55 Gallon Tank Need help with tank water parameters

I recently did a test for pH, GH and KH.
Results were for the following:

pH: 7.6, high pH: 7.4
GH: 1-2 drops
KH: 22 drops
TDS: 317ppm
Attained all this with the API test kits plus a tds meter I bought a little while ago.

Now I understand that having such a high KH is bad but in my situation, it’s this water or RO water from my store which I have yet to test. The people at the LFS told me I could dilute my water with RO water. I could also get an RO unit for my water but I would need to research which one to buy and how to install it. My question is, which water should I use? What would you do if you were me? I have time to figure this out as the tank/stand needs to be moved to the other house later this week

Here’s the planned stocking list
15 black neons
15 cherry barbs
5-7 pearl gourami
RCS
Amano shrimp
Nerite snail

 

Since you're asking what I would do..
Well I don't know your plans, but I wouldn't want to juggle with complicated water mixing in a big tank like that. My area also has quite hard water, but there are several "natural" ways to fix that. If you are going for a planted tank you should look into aqua soil substrates, they are known to significantly drop gh/kh/ph, especially when new so you have to do water changes in the beginning to keep the hardness from dropping too low. Tannins from driftwood and almond leaves can help too.
That's just what I would do, though, not everyone is into planted tanks and potentially tinted water, but it's an option.

 

Ugh I have the same hard water struggle. Mine is not quite so bad as 22 drops but still on the hard side. I have some fish I should not, like wild cardinal tetras. There are lots of tank raised that may adapt. I’d look at your stocking list some maybe ok already. If your open to change your parameters might be better for an African Cichlids I’m pretty sure they are good in hard water and in a 55 you would have at least some choices. On the other side of the spectrum you have live bearers like mollies or guppies that are also supposed to do ok in hard water. In those groups the choices are endless. I’ve been eyeing but can not get right now some blue cobra guppies .. breeding angels is taking over my life … not really ..yet.

If you don’t want to change fish and are determined to change water - I tried “naturally“ with peat and almond leaves etc.. no go for me. You can research this, but its not going to be super effective long term Imo.

bottled or RO brought from local store is going to get old fast imo. 3 x 5gallon jugs for a water change 1 x per week or if you need to suddenly do one you also need to have on hand. Doable with one tank (seriously contemplated myself), but lugging water around idk.

ro systems range from $60-80 for a mini one from chewy.com ro buddy I think. Seems to get good reviews but it’s slow and small..and wastes a good amount of water. An upgraded apartment size system can be $300-600 depending on choices and have sink adapters or ways to in-line connect to a sink. They still need a dump space as 2/3 of the water is wasted. 1/3 will go to your RO containers, most are measured in GPD gallons per Day - 50/100/200 etc. (you only need maybe 15-20 a week so a few hours should do it). They look pretty easy to set up and use I think would be very doable for a single 55. I wish I could but I’d be running RO water 3 days a week lol.

they also sell whole house RO units those can go 2-6k maybe more idk as I don’t own a house right now ! These hook directly to incom water source and change the tap water so ... I wish.

If you do use RO in your research you will learn about the maintain costs replacement resin filter cartridges etc. Also will need to replace some lost nutrients back in depending on plant and other life in the tank.

i have to just split the difference with trying to get fish that were tank raised locally or fish that should be ok in harder water, and ones I enjoy.

GL !

 

Choose stocking that fits a stable water source, rather than relying on substrates or chemicals to adjust parameters.

(And just as important, choose stocking that fits the same temperature/oxygen requirements.)

For softwater you either have to be lucky with your tap water or invest in a RO unit. As suggested by your LFS, you can mix both to create softwater or use 100% RO for very soft/blackwater tanks.

I have one blackwater tank, hence a RO unit is mandatory. Like all my tanks, this blackwater tank is heavily understocked. I conduct much smaller and much less frequent water changes than most.

I use a very simple, small RO unit and the cartridges last for years. The "waste water" produced by the RO unit is used to water plants in our garden.

 

bottled or RO brought from local store is going to get old fast imo. 3 x 5gallon jugs for a water change 1 x per week or if you need to suddenly do one you also need to have on hand. Doable with one tank (seriously contemplated myself), but lugging water around idk.

Lucky for me, I happen to work at this store so buying the water won’t be an issue. Though I definitely don’t have near enough jugs to fill up the tank initially. Though you’re right about the process of using and refilling those jugs constantly so perhaps I’ll get the RO unit further down the road

 

Well, bad news for me. I tested 3 more water sources and my store water isn’t what I wanted

store 1:
pH 8.0-8.2
GH 1-2 drops
KH 1-2 drops
This wouldn’t be so bad had the pH not been so high, but I suppose using seachem equilibrium to stabilize the GH and KH as well driftwood/peat moss to bring down the pH could work.

Moving on, my dad’s water out of the tap:
pH 7.2-7.4
GH 1 drop
KH 15-18 drops (I added 3 drops at a time so results could be in between).
This water is slightly better than my water but the GH is still too low, and unlike my water is drinkable (no iron)

Store 2 (my dad/brother’s source of water)
pH 6.0
GH 1 drop
KH 1-2 drops
This is the water I really like, it’s what they use for discus and shrimp (separate tanks). Would be ideal for seachem equilibrium. Unfortunately, they live 20-25 mins away from me in another town so I would have to drive there and back once a week.

I did some research into the RO unit and I’m liking the aquatic life RO buddy. Just need to figure out how to install it and how it works. Still undecided as to what water I’ll use for the 55 gal tank

 

So.... how did you get such a high KH? and is it related to your TDS? is your source water coming out at 22dKH?

