Severums?

[black ghost]

PolyFilter does remove heavy metals...

Yes, it does remove heavy metals but only down to 30 parts per billion. A micron filter will remove heavy metal down to one part per billion.

Do you have a link for that?

[Fishtales]

You need to get the hardness down, and the best way is RO (reverse osmosis) water mixed with the tapwater.

Why not go with RO? Most aquatic stores sell it and its not expensive. Just buy a couple large Jerry cans and fill them up every couple weeks, then mix with your tap water to the desired hardness.
Much easier and healthier than adding a load of chemicals to your water in my opinion.

I agree. If you have the means get it from your lfs it will be cheap and easy. If like me that isn't an option for you, intstalling one under your sink is pretty easy too. Depending on your water pressure you may only need one without a pump. It's a bigger outlay cost wise, and the worst part is sifting through info and deciding on the right RO Unit for you. However once it is set up it's incredibly easy to use

[Martinspuddle]

Do you have a link for that?

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003- ... /index.php

Took me some time to for me find to again. It comes from the days of my reefkeeping. I will warn you it's a very long read.

[black ghost]

Thanks for finding it. It’s an interesting read (kinda), although I spotted one glaring error. The article states that mg/l = ppb, which is obviously wrong. Mg/l = ppm. Seawater contains about 0.1ppm (100ppb) of copper, so I don’t get why you would need to reduce it to less than 30ppb.... anyway, that’s not really relevant to Severums...

[nellyboy2115]

Ok I've done my research and am going to get an RO unit. Will my other fish in the tank be ok with the water paramaters you are suggesting for the Severums, 6 mature rainbow fish various types, 2 angel fish, 4 harlequin rasboras , 1 electric blue acara, 1 bristle nose plec , 3 siamese alagae eaters, 2 cory cats and 2 kribs. I have several tanks so could move any fish that would not get on with these water parameters.

Thanks for all your help:)

[plankton]

The rainbows may not be ok long-term, and do change the water gradually to get the result you actually want.
Don't attempt to get the water softened in one go, do it over two or three months or the other fish will suffer - they need to re-acclimatise.

[nellyboy2115]

Thanks for your reply, I also have in other tanks ,Pearl Gouramis, Pictus Catfish, Congo Tetras, Long finned Tetras, Sword Tails, Odessa Barbs and Denison Barbs. Would any of these be a suitable replacement for the rainbows?

Cheers

[plankton]

Gourami and tetras.

[nellyboy2115]

Hey have bought my first RO unit. I'm going to move my two baby Gold Severums (around a 50p coin size) into my small 120L Tank with one Bristle Nose Plec a Fighter a few small south american tetras and two cory cats.

I normally do a weekly water change of around 70% but now I have the RO Filter what do you think my regime should be to convert this tank from hard to soft water. Current readings are PH 7.4, dGh 18 and dKh 9.

Thanks for all your help

Cheers

[plankton]

Change the parameters of the water slowly, over two to three months.
Start with 90/10 ratio (tap to RO) and build that up to 40/60 over a month or two, just with the water changes.
Then you can look to get it as you want in the tank as the fish will have started to acclimatise to the change in parameters, with more ro. When you have the tank in a ratio of 40/60 then just use the same with the weekly changes.