It's always unsettling to start out fresh, but it can be fun, too. When I was in college my place had soft, slightly acidic water, and I enjoyed keeping
Apisto's in my tiny apartment. Everything changed when I went to graduate school in NJ, where the water was hard and alkaline, making
Apisto's out of the question. Fortunately, the 'African Invasion' was just starting, and the rest is history. There are so many endemic cichlid species in the Great Rift Lakes that you never lack for options, and they all need pretty much the same kind of water.
Interestingly, one of my professors at Princeton was a semi-professional discus breeder; fishes that are
very fussy about their water. He had a massive RO setup for the water, and a dedicated
Xenopus breeding colony to provide live food for his discus breeders. Amazing operation. And no, he didn't get tenure, but by then was probably making a better living breeding discus than by teaching biology.