping the pH and the related KH, but it does nothing for GH. I ran Houston water through a canister filter filled with peat for over a week and tested the pH, KH and GH several times throughout. The pH went from 8.2 down to around 4.5, and the KH was knocked way down as well. Of course the water became very dark as well. If you subsequently ran carbon you could probably remove most of the tannins while keeping the pH and KH low.

Is it worth it? I kept Apistos in that water for a bit. They seemed to enjoy it. I also kept some in city water. They did ok there as well. I don't think it really matters, especially for the cardinals and otos you're describing, unless you want to breed them.

[cm12setx]

Decal, I don't know if I will try to breed them. ?though if they did it's a plus. I will do a 25% wc sat or sud with ro water. mnemenoi, I returned a API water pillow last week,. I didn't read the instructions till I got home and it said to recharge with salt water I didn't like that idea.