# Water hardness



## trick095 (Aug 26, 2003)

I have set up a new 75 gallon with two RBP's about 4 months old and about 4 inches long. They are very healthy and eat everything we feed them. I checked my water chemistry and is as follows.
pH= around 8.0
KH= 120
GH=300 (the tap water here is very hard)
Nitrite= 3.0 ppm
Nitrate=20
temp 80 F

I was just wondering about the GH. Is this too hard for the RBP to handle or will this keep the pH in check when the tank finally cycles. It has been set up for about three weeks and I have been adding some of that store bought bacteria every week or two. I have done 25% water changes about every week or week and a half to keep NH3 in check. They dont have labored breathing or any signs of weakness. How long will the tank take to cycle??


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Yes, a GH of 300 ppm is considered fairly hard water but it has nothing to do with the pH being stable. Your buffering capacity, KH, is responsible for that and at 120 ppm, you should not have a problem with pH swings.

Don't buy any more bacteria. It's a waste of money... If you monitor your water parameters, you will see that your nitrites will drop to zero within a week and your nitrates increase. Do a water change then and your tank is cycled.


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## DelusionalMind (Apr 4, 2003)

is 23 degrees for KH and GH with pH of 7.6 fine for rhom's and spilo's?


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## trick095 (Aug 26, 2003)

Thanks I'll check the chemistry this weekend. Oh by the way I am a Medical Technologist and Supervise Microbiology at my local hospital and I am currently doing some cultures on that "superconcentrate bacteria" that stores sell. Not too concentrated it may have a colony count of about 2 microorganisms per microliter. Not too much though. But none the less it does have some bacteria I am going to put it on the Identification machine to see what genus it is and if it is actually a Ammonia reducer/nitrite oxidizer. I am sure that the bowel flora of Piranhas have all the bacteria a tank needs just needs time to colonize.
Thanks again.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

DelusionalMind said:


> is 23 degrees for KH and GH with pH of 7.6 fine for rhom's and spilo's?


 Each degree of hardness is equivalent to 17.9 mg/l or ppm. Therefore you have about 412 ppm of hardness for both KH and GH. That pretty much means you have hard water with a rock steady pH. Piranha are adaptable to a wide range of water conditions so even though those parameters are not ideal, they should be fine.

trick095: That's interesting research you are doing. I remember reading some of Dr. Hovanec's (the developer of Bio-Spira) research on the different strains of bacteria that oxidize ammonia/nitrite. He found through DNA testing that, what was thought to be certain strains of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter found in aquario that oxidize ammonia/nitrite (that many of these "bacteria in a bottle" claimed to have), were actually a totally different species (Nitrospira oxidize nitrites instead of Nitrobacter, and for the most part, Nitrosococcus oxidizes ammonia instead of Nitrosomonas).

That's why these products like Cycle do not work... because it's the WRONG TYPE OF NITRIFIERS. Those type of bacteria do not exist in an aquarium, they were modeled after the strains found in wastewater treatment plants to oxidize ammonia/nitrite.


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## DelusionalMind (Apr 4, 2003)

DonH said:


> DelusionalMind said:
> 
> 
> > is 23 degrees for KH and GH with pH of 7.6 fine for rhom's and spilo's?
> ...


 thanks. i currently have them at soft-water....straight purified water from the machine. would changing 5 gallons weekly off of my 60 gallon and 29 gallon be aq slow enough adjustment time?


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

I really don't understand your question... If you are using purified water, you will need to reconstitute it before you do a water change or ultimately you will have no buffering capacity. Also, why would you want to put water from one tank into another tank? It kinda defeats the purpose of a water change.


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## trick095 (Aug 26, 2003)

Yup just as you said. The bacteria is just a regular 'ole Bacillus species. This bacteria is normally found on the skin of humans and is considered harmless. All though there are many of the Bacillus species will reduce nitrite to nitrate but i dont know about the ammonia. So for the most part these could do the trick but definately not Nitrosomonas or Nictrobacter. Hmmmmm also a cool fact Anthrax is also a cousin to these bacteria, Bacillus anthrasis. Hehe if ya wanted to know. Same genus just a little different strain. I wouldnt recommend the bacteria in the bottle now from my cultural experiences.


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