Is your source water really coming up at 22 dKH? that's like 400ppm carbonates. WOW. pH isn't as high as I'd thought it would be with such a high KH.

1. Just surrender already and keep African Cichlids or a Brackish tank.

2. if you cut your source water with RO water, distilled water or collected rainwater, 50/50, you'll be around 11 dKH. 75/25 ro/tap = 5.5 dKH. this will bring GH down also though by the same but pH should remain, you'll still have enough KH buffer, unless all that KH was necessary just to get the pH up to where it is..... (more on that below)

I don't really see another sustainable option besides the two above.

hard water, the term most folks use relates to high GH water, not high KH. minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, Iron ect. not Carbonates. It's not "Hard Water" a GH of 1-2 dGH is pretty soft actually, It's high alkalinity water. but ....I'd expect pH to be higher with such a high KH....

This has to be caused by water treatment of some sort. GH and KH should run in parallel normally, all the natural Calcium carbonate sources would put off both calcium and carbonate, even a limestone aquifer would.
I "suspect" they are "softening" the water chemically to reduce Iron or salts and such and it's leaving behind the carbonates, and removing most of the calcium, magnesium, iron and salts, ect.
I don't know if you can get the testing measure results from your municipal water supplier or not but they should have them, and maybe you can see what they are doing. with KH that high, pH should be higher, and GH technically should be just as high. It LOOKS, manipulated before delivery. Like, maybe the pH is super low after treatment and they needed to put that much KH in order to get the pH up to the 7.6 area? Tearing it down and rebuilding it in the treatment process demineralizing and remineralizing?

Doesn't solve the problem to find out, but it does at least tell you what's going on. .

 

So.... how did you get such a high KH? and is it related to your TDS? is your source water coming out at 22dKH?

Is your source water really coming up at 22 dKH? that's like 400ppm carbonates. WOW. pH isn't as high as I'd thought it would be with such a high KH.

1. Just surrender already and keep African Cichlids or a Brackish tank.

2. if you cut your source water with RO water, 50/50, you'll be around 11 dKH. 75/25 ro/tap = 5.5 dKH.

I don't really see another sustainable option besides the two above.

I believe it is related, it’s well water. The house and well was created bout 60 years ago so I’m sure the aging pipes doesn’t help either

 

Are you doing one drop at a time doing the KH/ GH test and mixing the tube in between?

 

I believe it is related, it’s well water. The house and well was created bout 60 years ago so I’m sure the aging pipes doesn’t help either

Wow, it's well water.... That's really odd parameters even for a well to be like that. I need to research.

No idea how that happens at all, check your pump for the well, look into if it has a filter or something going on with it well water is usually in balance between GH and KH, it might both be low or both be high though.

Or the GH might be high and full of Iron and calcium and magnesium and all that jazz, but it's usually not all carbonates, it's kind of unheard of. and so odd the pH is 7.6-7.4 with so much KH.
I'm looking on the internet, and there's not much on it at all to read on of a similar situation, it's all more about GH and hard water (staining mineralized water)
I feel like there's a filter near the pump somewhere, doing some sort of buffering, and the well water is likely acidic and low pH with iron or something, and that's being removed. it's pretty common to have to do that with wells when it's acidic to protect the pipes, maybe this is what's going on and it's not maintained right, neglected, or maintained wrong.

I'm kind of grasping at straw here. First time I've heard of this kind of situation. But you know, I bought my house in 1987, I lived here for 30 years and one day digging down the side of my house to create a low spot for rain water to exit the pool deck down the side of the house out to the street to avoid flooding, I found under 8 inches and at least 30 years of dirt, there was a nice stone paver path there from the pool deck to the driveway I never knew existed. You get surprised when you start poking around sometimes.

 

Wow, it's well water.... That's really odd parameters even for a well to be like that. I need to research.

No idea how that happens at all, check your pump for the well, look into if it has a filter or something going on with it well water is usually in balance between GH and KH, it might both be low or both be high though.

Or the GH might be high and full of Iron and calcium and magnesium and all that jazz, but it's usually not all carbonates, it's kind of unheard of. and so odd the pH is 7.6-7.4 with so much KH.
I'm looking on the internet, and there's not much on it at all to read on of a similar situation, it's all more about GH and hard water (staining mineralized water)
I feel like there's a filter near the pump somewhere, doing some sort of buffering, and the well water is likely acidic and low pH with iron or something, and that's being removed. it's pretty common to have to do that with wells when it's acidic to protect the pipes, maybe this is what's going on and it's not maintained right, neglected, or maintained wrong.

I'm kind of grasping at straw here. First time I've heard of this kind of situation. But you know, I bought my house in 1987, I lived here for 30 years and one day digging down the side of my house to create a low spot for rain water to exit the pool deck down the side of the house out to the street to avoid flooding, I found under 8 inches and at least 30 years of dirt, there was a nice stone paver path there from the pool deck to the driveway I never knew existed. You get surprised when you start poking around sometimes.

I’m not positive but the well pump was replaced a few years back and it was a 3 in pipeline, nowadays they’re 5 inches or more. There’s a water softener in the basement that I know uses that Morton salt stuff, and if it runs out the pH spikes up to 8.2-8.5

Anyways, I’m not gonna worry too much about that since I’ve decided that I’ll buy the aquatic life 4 stage RO buddy. I got a spot picked out for it under the unused bathroom cabinet