High Gh/PH/KH

vinhjamin8302

vinhjamin8302

AC Members
Feb 5, 2009
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St. louis, Mo
I have my tank setup and running for at least 2months now with pea pebbles a coue pieces of drift wood and a single crypto plant, here recently I tested the Params and this is what I get
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Here's where I'm stuck
Ph 8.4
KH 300
Gh 180ish
I may have the KH and Gh backwards
I did a 25% water change yesterday and tested again but with the same results
I dosed with ph down with no success also, is it my gravel or drift wood??
Any help is much appreciated
Oh and I'm doing this without fish..duh
 
Test your water right out of your tap. Some sources are like that. I have personally dealt with harder and higher ph out of the tap. To be honest unless that gravel is leaching minerals into your tank water (if that is true the tap water will have lower gh/kh) I wouldn't worry about it unless you want to breed some fish. The rest of the time it doesn't matter that much for most common aquarium fish.

Don't mess with ph down because it takes things the wrong direction. You want to reduce the total dissolved solids in the water not increase them. Stability is more important than "perfect" parameters. There are some fish that water is perfect for.
 
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I agree as to testing your tap water as a baseline/control. In addition, pH down uses phosphates and can simply cause pH bounces which is far worse than a high pH.

Better to use something like 25% RO water to cut your tap water if high. Some driftwood, not all though, will slowly lower pH and KH. Peat or Pillow Moss also lower these number; I prefer Pillow Moss of the two

Whether your GH is 180ppm or 300 ppm, neither are bad GH numbers for most fish, too high GH is an urban myth in many instances.

I suggest reading this web article:
http://www.fishbeginner.info/home/aquarium-gh-kh-ph-chemistry-what-to-know/
 
vin- Like said, what matters is how your source water matches your tank water. Frequent water top-ups without doing water changes will skew your pH, GH and KH over time.
 
You guys are right my tap readings are spot on to what I'm testing out of the tank...theoretically if I wanted lower ph how would I go about it safely?
 
You can lower your pH but what the problem will be is since your tap is also 8.4, every time you do a water change, the fluctuation will cause pH shock to your fish (an ammonia shock as well which is part of the chemical reaction) and this may be the death of your stock. It is why snakeice and mark and the other posters above are saying try not to mess with the pH too much. I would try to find fish that are more suited to your water rather than the other way around.

I refer you to this excellent article about it http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumKH.html#ph
 
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vinhjamin8302 said:
You guys are right my tap readings are spot on to what I'm testing out of the tank...theoretically if I wanted lower ph how would I go about it safely?
Click to expand...
Tried and true way is to use Reverse Osmosis/Deinonized (RO/DI) purified water. Then you add the minerals back into the water.

RO units aren't too expensive and can be used for drinking water. For freshwater tanks, I don't know if it's necessary to add the DISlike you would for saltwater tanks.

You can also purchase RO water from your LFS. It is also available from local grocery stores as "purified water."
 
Unless it's a super special breeding project you're after, or you intend to keep expensive, special needs fish, I'd just roll with the tap water pH you have. Most fish can/will adapt to your pH, and will live happy, healthy lives given good care. 'Nothin worse than chasing your pH up/down. Tough on you. Tougher on your fish.
 
Ok well said guys, I'm gonna stick with my given ph, All I was after was keeping a gang of guppies a pleco and some plants, simple eh?
 
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