Evening all

I've noticed there have been a few posts recently in relation to tropical fish suited for hard water.

There's a very good article here that runs through quite a few varieties that can be kept succesfully, tank size permitting:

http://wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwhardness.htm

Do any mods think it's worth a sticky for future reference perhaps? Info seems to be a bit poor when you research

V useful

excellent - thanks very much for that link. A very worthwhile article and has given me plenty to think about.

I have water ph 7.5 + and have just read this article. It suggests collecting rainwater which is relatively straightforward but I've just measured the ph and it also comes out at over 7. Is this likely to be correct?

Hello,

I am very new to this game and I am trying to set up my own tank. (No Fish yet)still trying to do a fishless cycle.
I was instructed by my LFS to use 1/2 rain water and 1/2 tap water, my water here in Suffolk is quite hard.
So I posed a question in fact many questions and asked on this site for guidance from the Fishy Guru's here who were very helpful.
I was advised by them NOT to use rain water because you dont know where it has come from or what polutants it has picked up along the way.I have also read that interesting artical which helped in some ways and confused me in others! However I personally will follow the advice from the Guru's on this site. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE !!
Christian (ch57evy)

If you find anything confusing Christian, just ask us and we'll be happy to help you out

Ok the bit I am finding confusing is that some say to use rain water and other say not too.
At the moment my tank is still doing a fishless cycle and acording to those 6 / 1 sticks is just right (until my master kit arrives from ebay as recomended by the site Guru's)
Should I scrap the whole thing and start again with new water or contiue with my current set up with the 1/2 rain and 1/2 tap water and see the outcome?

You'll be carrying out a water change (or a series of water changes), at the end of the cycle anyway, so perhaps carry out a 50% water change now to dilute some of the rain water, and the rest once the tank fully cycles.

Ok
so what you are saying is to take out 50% now and replace it with tap water?
Then do I add any chemicals?
Also at what temp would you suggest I keep the tank at while cycling?

I have just noticed growing on my plants is a hairy type alge what do I do now?
As a rough guide I used a 6 / 1 stick approx 2 minutes ago and the readings according to the colour gragh on the tube are as follows
NO3=0
NO2=0
GH=8
KH=between 10d and 15d
pH=7.6
Cl2=0.8
I have just taken a reading of my tap water using the same 6 / 1 and the reading are as follows
NO3=0
NO2=0
GH=8
KH=20
pH=6.8
Cl2=0.8
What's your advice?

You'll need to dechloronate any replacement water going into the tank. This will have to be done every time you carry out a water change, regardless of %. Other than that, no, there's nothing you need to add other than ammonia.

While cycling, you could - if you want - turn the temps up to 30*C, but this is entirely up to you. You could just leave it at the temps you'd be keeping it at once you get the fish.

As for the algae, leaving the tank lights out while the tank cycles should help. If not, you should just be able to just scrape it off.