[evanlundberg4]

So I'm in the process of gathering what I need to set up a low tech planted tank. I am planning on keeping a few small fish in there, most likely tetras or similar fish. I was hoping though that based on my tap water parameters I could get some recommendations. Parameters of my tap water are pH of about 7.8 ish, GH is 7dgh and kh is 8-9 dkh. I am on well water. I also have ro water available which the ph is 7 but I got crazy weird GH/KH readings on it. I'm mainly concerned about the pH as it seems high on the tap water. Recommendations?
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[Austin]

My tap pH is about 8.0. Yours seems much less hard than mine. Mine is 15 dGH. The pH issue is dependent on what you want to get. If you want tetras, I have little personal experience, but the more I read about it, the more it sounds like they would be able to adapt to that high pH just fine if you take it slow. There's many plants that do just fine in more alkaline water. If you want to lower the pH I hear of people doing half RO and half tap.

 

[djembekah]

Plants and snails will really appreciate harder water. off the top of my head i can't really think of fish besides african cichlids that tlike hard water, but they probably prefer even harder water than that. don't quote me though

trust me though- its WAY easier to pick fish that'll like your parameters as is than to alter the pH and hardness.
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[Austin]

There's rainbowfish and live bearers too.
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[Boredomb]

Based on your numbers your PH might drop a lil as the tank matures. The PH is based on the KH number and yours isn't that high. The higher the number the more it has the ability to maintain the PH level. The lower the less it has. You can mix tap water and and RO to get lower numbers all the way around but this can be a pain to do long term for your fish happiness. If this something you are prepared to do then by all means have had it. But if its not then its best to pick fish around the water you already have. There should be a number of fish that can live in your water. Have a look through the profiles here and see what matches up.