KH question

S

Submo

AC Members
Nov 15, 2004
5
0
0
Melbourne, Australia
Hi,

My tank suffered from a ph crash recently (went below 5), I went to my LFS for advice and learnt that the KH from the water supply is virtually none. The guy at the LFS gave me some KH buffer to try to bring the ph up. After 3 days of small dosages every hour or so, the ph tested this mornning is at 6.5. I also tested the KH, and it's still very low (one drop and turned yellow). I've stopped adding more KH buffer since last night and the ph readings remained the same for the entire morning.

So here's my question, should I continue increasing the buffer until I can detect it or should I leave it as it is now? I know that increasing the KH would increase ph, and my tank only have tetras which prefers soft and acidic water right?

Any comments appreciated.
 
Keeping KH in the vicinity of 3 degrees or 80 ppm should keep you from suffering a pH crash without taking pH much higher than it is now. Less KH and you're likely to see the same result as you had before.

An easy way to keep KH replenished is to add a couple of tablespoons of crushed coral to a filter bag or nylon stocking. Plunk that into a filter and it will slowly dissolve. You have to check to make sure you don't need a bit more or a bit less, but it will change KH relatively slowly so you won't be surprised.

HTH,
Jim
 
What size tank are we talking about here? I'd also recommend crushed coral, I've used it with good results.

I also used onyx sand as substrate in some of my tanks and can say that it does definitely help boost your KH. The KH readings in my tanks with onyx sand are noticeably higher than the tanks with pool filter sand. There are other substrates that claim to help boost KH, but onyx sand is the only one I have any first hand experience with.
 
Agreed with replies so far. crushed coral ( CaCO3) is a good way to go, slow but extremely steady.
What are the ingredients of the KH buffer you bought?
Many of them are simply baking soda in a fancy jar.
Baking soda (NaCo3) is a good Kh booster, but it is extremely fast, and you should be very very cautious if you add it to your tank. I have used it in change water a lot to raise the kh before I put the water in the tank. one teaspoon of baking soda will raise my kh 1 degree in 30 gallons of water almost instantly. With soft water fish I would tend to lean more towards the coral simply because calcium is better than sodium in my mind. In the case of Baking soda the sodium level it produces is minimal, and probably won't cause trouble. but I wanted the calcium for plants and snails anyhow so I eventually switched over to CaCO3 in all tanks.

Sources for CaCO3 are:
Crushed coral
Pickling lime (Dolomitic lime will work as well)
limestone rocks (be careful of metals)
Cement blocks or bricks

There are many more options, these are just the ones I know off the top.
Dave
 
It's a 10g tank...

I've ask the guy at the LFS if i can use baking soda instead and he said it will only be a quick fix, the stuff he gave me suppose to last longer, so I think it's not baking soda. Unfortunately i didn't get to take a look at the jar, so i don't know is the exact ingredient.

I'm interested in using crush coral (seems to be more natural approach to me), but I'm only using an internal power filter. Is that ok?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom