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I have a 150g heavily planted tank with the following perameters: pH 6.5,
free ammonia .25ppm, Nitrate 20ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, GH 12.6dH, KH 2.34.
The plants are planted in a substrate 2" thick of flourite, with a 1" silica
sand on top. I have one 4 year old male pearl gourami and a 1 year old dwarf
gourami swimming around. I have a magnum 350 with old charcoal in it, and
2- 6' VHO lights; one aquasun, and one 50/50, both on an icecap ballast. I
want to add oto's to the set up pretty soon, as algea is starting to grow.
In some weeks, I want to add large schools of congo tetra's, cardinal
tetra's and cochu's blue tetra's. Now my question: Tetra's enjoy (prefer)
very soft water. The GH and KH numbers are right out of our tap. How do I
get the water soft? Does adjusting the pH automatically adjust the GH and
KH? (I dont have test kits for these yet, I called the water dept on my
island) I've looked in various mailorder rags, and they sell conditioners,
buffers, etc. For my tank, I might as well buy stock in the company I'll be
buying from--I would need so much! Are there comparable chemicals available
on the net or at a drug store to soften water? How bout to bring down pH?
Question 2: I live on a small island off of mainland Washington state, and
can never find time to take the 1 1/2 hour feey ride over to the mainland
(last time I ventured off the island, the ferry broke down and I almost did
not get home that night!!) The LFS on the island is really lame. He has
only one source for fish, and can not get any of the fish that I want. Does
anyone know of a mailorder place that would have the type of fish I'm
looking for? I've been perusing the net and have found lots of discus,
cichlid, etc., places, but no regular tropical f/w fishes. Bummer.
TIA, this list has really been helpful. Thanks, Kes-Nicole