Re: Water Chemistry

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

Edison writes:

> Here is a sample of my tap water chemistry:
>  
>  
>  Temp			27-30 celcius
>  PH  			7.54 units
>  Color			5.00 TCU	
>  Odor			unobjectable
>  Turbidity			1.10 NTU
>  Alkalinity	(CaC02)  		53.00 mg/l
>  Bicarbonates (HCO3) 	64.70 mg/l
>  Acidity (CaC03)		4.00 mg/l
>  Free Carbon Dioxide (C02)	5.30 mg/l
>  Chlorides (CI)		8.00 mg/l
>  Iron (FE++)		0.06 mg/l
>  Hardness (CaC03)		58.00 mg/l
>  P.Alkalinity (CaC03)	0 mg/l
>  Res. Chlorine 		0.30 mg/l
>  Flouride			0.41 mg/l
>  Sulfates (S04)		12.00 mg/l
>  Manganese 		0.00 mg/l
>  Conductivity		139.40 us/cm 
>  Nitrates (N02)		0.039 mg/l
>  Nitrates (N03)		5.30 mg/l
>  Ammonia-Nitrogen (NH3-N) 0.00 mg/l
>  	
>  Do you think this is a good water quality for Apisto and Rams?  Will you
>  advise me to have an R.O. Unit with this quality of water?  What is the
>  best thing to do if I want to keep South American Dwarft Cichlids?
>  
>  Thanks for your advise.
>  
That's a strange water quality report.  I'm assuming that you didn't run all
those tests yourself, and that it was provided by the local water authority.
The biggest problem is that you have CaCO3 listed under four different names,
including acidity.  CO3 ions tend to combat acidity, not contribute to it.
While three of them are at 58 mg/l, the other is at 0 mg/l .  And I've never
seen this P alkalinity term.

If I interpret correctly what you have here, your water is pretty decent for
Apistos and Rams.  I would try to reduce hardness and pH a little with peat,
but other than that, I would not mess with it.  First though, maybe a chemist
on the list or your water authority can interpret it for you.  Or you can
throw it out and run some basic tests yourself.  One would be General hardness
(GH) which you want to run under 80 ppm, or 80mg/l or GH 4.5.  A second test
would be carbonate hardness (KH), which is also called alkalinity.  Again,
about 80ppm, 80mg/l or KH4.5 would be the top end.  For both of these, lower
always seems to be better.  The third simple test is pH, and the ideal range
varies from species to species.  Check back to the list for recommendations
for the fish you get.

Conductivity is a good guide as well, but the test equipment for that
parameter is not generally available at your LFS.  

That's the best and simplest advise I can offer.  Just remember the KISS rule,
or you will be pulling your hair out.

Bob Dixon


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