My water is terrible, can anyone help me fix it or tell me fish that will live in it?

Question

My water is terrible, can anyone help me fix it or tell me fish that will live in it?

I do regular water changes, vacuum the bottom. I have few fish in this 20 gallon and 2 of them are catfish. I've got some good live plants going. Here are my latest test results. Are there any fish that will live in this water and thrive?

Nitrate(NO3) ppm (mg/L) - 200
Nitrite(NO2) ppm (mg/l) - 0
Hardness ppm - 250
Alkalinity ppm - 180
pH - 6.4

I did use Mardel test strips, a liquid Ph kit bears out the Ph results.

I was spoiled as a kid with with great water. I loved having a very low maintenance aquarium. Now I'm up tobi-weekly water changes of about 20% of volume. I'll take some water to the store - recommendations for that? I only have 6 small guppies and the two cory's in the tank.

The substrate is aquarium sand and gravel about 50/50 mix. The only other thing in the aquarium is a few live plants, an old aquarium castle(always been in my tank) and two small plastic plants. I use a canister filter with ammo-carb that's made for an 80 gallon tank this is a 20.

My guppies used to thrive in the water in my home town but here they live long enough to breed. The 2 cory's are doing really well. I have two young boys so my time is limited. I hate to be a poor hobbiest looking for a quick fix. I will try some of the suggestions - plants, Walmart, etc.

Sorry the alkalinity should have been 80

Thank you so much for the time

Answer 1

Additional water changes and floating plants are the best answers to the nitrate problem, though it's not as bad as all that assuming you get it on down before too long. Maybe increase the size or frequency of your water changes.

The hardness readings and pH aren't a problem for the vast majority of fish, but it is a bit surprising to see alkalinity that high and pH that low together. Could you have something in your tank that would be altering the pH or hardness? Wood, coral, peat moss etc?

I would suggest most any tetras or south american cichlids for that water chemistry, they will like the pH and not really care too much about the hardness one way or the other. Cory catfish would like it too. Don't expect any of them to breed in water that hard, but who knows for sure.

It's not really terrible, just maybe not textbook perfect. It's fine for most fish though.

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

Your results are unusual, to say the least. Are you testing these yourself or having your pet/fish store do this for you?

I would first make certain your results are accurate. Test strips can be very inaccurate. If you use a liquid test kit, the results are more reliable, but you have to be more careful when doing the tests - rinse the tubes out well (in sink) before testing and do the last rinse with water from the tank so the test isn't affeted by anything from the tap water. Hold the reagent bottle straight up and down so all the drops come out the same size - this doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal, but it can affect the results. Also, if you test yourself, make sure your kit's chemicals havent expired. If you have a store test for you, get another test done, maybe at another store. And try testing your tap water as well - if this is the source of your nitrates, you might want to dilute this with bottled water (use reverse osmosis water- you can get this for $0.25 at WalMart once you get their container), or get a reverse osmosis filter for use at home).

Nitrate levels above 50 can be toxic to fish (depending on species), so this is one primary problem you have for keeping fish.

Are you doing 20-30% weekly water changes? Waiting longer can allow more nitrates to build up, and your fish's respiration will lower the pH. If you are doing water changes more than a week apart, try a weekly schedule and see how that affects your water chemistry. At 6.4, your pH is a little low, but many fish should still be able to survive at that level.

You don't say whether your hardness is testing dGH or dKH. Either way, your level is off the chart. Very hard water is anything above 20. Nothing that fish shouldn't be able to live in, though.

Your alkalinity should be enough to raise your pH into an acceptable range - there must be some acid source keeping it lower. Do you have any rocks or gravel in the tank besides those sold for use in an aquarium? Any driftwood? These migh affect the pH and hardness. If so, try removing them and doing a water change and see what your water test like in a few days (provided the source of your water isn't a problem). Do you use CO2 for the plants? This can lower pH and too high of a CO2 injection rate can affect your fish's respiration.

Are you on a public water supply rather than a well? I'd request a report from your water company if you are to see how their water chemistry results compare with yours.

Answer 3

Live Hornwort plants soak up nitrates like crazy. My tank was similar to yours and hornwort cleared those nitrates right up.

its now
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
with a Ph of 7.6....sand substrate.

Answer 4

Do a 50% water change and use spring water. Also, try and use a water purifying treatment before you add the fish.

Answer 5

There are chemicals that will change the water to whatever you want it to be.

Get bottled water.