Gh and kh

[Jesse L]

I tested my tank with the API gh kh test. The kh changed color at 13 drops but the gh never changed from yellow to green. I did more than 40 drops does anyone know what this mean?

[Shadow]

What are you testing your water for GH and KH? KH def seems high, curious your pH? Is this the tap water you are testing or your tank water? Just curious. 

[Jesse L]

@Shadow my ph is at 8 I’m testing my aquarium water  because I’ve been seeing my fish flash for quite some time. I’ve done treatments with prazi pro, flubendazole, para cleanse and salt with no success. Staring to think it’s the high ph,  kh. Seems like there was a change to my city water because I don’t remember it being that high

[Shadow]

On 12/16/2023 at 7:35 PM, Jesse L said:

@Shadow my ph is at 8 I’m testing my aquarium water  because I’ve been seeing my fish flash for quite some time. I’ve done treatments with prazi pro, flubendazole, para cleanse and salt with no success. Staring to think it’s the high ph,  kh. Seems like there was a change to my city water because I don’t remember it being that high

This time of year many city's treatment facilities treat the water and flush the system. My water's pH is usually 7-7.2 and currently its running at 7.6-7.8. Definitely could be that, make sure to test for ammonia as well from your tap water. I have seen several stories and a YT video about cities flushing the system releasing ammonia temporarily into the water. Crazy to think, but it happened. 

[Pepere]

Well, it could mean you have extremely hard water….

Or it could mean the test chemical is defective.

 

I have seachem equilibrium on hand so If I had thise results I would get some distilled water and test it with the api test kit, and then I would add a measured amount of equilibrium to give me an expected hardness and then use the api test kit to verify.

ie distilled should change on the first drop.

15 ml of Equilibrium should raise 20 gallons of water 2.8 degrees of hardness.

1.5 ml would raise 2 gallons 2.8 degrees.

1.5 ml would raise 1 gallon 5.6 degrees.

1.5 ml would raise a quart 22.4 degrees…

 

maybe 1.5 milligrams in a quart of distilled left to fully dissolve and do a 50 % dilution .  Ie 1 cup of mixed with 1 cup distilled and mix and take 5 mls of that to do an api drop test to verify test drops are good…

 

so, I am assuming this is your tap water..  do you have known hard water?  Li e deposits on plumbing fixtures? Soap doesnt suds up and hard to rinse off?  Shower head needs frequent servicing to clean out to get a decent shower?

[Guppysnail]

I’ve seen my fish flash when the water gets to hard. Usually if I’ve fed snails food with calcium. 
I also have horrible liquid rock water. 
Last time I used liquid to test my gh did the same. I had to assume it was a bad bottle or expired or something along that line. 
Whenever they flush my lines with a high chlorine treatment it raises the ph and my German blue rams set about flashing.  
 

[Mmiller2001]

Do you have a water softener?

[Galabar]

In the past, I've seen a problem with old API GH tests.  They simply won't turn color.  I ordered a new kit at that point and it worked fine.  How old is your kit?

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/16/2023 at 2:27 PM, Jesse L said:

. I did more than 40 drops does anyone know what this mean?

Dilute it with distilled water and re-test. Also test the tap to get an idea of what it should be. If you're running some really mineral heavy substrate it makes sense.

On 12/17/2023 at 7:59 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Do you have a water softener?

This is also an excellent point that could be going on.

[Jesse L]

@Pepere yes I’ve always had hard water but it was around 7.6

@nabokovfan87 I have sand as substrate but I did order a new api gh kh test kit

[Jesse L]

@Galabarjust ordered a new test kit 

[Jesse L]

@Mmiller2001 no water softener 

[nabokovfan87]

We'll have to see what the new test results are.  If you still have the existing kit, did you happen to test your tapwater or dilute the tank water and try to re-test?

[Shadow]

As @Guppysnail said, given this time of year, I am betting it is the extra chlorine, etc released by the local municipality's water treatment facility that is a big bet. Do you live in a heavy cold area, snow, etc? They definitely flush the lines regularly in places like that ie Detroit, Chicago, NYC. Smaller municipalities that do not have as strong or higher end treatment facilities in rural areas do it on the regular as well. Like I said above its definitely the culprit in my case, but I also got a heads up via a letter from the Water Board with dates of flushing. I ended up investing in a RO system for these times and re-mineralize it after the fact in a 55 gal storage drum. Overkill for most, but given the amount of tanks I have, definitely needed. As far as the GH kit, prob just bad. API has a expiration date on it, but I have found it and other companies, including ACO, test strips go bad faster than suggested as well. At least in my experience. Definitely test your tap water for all parameters asap and get an exact reading. I would even check before adding water for water changes to insure you are not accidentally adding recently flushed city water to it. As far as the flashing, as Gupp said, mine flash a lot when the water hardens up...my GBEs did recently with these upticks as well and that tank is usually closer to 6.8 due to the wood I have in it....running more 7.2 atm.