Too hard should be soft

[Olie]

Long story short, after some issues with illness I started getting into water parameters.

My tap water Is TDS 450Ppm KH-10 GH-22 Hard hard hard water…

Last week i moved to 50/50 Spotless water + Tap 50% water changes.

I went from a tank with TDS 650ppm KH 10 and GH-22+ To TDS 310ppm KH-8 GH-12 which is a lot better…

I hoped after the 2nd mixed water change this week would achieve some ideal water parameters I’ve only managed TDS 265ppm KH-7 and GH-12 not great.

I’ve also had an ammonia spike… 0.5ppm tonight definitely from the tap water.

Should I alter my Tap/Spotless ratios or Move to remineralising the Spotless completely?

I’d be looking ideally to achieve TDS 200 - 250ppm KH 1-4 and GH 6-8. I assumed this would be possible but something is holding my GH and KH higher. Ph has always hovered around 7.2 - 7.8

Current parameters are Ammonia 0.5ppm (Emergency Prime added now) Nitrite 0ppm and Nitrate <15ppm PH 7.6

[Stephen]

22GH to 6-8GH takes time.
To achieve 6GH from 22GH then you're looking at 75% RO water + 25% tap water.
Only do this gradually as to not shock the livestock.
If you do a 25% water change a week using the 75/25 ratio then week 0 = 22dGH, week 1 = approx 18dGH, week 2 = approx 16dGH, week 3 = approx 13.5dGH and so on.
After about 15 weeks of 25% weekly water changes using the 75/25 ratio you will be very close to achieving your target of 6dGH (degrees German hardness).
As previously mentioned, this must be done gradually.

All the best

[Olie]

22GH to 6-8GH takes time.
To achieve 6GH from 22GH then you're looking at 75% RO water + 25% tap water.
Only do this gradually as to not shock the livestock.
If you do a 25% water change a week using the 75/25 ratio then week 0 = 22dGH, week 1 = approx 18dGH, week 2 = approx 16dGH, week 3 = approx 13.5dGH and so on.
After about 15 weeks of 25% weekly water changes using the 75/25 ratio you will be very close to achieving your target of 6dGH (degrees German hardness).
As previously mentioned, this must be done gradually.

All the best

I went with a gradual several weeks approach not 15… naivety strikes again.

Saying that I do weekly 50% Changes 50/50 RO/Tap and I can switch to smaller 75/25 would be a 35% water change instead and creep up on acceptable levels.

My Tap water is abysmally bad though annoyingly inconsistent and apparently can have ammonia too.