Lowering Kh in a planted tank

[Jeff]

I have a 10g planted tank; and I have really hard water - 300 Kh. I want to lower it to keep Neocaridina shrimp. 

What would you suggest to do?

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2022 at 1:16 PM, Jeff said:

What would you suggest to do?

Seachem has a product for this, Acid buffer.

Is your GH that high or is this specifically KH?

I'm just curious, what is your PH?

[Patrick_G]

I would suggest using RO or distilled water that you make at home or buy at the store. 

You could do what @nabokovfan87 suggests and lower your PH. That will eat away at the KH, but you’ll still have a high GH and overall TDS. 
 

I’m lucky to have soft, slightly acid water so I haven’t actually had to try reducing hardness but I think RO is the way to go 🙂

[Jeff]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:17 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Seachem has a product for this, Acid buffer.

Is your GH that high or is this specifically KH?

I'm just curious, what is your PH?

Argh! I meant to say my GH was high - 300. Kh is looking about 40.

Ph 6.8 - 7ish. 

 

On 5/25/2022 at 4:25 PM, Patrick_G said:

I would suggest using RO or distilled water that you make at home or buy at the store. 

You could do what @nabokovfan87 suggests and lower your PH. That will eat away at the KH, but you’ll still have a high GH and overall TDS. 
 

I’m lucky to have soft, slightly acid water so I haven’t actually had to try reducing hardness but I think RO is the way to go 🙂

Yeah; I posted about Catappa Leaves to lower my Ph. Nobody has responded yet.

How many would you suggest?

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Jeff

[nabokovfan87]

Ok so. You're going to end up needing Seachem acid buffer and alkaline buffer and you end up dosing then in a ratio.

 

Your other option is adding crushed coral and botanicals/wood/peet.  Fluval sells some peet balls for their canisters you might have available locally.

 

The idea being..... You need to get KH up by about 20 which will stabilize PH in between water changes. Then you'll either be happy with the slight bump in PH or add something to drop the PH down.

 

Your water parameters look just like mine, except my PH is crashing from 6.8 down to 6.0

On 5/25/2022 at 5:42 PM, Jeff said:

Yeah; I posted about Catappa Leaves to lower my Ph. Nobody has responded yet.

How many would you suggest?

I did 4 in my 29G. No idea if it's right. Alder cones might be a better option because they are smaller and easier to add more of.

I was keeping an eye on your other thread to see what the response was.

 

My issue adding the leaves is they block out the plants. I was using a clip (for kelp and such) to attach them to the wall. Or putting them by the filter intake where there's less plants.

[Jeff]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

 

 

Your other option is adding crushed coral and botanicals/wood/peet.  Fluval sells some peet balls for their canisters you might have available locally.

 

 

Thank you thank you thank you for all the advice!

If I went the CC and Peat Balls route - can I throw these Peat Balls in a mesh bag, and put it in my HOB?

Edited May 26, 2022 by Jeff

[Jeff]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:25 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m lucky to have soft, slightly acid water so I haven’t actually had to try reducing hardness but I think RO is the way to go 🙂

Yeah; I always thought having hard water was ideal; but man...shrimp now and my future Discus tank....woof (Kevin McAlister voice when he says Buzz...your girlfriend...woof).

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2022 at 5:59 PM, Jeff said:

If I went the CC and Peat Balls route - can I throw these Peat Balls in a mesh bag, and put it in my HOB?

 

Yep exactly!

[Scapexghost]

I would suggest not lowering your kH. Neocardinias are hardwater shrimp. They'll do fine at that hardness. I keep them in very hard water and have never had an issue.

[Jeff]

@Scapexghost I've tried shrimp multiple times in my tank: Amano and Blue Dream. Neither time did they survive a month. My tank is mature: over 2 years old; and I have consistently stable water parameters, and no fish that would think they're a snack. I'm not sure what else I can do, other than lower my Kh and Gh.

I'm happy yours are thriving in hard water; but I have yet to have any success.

[Scapexghost]

Ive never had success with amanos so i can't speak on those, but perhaps its worth trying blue dreams from a different source? Try a source? Also, 6.8-7 pH may be to low. Gh and ph are usually corellated, so shrimp that would do well in your low ph will struggle in your high hardness while shrimp that will do well in your high hardness will struggle in your low ph. 

Shrimp can be tricky. It could be some heavy metal in your water source thats difficult to test for thsts killing your shrimp. In which case an ro unit might be necessary.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:36 PM, Scapexghost said:

I would suggest not lowering your kH

Agreed. Need to lower PH, but raise KH.  Getting the KH up to 60-80 is where you want to be. (right now it's 40-50).

That will let your PH be a bit more stable long term.  That's the goal.

On 5/25/2022 at 6:41 PM, Jeff said:

 I've tried shrimp multiple times in my tank: Amano and Blue Dream. Neither time did they survive a month. My tank is mature: over 2 years old; and I have consistently stable water parameters, and no fish that would think they're a snack. I'm not sure what else I can do, other than lower my Kh and Gh.

I'm happy yours are thriving in hard water; but I have yet to have any success.

what do you mean by this?

Shrimp need calcium (GH) to be at a certain level to survive. KH is all about buffering the water so you don't have PH crashes.  Your losses are likely due to starving, and due to PH swings or incorrect temps.

Please be sure to check this out. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

[tolstoy21]

Neocaridina species should be fine at those parameters.  Caridina shrimp require (to be healthy and breed) a Ph below 7.0 (some much lower depending on type).  

[Mmiller2001]

On 5/25/2022 at 2:25 PM, Patrick_G said:

I would suggest using RO or distilled water that you make at home or buy at the store. 

You could do what @nabokovfan87 suggests and lower your PH. That will eat away at the KH, but you’ll still have a high GH and overall TDS. 
 

I’m lucky to have soft, slightly acid water so I haven’t actually had to try reducing hardness but I think RO is the way to go 🙂

I agree here. Using natural methods are going to be ineffective and overly slow with minimal results. 

The best results are going to come from reversing your needs. I would invest in a reverse osmosis system or purchase distilled/RO water and build the GH and KH with additives.

It takes about 3 generations before the colony becomes more adaptable to your water conditions.

Shrimp are very sensitive to TDS totals. You may have good GH and KH but high TDS and be unsuccessful with shrimp.

An expensive but easy to use product is called SaltyShrimp GH/KH.