My water is incredibly hard. We have to use Lemi-shine with every dishwasher load or we get deposits after a single load. Using the API GH and KH test kits it took 13 drops on both to get it to change color, which is off the scale offered in the kit. My pH has never been below 7.8 and is sometimes up to 8.0. I believe that’s why I have had little luck with freshwater fish. The only things that have flourished have been African cichlids and mollies, both of which need hard water. I’ve had various tetras and barbs, all of which have died for seemingly no reason. Right now I’ve got a 75 gallon with cichlids that are thriving and breeding and a 90 gallon reef setup where everyone is also doing fine. However, my oldest tank, a 36 gallon bowfront, sits empty. It originally had community fish which all died, then had the cichlids which worked out well enough that I had to move them due to increase in size and population, then went back to community fish which all died again, except for the mollies which ended up going in the saltwater tank since I was tired of keeping an extra tank just for three mollies. I would really love to fill that tank with either freshwater or saltwater fish. The equipment I have available is a Penguin 200 Bio-wheel filter (up to 50 gallons), a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer, and an Eheim 2215 canister filter that I’m trying to get working. My questions are as follows:
1. Are there any other interesting fish I can get that will live comfortably in hard water? My wife says I can’t get any more cichlids and I’m not too thrilled with mollies, though the ones in my marine tank have been hammering the hair algae like you wouldn’t believe.
2. Is there anything I can do to soften the water for freshwater fish? Perhaps run some sort of media in a canister filter? Would the protein skimmer help (or even work) in a freshwater tank? I’d love to get some Bolivian rams (don’t tell my wife they’re cichlids) and pair them with a ton of cherry shrimp in a heavily planted tank. Plants also don’t seem to do that well in my tanks, but I don’t know if that’s the water or my crummy lighting.
3. Are there any interesting saltwater fish I could keep in a 36 gallon? It seems like most marine fish have a 50 gallon or more requirement when fully grown and I don’t like to get fish with the intention of having to rehome them. I’m also not interested in keeping coral in this tank since I have the aforementioned 17W 30 (28?) inch fixture the tank came with and I’m not interested in breaking the bank to upgrade. Obviously, if I went saltwater with this tank I would leave off the HOB and canister filter and go with live rock and the protein skimmer.
1. Are there any other interesting fish I can get that will live comfortably in hard water? My wife says I can’t get any more cichlids and I’m not too thrilled with mollies, though the ones in my marine tank have been hammering the hair algae like you wouldn’t believe.
2. Is there anything I can do to soften the water for freshwater fish? Perhaps run some sort of media in a canister filter? Would the protein skimmer help (or even work) in a freshwater tank? I’d love to get some Bolivian rams (don’t tell my wife they’re cichlids) and pair them with a ton of cherry shrimp in a heavily planted tank. Plants also don’t seem to do that well in my tanks, but I don’t know if that’s the water or my crummy lighting.
3. Are there any interesting saltwater fish I could keep in a 36 gallon? It seems like most marine fish have a 50 gallon or more requirement when fully grown and I don’t like to get fish with the intention of having to rehome them. I’m also not interested in keeping coral in this tank since I have the aforementioned 17W 30 (28?) inch fixture the tank came with and I’m not interested in breaking the bank to upgrade. Obviously, if I went saltwater with this tank I would leave off the HOB and canister filter and go with live rock and the protein skimmer.