Water quality problems ( pH / GH / KH ).. help!

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H

Haze

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Apr 8, 2004
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Ok.. I'd been struggleing to get the ph in this tank to stableize at 7ish.. I've finally got it there it seems.. however im having more problems.

The tank is a planted community tanks.. mostly tetras.. few corrys etc. and snails ( i love ma snails.. what can i say ). Now, I want to get enough calcium and whatnot in the water so that my snails can build healthy shells and whatnot. I've had problems in the past with snails shells virtually disintigrating in the water. So, i've run some GH and KH tests and the results.. at least to me are pretty shocking!

Here's a recent history:

Thursday, April 8 2004
pH: 7.0
gH = 410 - 420 mg/L = High
kH = 40 mg/L = low

... after water change:

pH = 7.1
GH = 15 - 300 mg/L
KH = 5 - 50 mg/L

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Friday April 9 2004

ph 6.9 - 7
GH 18 = 360 mg/L
KH 3 = 30 mg/L

I took the above to the shop yesterday ( minus todays stats ) and the gentleman either suggested KH up tablets ( which would raise my pH.. thats very unwanted ) or a nutralizer tablet. So I took the nutralizer tablet and plopped that in. The results as seen above for the stats on friday ( today here ) are essentially the reverse of what I want.

I would idealy like to see the KH raised to around 80 and GH i would like lowered to about 120. Do these numbers look ok for a community tank with snails and plants? Any suggestions on how i might get my tank to these desired numbers?

Thanks in advance!
 
TPIRman

TPIRman

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It's hard to tell what's happening with your kH numbers because your conversion factor is off. One degree of hardness is about 18 mg/L. So a kH of 3 would be about 54 mg/L. It seems low either way, but clarifying exactly what readings you are getting will give a better idea of exactly _how_ low.
 
H

Haze

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Hey.. sorry just ignore the numbers other than the mg/L as those numbers only represent how many drops of solution i put in the test vial.. sorry i just copied and pasted from my text file and didn't remove it.

According to this sheet with the hagan test kit.. the mg/L needs to be multiplied by 0.056 to get the degree..

So currently my stats would be:

gH = 20.16 dH°
kH = 1.68 dH°

I'm pretty sure thats right.
 
R

RTR

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Can we back up a bit? What is the KH/GH of your tap water, and what is the pH after it has aged overnight in a shallow bowl (fresh pH measurements straight from the tap are worthless)?
 
Hound

Hound

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I have to agree that more information would be needed to clarify what is happening. I know you are trying to get your water to a ph of 7, but why? My community aquarium is going along just fine with a ph of 7.7 (best guess on the color strip). The aquarium is lightly planted and includes neon tetra, harlequin raspborra, and peppered corys. Both my corys and raspborra have been seen laying eggs. Depending upon what you have been adding to your tank you could have been lowering your kH all along. A baseline testing of your tap water would be helpful to determine if this is true. Keep in mind that a steady ph is more important than a perfect one and a decent kH is needed to keep your ph steady. Also I believe that snails need calcium to build healthy shells and calcium in the water would raise kH if I'm thinking right.
 
H

Haze

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I'll have to start aging some water and tell you. I normally don't age, i just add "comlete water treatment and conditioner" as well as "Aqua Tonic" both of which are "aquarium science / science products". Then let the water site for about 15 - 20 mins. before I add it to the tank. Should I treat the water before I age it? Or just let it be? Should I take the GH & KH test after its been aged as well or do that first thing then again and test pH?
 
Hound

Hound

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Testing the water parameters after it has ages is fine. I'm not familiar with either product you are using however. I'm guessing the first one is a declorinator, but I'm lost on the second chemical. I'd say test without chemicals to start with. Then maybe if you have the additional time treat the water and age and test again.
 
Hound

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Out of curiosity how long have you had this aquarium going? What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels if you test for them. I noticed that the second chemical you use says its highly anti-bacterial. Since an aquarium generally uses bacteria to break down ammonia and nitrites I have to wonder about that one.
 
H

Haze

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Unfortunately it doesn't even say that on the bottle and i've only just found the companys web site today ( after searching for litterally months ) :(

Not going to be using that anymore unless its absolutely necessary. It did however come in a big pack of different stuff from the same company.. it also came with Eco-Start bacteria.. and i've just added some to the tank ( did so also last weekend ).

Here's a link to the product. Anyone use this product or anything like it?

http://www.cpv.com.au/productprofiles/aquarium/aqsecostart.htm
 
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