THIS PAGE DESCRIBES THE WATER USED IN MY SET UP


The Water
pH is around 7.6
Carbonate hardness (KH or TAC) is around 9°dKH (161 ppm)
Total hardness (GH, DT or TH) is around 8°dGH (143 ppm)
Nitrite nil
Ammonia nil
Nitrate <20ppm

The mains tap water here is pH 7 with no hardness reading at all.

In my fish room set up, two 37 gallon (165 Litre) tanks are set at the highest level on the top of four-tier stands. Mains water is piped direct to these tanks.


Water Changes

For water changes, the tanks are filled from the mains, and the following added to each 165 litre tank:


9ml API Tap Water Conditioner (£8 worth treats around 1850 gallons)
45g of Sodium Bicarbonate (local Chinese Supermarket is cheapest)
30g of Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate - JustaSoap.co.uk).


These mineral salts achieve the pH and hardness figures given above.

Note that the API Tap Water Conditioner is used at the high dosage rate, to remove the chloramine that is added to Edinburgh's water. If you have no chloramine to remove, the 480ml bottle will treat four times the amount of tap water, namely around 7500 gallons.

The water is then aerated strongly and heated to the ambient temperature of the room, which takes from three to six hours, depending on the incoming mains temperature.

Water changes are then effected by simply syphoning water from these reservoir tanks into the tanks in use. Drainage for waste water from tanks is in the water cupboard adjacent to the room.

For a set up with over 1200 gallons (5400 Litres), this arrangement allows for 50% of water in all tanks to be changed each week by doing one or two changes per day (each change takes 45-60 minutes). In practice, the Malawi tanks get at least 50% of water changed each week, the Tanganyikan tanks a bit less.