GH and nitrates

lowco1

So a gh of 4 is kinda low for a cichlid tank huh? If it is how do you all recomend raising it? Also is a nirate level of 10 bad for a cichlid tank?

adpierin11

Nitrate of 10 is fine for any tank, anything less than about 40ppm is fine. If you don't feel comfortable with it then you can do a water change about 20% but nitrate is not harmful until it reaches extremely high. But if it's ammonia or nitrite then we have something totally different.
I don't know what gh is, should I? Whatever it is I always recommend NOT adding any chemicals because all you will do is fluctuate it which is much more harmful for the fish. Keeping it normal (whatever level it is now) is ideal.

lowco1

Gh stands for general hardness of the water I have read that cichlids like to have hard water.

adpierin11

LIke I have said earlier I would just leave it alone, adding chemicals that aren't necessary always ends badly. Most likely where you bought your cichlids probably didn't have hard water either, so just leave it alone. If they look good and are eating they should be fine.