Ph and kh are real low?

[smm333]

I have a 20 gallon that's been running fine for several years. My corydoras have recently been hiding. I was concerned so I checked the ph and it is at 6.0. The kh is 17.9 and the gh is 196.9. 

The tank has 5 albino cories, 3 honey gourami,  2 kuhli loaches, a single guppy and snails. 

I noticed my older mystery snails shell looks a bit weak so I'd planned on buying a wondershell tomorrow. Now I'm wondering if I  should add crushed coral to the filter? I have an aquaclear so I could put a bag of it in there. 

Any advice would be appreciated! 

[Galabar]

Do you do water changes?  Have you tested your tap water for KH?

 

[smm333]

On 9/30/2023 at 1:29 AM, Galabar said:

Do you do water changes?  Have you tested your tap water for KH?

 

I do water changes every 1-2 weeks. Haven't tested out of the tap, but my water is always soft in tap tanks. I added some alkaline buffer and that managed to raise it a bit.

[nabokovfan87]

if you have a light substrate, I'd recommend crushed coral for this case.  If you have dark substrate, the alkalinity buffers work well.  Just go slow.  I keep my KH at around 3-4 degrees.  (close to the tap is best)

I had to run bucket tests to get a grasp of how much to add per water change. 

[smm333]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:57 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

if you have a light substrate, I'd recommend crushed coral for this case.  If you have dark substrate, the alkalinity buffers work well.  Just go slow.  I keep my KH at around 3-4 degrees.  (close to the tap is best)

I had to run bucket tests to get a grasp of how much to add per water change. 

I definately went slowly. I did 1/4 tsp over 4 days to get from 1 to 3. I'm  just leaving it there to see how it goes.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:58 PM, smm333 said:

I did 1/4 tsp over 4 days to get from 1 to 3.

I would try to do ~2 degrees a week max.  Get it to where you want, then try to keep it steady. (easier said than done.  Mine definitely got way messed up. 😞