Hi, thanks for letting me join. I bought a small 64L tank during lockdown with the intention of keeping guppies. Alas living in a soft water area they never lasted long. If the lady in pets at home explained I would need to do a little bit more than add 5ml of water purification liquid they might of survived. So I went to a different pet shop yesterday, spoke to a gentleman who recommended this forum . So I'll hopefully buy some plants and some chemicals to get my tap water to the required levels then pop the fish in. Any recommendations for basic plants to help me start? Thanks, Gerry.
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PARAGUAY
Member
Welcome to UKAPS🙂 I have kept guppy's in soft water and they did well. Most are farm bred in stores these days and tend to be not robust and prone to not doing well as they used to..
Hi and welcome,
Most people on here with hard water would kill to have soft coming from the tap. The door will open for you to keep a whole lot more variety of plants and fish which should do slightly better in your water. Taking into consideration what @PARAGUAY mentioned above about Guppys, why not look at the many tetras or rasboras which will thank you for keeping them in said water.
Cheers!
Most people on here with hard water would kill to have soft coming from the tap. The door will open for you to keep a whole lot more variety of plants and fish which should do slightly better in your water. Taking into consideration what @PARAGUAY mentioned above about Guppys, why not look at the many tetras or rasboras which will thank you for keeping them in said water.
I don't know what chemicals you want to get but it's highly unlikely you will need anything other than tap water conditioner and some plant food.
Cheers!
Nowadays, guppies are extremely poor quality. Its hard to describe just how much worse their health is than a lot of the other fish for sale. Basically, if you buy guppies from a store, the odds are already stacked against you.
If possible, look at local for sale sites to see if anyone is selling tank (home) bred guppies. These will be much stronger.
Then there is the soft tap water. It is correct that most livebearers (like guppies) want harder water. Luckily, the water can be hardened much easier than it can be softened.
Im not sure what "water purification liquid" we are talking about here. Is it one to remove chlorine from the water? If so, this will not be what you want to use for hardening the water.
What you need is commonly referred to as GH salt and KH salt. You could buy this from stores, but since we know what chemicals they are made of, its much cheaper and quite easy to buy the salts yourself and it saves a decent sum of money in the long run.
The GH salt raises the General Hardness.
You can use Magnesium sulfate and Calcium chloride (or Calcium sulfate) powders to make your own version of this. We can assist you with the math for how much you need to add of each.
The KH salt raises the value that we refer to as "Carbonate Hardness". (Carbonate is spelled with a K in german, hence the K in KH.)
You can use a carbonate salt for this, we recommend Potassium Bicarbonate over Sodium Bicarbonate, because potassium is a good plant nutrient, while sodium is not.
If all of this makes your head spin too much, its of course totally ok to just buy some premade GH and KH salt. You can always come back to the DIY chemistry later 😊
When you alter your water to suit your guppies, you want to make sure that youre mixing the chemicals into the water thoroughly before you put the water in the tank. So mixing the salt in while the new water is in the bucket, for example.
And you will want to use the same amount every time, so that the water is always the same hardness for your fish.
There are a lot of nice plants to choose from! I would get at least one floating plant (recommend amazon frogbit), and several stem plants, because these grow fast and will help you keep the water healthy.
Look for any plants that are in the "Easy" category from the plant nursery. Often these will have a green label or "Easy" written somewhere on them. Here is a list of all the Easy plants from the Tropica nursery for example.
Dont be afraid to ask if you have any questions 😊
If possible, look at local for sale sites to see if anyone is selling tank (home) bred guppies. These will be much stronger.
Then there is the soft tap water. It is correct that most livebearers (like guppies) want harder water. Luckily, the water can be hardened much easier than it can be softened.
Im not sure what "water purification liquid" we are talking about here. Is it one to remove chlorine from the water? If so, this will not be what you want to use for hardening the water.
What you need is commonly referred to as GH salt and KH salt. You could buy this from stores, but since we know what chemicals they are made of, its much cheaper and quite easy to buy the salts yourself and it saves a decent sum of money in the long run.
The GH salt raises the General Hardness.
You can use Magnesium sulfate and Calcium chloride (or Calcium sulfate) powders to make your own version of this. We can assist you with the math for how much you need to add of each.
The KH salt raises the value that we refer to as "Carbonate Hardness". (Carbonate is spelled with a K in german, hence the K in KH.)
You can use a carbonate salt for this, we recommend Potassium Bicarbonate over Sodium Bicarbonate, because potassium is a good plant nutrient, while sodium is not.
If all of this makes your head spin too much, its of course totally ok to just buy some premade GH and KH salt. You can always come back to the DIY chemistry later 😊
When you alter your water to suit your guppies, you want to make sure that youre mixing the chemicals into the water thoroughly before you put the water in the tank. So mixing the salt in while the new water is in the bucket, for example.
And you will want to use the same amount every time, so that the water is always the same hardness for your fish.
There are a lot of nice plants to choose from! I would get at least one floating plant (recommend amazon frogbit), and several stem plants, because these grow fast and will help you keep the water healthy.
Look for any plants that are in the "Easy" category from the plant nursery. Often these will have a green label or "Easy" written somewhere on them. Here is a list of all the Easy plants from the Tropica nursery for example.
Dont be afraid to ask if you have any questions 😊
John q
Member
My faith in local fish shops is restored.
There are numerous easy going start up plants; a few that spring to mind: limnophila sessiliflora, ceratopteris thalictroides, hygrophila polysperma, hygrophila siamensis, hydrocotyle leucocephala, najas guadalupensis, elodea densa , various echinodorus species and a must for anybody starting a tank is limnobium laevigatum.
As above, if you need any advice just ask.
2
26024
Guest
Depends what you want to achieve really.
I’ve always been choosing hard way to learn.
Obviously it cost a lot of money spent on plants but when I was buying an easy plants after some time it was not enough so I had to get rid of it and buy something more demanding.
Harder to keep plants looks better tho.
Some people will say it’s a waste of money but I would say it’s gaining experience.
Cheers
Piotr
I’ve always been choosing hard way to learn.
Obviously it cost a lot of money spent on plants but when I was buying an easy plants after some time it was not enough so I had to get rid of it and buy something more demanding.
Harder to keep plants looks better tho.
Some people will say it’s a waste of money but I would say it’s gaining experience.
Cheers
Piotr
The grumpy one
Member
Welcome
Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS.
Soft water is <"definitely an advantage">, partially because it is much easier <"to add compounds to water">, rather than take them away.
cheers Darrel
Welcome to UKAPS.
Soft water is <"definitely an advantage">, partially because it is much easier <"to add compounds to water">, rather than take them away.
I agree with the others, it is more likely to be the <"quality of the Guppies">, rather than the water.
It is nice to have a recommendation, and I'd definitely carry on <"using that shop as my LFS">. We have some Edinburgh based members (@jamiepearson & @AlecF ) as well and I think that @acjrb may have been <"in the same shop">?
I'm also going to make a recommendation for @1971G and that is to <"read the linked thread"> and watch Cory from the Aquarium Co-Op talk about <"Seasoned Tank Time">.
cheers Darrel
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Welcome 🙂
sparkyweasel
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Welcome!
MichaelJ
Member
Welcome to UKAPS!
Cheers,
Michael
Cheers,
Michael
