ACO Test Strips Help

[FLFishChik]

So… can someone decipher the GH reading? Because I have no idea what shade that is or what it means?

thank you!

[Katherine]

I believe it means greater than 300 ppm and the scale just doesn't go that high. I get a similar reading with my water.

[FLFishChik]

Is more than 300 a bad thing?

[rockfisher]

I have never had a tank lower than 300 with my current water source. I am on a well in SWFl so the water is hard. I have no trouble with most fish I have tried to keep. I breed angelsfish, corys, a few plecos, guppies and African cichlids and keep rams, bettas, neons shrimp, triple red cacatuoides, discus and much more. So just having them above 300 is not make or break. You tanks are probably in good shape. I have almost no Kh(buffer) which with the hard water is t great. I don’t believe in chasing  numbers. Unless you are having problems I would no worry to much about it. With fish being tank breed a lot more the hardness is not as important as when every thing was wild caught. I would monitor you tanks and see if the number stay close to the same. If it does and you have no problem great you should do much. There are ways to lower it. RO water changes can help if you have access. If your in Florida the water vending machine at Publix can be a good source just let the water sit 24 hours and test the water that you are putting in and of course test after. The only real issues I have had is some plants don’t grow as well but that could be my poor ability to grow some plants. I have adapted and use plants I can grow.
 

I would not do anything if you don’t have a problem.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/20/2022 at 4:06 PM, FLFishChik said:

Is more than 300 a bad thing?

Your water is crazy! 😂

Meaning, it's very different than mine because you actually have KH in it.

I would call this a "null test" and re-run it.  Let me grab a video and break down why.  What I notice is how wet the pads look.  this slightly changes what you're looking at.  When I do my readings, If I don't see a "soaked" pad then I usually end up realizing I waited too long, 5+ minutes instead of 1, and that can make it hard to read some results. 

If you can, retest, then send us a new photo?

But generally, the scale goes from blue to purple. so the more purple / light purple, you have harder water. 300+ ppm.  I should have some photos of my test, but it's usually the same thing.  However.....

There can be some confusion between 300+ ppm in a result and something that is actually reporting 100-200 ppm and is dried out a little bit.
 

Pretty much all of California is going to be 300+ ppm GH and that's normal.  Some fish / shrimp don't like it, but generally it's ok.  You can use something like a total zero filter or RO filters to go ahead and reduce that if you need to.

[Katherine]

On 12/20/2022 at 6:49 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Your water is crazy! 😂

Meaning, it's very different than mine because you actually have KH in it.

Haha! I just saw GH in the question and didn't even look further. Mine also comes from the tap with maayyybeee 40 ppm KH. So yeah, that strip does look odd to me too.

[FLFishChik]

My test was done on water straight from the tap. I wasn’t testing for any other reason other than curiosity. I’d never paid attention to anything other than  chlorine, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My fish (and snails and shrimp) otherwise seem fine… I was just trying to be a “nerm” 😆

[nabokovfan87]

Here's the vid.
 

 

[FLFishChik]

@nabokovfan87 ok, I watched the video and retested - setting it in a paper towel and here is my result…

And one more time

[nabokovfan87]

I'm seeing the second test a lot more clearly, definitely 300+ ppm.  Here is the first one ran through a colorblind filter just to try to shift things and make it easier to read.

Here's the second. 🙂