Gh Kh

[TeeJay]

My tank has been set up for almost 3 months now. Keeping only live-bearers and snails. pH stays at about 6.8-7.2. my gh is on the higher side at about 12-15. The KH bottomed out to 0 about 5 weeks ago so I put crushed coral in my hob filter. Now it stays steady at about a 3-4. Should I be concerned with the KH and GH levels. If so is there anything else I can do? My live plants are growing well and everyone seems to be happy. Just want to make sure I'm keeping up the best I can.

[dangerflower]

I'm forever trying to wrap my brain around gh / kh stuff. It can be confusing!

My tanks have a stable but low kh of 2-3 (I assum we're talking about number of drops with the API tests). It seems to be enough to keep the ph stable even though it's really low. If you're monitoring everything and it's staying stable, I want to say it's fine? The snails would probably benefit from some extra calcium supplementation in their food. Seachem alkaline buffer will raise your kh, but it also raises the ph a lot. I use it sometimes in my shrimp tank because crushed coral wasn't having any affect

Is that gh just coming from your tap water, or did you add something to increase it? I accidentally wayyy overdosed one of my tanks with shrimp minerals for a while and my gh got really high, and I did notice my plants suffered during that, but it was higher than yours.

[TeeJay]

On 4/23/2022 at 6:48 PM, dangerflower said:

I'm forever trying to wrap my brain around gh / kh stuff. It can be confusing!

My tanks have a stable but low kh of 2-3 (I assum we're talking about number of drops with the API tests). It seems to be enough to keep the ph stable even though it's really low. If you're monitoring everything and it's staying stable, I want to say it's fine? The snails would probably benefit from some extra calcium supplementation in their food. Seachem alkaline buffer will raise your kh, but it also raises the ph a lot. I use it sometimes in my shrimp tank because crushed coral wasn't having any affect

Is that gh just coming from your tap water, or did you add something to increase it? I accidentally wayyy overdosed one of my tanks with shrimp minerals for a while and my gh got really high, and I did notice my plants suffered during that, but it was higher than yours.

No my gh is straight out of the tap that high. So I know with the gh being that hight there is enough calcium in my t for the snails.

[quikv6]

I have livebearers as well, and notoriously soft water with very low KH as well. Low as is 20-40 ppm. I use Crushed coral in substrate and filter, as well as baking soda. I keep it around 100ppm, though I don't know how many drops that is. I'd say as long as your 3-4 drops is stable (test it right before a scheduled waterchange to ensure is didn't drop), then you should be okay. A higher bioload may eat up the KH a bit faster.

I would try to stay away from the alkaline buffer/baking soda if you can.

[TeeJay]

On 4/23/2022 at 7:54 PM, quikv6 said:

I have livebearers as well, and notoriously soft water with very low KH as well. Low as is 20-40 ppm. I use Crushed coral in substrate and filter, as well as baking soda. I keep it around 100ppm, though I don't know how many drops that is. I'd say as long as your 3-4 drops is stable (test it right before a scheduled waterchange to ensure is didn't drop), then you should be okay. A higher bioload may eat up the KH a bit faster.

I would try to stay away from the alkaline buffer/baking soda if you can.

Yes I'm not going to go that route. It all seems to stay stable. I do about 20 percent water change a week