Kh dropping in heavily planted but not gh

[Phoenix1391]

I’ve got a heavily planted 40 breeder that I’ve been adding salty shrimp to when the kh drops and I don’t need to do a water change. The problem is my gh is actually slowly increasing. I just measured the kh at 6 degrees and gh at 25 degrees. The water from tap is 6 kh / 12 gh. Now it also does have a lot of seiryu stone so I’m wondering if that’s the culprit. Should I just do water changes instead of buffer and just fertilize heavier to get my nitrates where the plants want? My nitrates were only 20 today, but the kh was 4 so I added the salty shrimp. Then for kicks i tested gh and was very surprised at the gh being 25

Edited February 14, 2023 by Phoenix1391

[knee]

Seiryu stone is actually suppose to increase the gh and kh when placed in acidic water. Have you tested ph? 

[Phoenix1391]

Ph right now is 7.5. But thats with the kh at my ideal 6-8. I know the ph will completely crash when the buffer gets low. I figured out I need to add buffer because my Java fern had a huge melt off, that’s when I first found out my tank is using up kh. I didn’t test gh way back then unfortunately. But if the seiryu stone adds kh too then that’s not the reason. 
 

idk I’m just trying to figure out why my kh is only 6 but gh is 25. I know that gh is way higher than what my angelfish and SAE like. And my SAE loose color in their black stripe when kh gets below 4. I’m guessing when they get pale like that they are stressed.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Phoenix1391

[Birdsnstuff]

Do you use Indian almond leaves? I learned somewhere they can soften the water and drop KH … or did I make that up. I’ll look for my source but I’ve noticed my tanks seem to have lower KH since I started using them.

[knee]

On 2/13/2023 at 5:55 PM, Phoenix1391 said:

Ph right now is 7.5. But thats with the kh at my ideal 6-8. I know the ph will completely crash when the buffer gets low. I figured out I need to add buffer because my Java fern had a huge melt off, that’s when I first found out my tank is using up kh. I didn’t test gh way back then unfortunately. But if the seiryu stone adds kh too then that’s not the reason. 
 

idk I’m just trying to figure out why my kh is only 6 but gh is 25. I know that gh is way higher than what my angelfish and SAE like. And my SAE loose color in their black stripe when kh gets below 4. I’m guessing when they get pale like that they are stressed.

Acids that come from bacterial wastes and other waste products from aquatic life forms can lower KH. If the carbonate and/or bicarbonate compounds in the water become mostly neutralized by acids, then pH and KH both fall and if there isn’t much of a KH value, pH can swing.

Constant water changes can help with this. How often do you change water?

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/13/2023 at 5:05 PM, Phoenix1391 said:

Now it also does have a lot of seiryu stone so I’m wondering if that’s the culprit.

There was a thread posted in general, look up how to acid wash seiryu.  That's where I'd start.  That's what I did with mine, it's easy, works well, and will lower the impact on seiryu with a good amount of marbling on it.

Which salty shrimp are you using?

 

[Phoenix1391]

Water changes at usually 3-4 weeks. So once a week when I don’t water change I’ll add salty shrimp. 
 

the salty shrimp I use is shrimp mineral gh/kh +
 

man pulling all the seiryu would be a complete tear down of the tank. And it’s only been made for six months. Granted everything in it is from old tanks. 
 

more frequent water changes will be a huge pain. I use a RO system to get my water down from 12/25 kh/gh to 6/12. And at 40 gallons that thing takes forever to do a 50%

[knee]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:01 PM, Phoenix1391 said:

Water changes at usually 3-4 weeks. So once a week when I don’t water change I’ll add salty shrimp. 

So basically it’s once a month? That might be the issue then. A weekly water change can help with this issue. The buildup of waste, decayed plants matter and other gunk in the tank most likely contribute to the kh decreasing. Then you add salty shrimp which only the GH gets dissolved because the acids in the tank neutralize the kh
 

I keep a 40B and a 20L and I’m able to change the water weekly with a 50 GPD rodi unit. That’s 2.08 gallons an hour and I just fill my reservoir through out the week. I don’t try to fill it up in one day but if I know I’ll just be home then I don’t mind waiting for the water. 
 

Have you tried adding baking soda instead of salty shrimp? 1 tsp of baking soda can raise the KH in the 40b by 1

Edited February 14, 2023 by knee

[Phoenix1391]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:18 PM, Birdsnstuff said:

Do you use Indian almond leaves? I learned somewhere they can soften the water and drop KH … or did I make that up. I’ll look for my source but I’ve noticed my tanks seem to have lower KH since I started using them.

I do not use any leaf litter or anything. 

[Sleepy]

It feels like you have something else going on with the tank I'm also not familiar with the salty shrimp product I personally would use equilibrium that all being said can you post pictures of the tank? I think that would help.

[Phoenix1391]

On 2/14/2023 at 9:51 AM, Sleepy said:

It feels like you have something else going on with the tank I'm also not familiar with the salty shrimp product I personally would use equilibrium that all being said can you post pictures of the tank? I think that would help.

The pic is actually when I first started the tank. Not much difference just more grown in now.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Phoenix1391

[Sleepy]

If that is aqua soil I see and you are doing infrequent water changes and still adding buffer in between pretty sure thats what your issue is and explains your GH rising.

[Phoenix1391]

On 2/14/2023 at 1:15 PM, Sleepy said:

If that is aqua soil I see and you are doing infrequent water changes and still adding buffer in between pretty sure thats what your issue is and explains your GH rising.

Fluval stratum capped with river pebble. 

[Sleepy]

The simple answer is more water changes but if you dont want to do that the only other thing I can suggest is putting more of a cap on the stratum. Crushed coral might be an option also.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Sleepy

[Phoenix1391]

On 2/14/2023 at 1:30 PM, Sleepy said:

The simple answer is more water changes but if you dont want to do that the only other thing I can suggest is putting more of a cap on the stratum.

Maybe it’s time I get a RO storage container to make more frequent water changes easier. Or I’ll just slowly change the tank to my liquid rock tap water. The angel spent its early years in my tap water and I have SAE in another tank that’s using my tap and they do wonderfully. The scaper in me just hates that tap water, a lot of the stuff plants don’t like it and the algae loves the phosphates my city puts in the tap to combat pipes rusting.

[Sleepy]

On 2/14/2023 at 2:39 PM, Phoenix1391 said:

Maybe it’s time I get a RO storage container to make more frequent water changes easier. Or I’ll just slowly change the tank to my liquid rock tap water. The angel spent its early years in my tap water and I have SAE in another tank that’s using my tap and they do wonderfully. The scaper in me just hates that tap water, a lot of the stuff plants don’t like it and the algae loves the phosphates my city puts in the tap to combat pipes rusting.

Honestly it really boils down to how much work you want to do if you want to make it easier on yourself than just the tap water (assuming you have tested your phosphate levels?) that being said you could then do a phosphate absorbing media or filter pads and try purigen for the other unwanted materials you talked about.