Water GH for Cichlids, SA & CA

[Delco]

I tested my tanks GH yesterday and it is 20 ppm hardness. I have a Green Terror, Jack Dempsey, some silver dollars & a black shark. They seem to be doing well as they have been in this water for the past 2 months since I moved. The recomended GH for cichlids in the booklet that came with the test kit says 6 - 8 ppm general hardness. Should I try and lower my GH? My pH is OK at about 7.2. What are some symptoms of a GH that is too high for a particular fish?

What is optimal hardness for cichlids of South and Central America?

 

[Delco]

I refuse to believe that no one on this board knows about Gh specs for cichlids! Granted it's probably not the most interesting topic but I'm concerned about my fish.

Mojo, any suggestions? If anyone knows it's you.

 

[Harry Tolen]

First, a slight correction. Your 20 number (and the 6-8 mentioned by the test kit) is not ppm, but rather dGH. One dGH = 17.9 ppm.

Anyway. CA cichlids prefer harder water, like yours. SA cichlids (the Green Terror) and the silver dollars would like it lower, but reducing hardness is, um, the hardest thing to do. You would need to buy a reverse osmosis unit and strain out all the minerals, and then "blend" that product with tapwater to get back to your desired hardness, and that's a pain when it's not really necessary.

Which in this case it probably isn't.

Another minor question is what your dKH is, and... Oh, heck. For more info, follow this link:

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquasource/hardwater.shtml

 

[Delco]

Thanks Harry I appreciate the information and the link. So the bottom line is I don't need to get an RO Unit for the tank, that's good news.

 

[Tiger15]

Most CA need hard and alkaline water similar to African Rift Lakes. South America is very large and diverse and it is a misconception that all SA need soft acid water. It's true that many SA fish came from black water regions of the Amazon and they do need very soft water nthat has almost zero hardness. But there are fish other regions that are neutral to alkaline. Green Terror came from coastal region of Peru where the water is on the alkaline side similar to Jack Dampsey Both Dampsey and GT have been domesticated for decades and they don't really care or remember their native water and will do well in any water as long as it is clean.