Help With GH/KH Please!

[FishGuest5123]

Since I now have RCS, I was encouraged to get a KH/GH test kit, which I did. The test came out KH 89.5 which the chart indicates is a little low. The GH is 143.2 which seems to be ok. Shrimp are doing well and other params are 0,0, 10. Do I need to do anything to raise the KH? Several females are berried and no deaths. Please advise. Thank you! I added about 20% more water today. As far as drops go, it was KH 5 and GH 8.

 

[pov]

https://www.theshrimpfarm.com/articles/cherry_shrimp_breeding.php
they say it doesn't matter. I have heard they need hard or brackish even dirty ,what I like most on this link it says a consistent food source … if you tank has it,s own food source …..I had my local shrimp once a glass shrimp they breed but it was only one or two never the whole lot … I have also read it depends a lot about the alpha male and how nested he is...

 

[Essjay]

I would not do anything to alter KH because that will also alter GH and pH. KH is not directly important to fish; it stabilises pH, and the less there is the more likely the pH can fluctuate. So it's importance is the way it affects pH not the way it affects fish or shrimps. My KH is lower than yours and provided I make sure not to get lazy with water changes, there is no problem. KH gets used up because of the natural tendency of a tank to become acidic, and water changes top the KH up again.

I have a thriving red cherry shrimp colony and my tap water is GH 5 (90 ppm) and KH 3 (54 ppm). After I had to close the tank they used to be in (alteration to kitchen so nowhere to put it) they now live in my 180 litre (47 gallon) tank. I do have a lot of plants and pieces of wood in this tank and I have to rescue baby shrimps from the bucket at every water change so despite a lot of babies being eaten by the fish in there I still have a viable colony.


http://www.planetinverts.com/Red Cherry Shrimp.html

 

[pov]

maybe a tds meter will help too.
kh is the carbonates in the water so co3 and hco3 these are also components of water. for energy water can make them , the real deal is ca or mg which is general hardness these I think because of solubility in water should only amount to about 200-300 ppm they readily form solids with carbonates and this is the buffering of the ph . say in the presence of nitrate or nitric acid the calcium carbonate forms a solid which keeps the ph stable... this why people only use lime stone or shells as a source rather then calcium or mg ions.... but your tds could be really high or really low (if cal is cahco3) ….
though because it buffers acids and bases I could be all upside down an backtofront ….
you could also read tds as negative and positive but I have never done it...

 

[seangee]

Shrimp are doing well .

That's the key phrase. Don't mess with it if there is no need.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Since I now have RCS, I was encouraged to get a KH/GH test kit, which I did. The test came out KH 89.5 which the chart indicates is a little low. The GH is 143.2 which seems to be ok. Shrimp are doing well and other params are 0,0, 10. Do I need to do anything to raise the KH? Several females are berried and no deaths. Please advise. Thank you! I added about 20% more water today.

https://www.theshrimpfarm.com/articles/cherry_shrimp_breeding.php
they say it doesn't matter. I have heard they need hard or brackish even dirty ,what I like most on this link it says a consistent food source … if you tank has it,s own food source …..I had my local shrimp once a glass shrimp they breed but it was only one or two never the whole lot … I have also read it depends a lot about the alpha male and how nested he is...

thanks for sharing. Appreciate it!

 

[FishGuest5123]

I would not do anything to alter KH because that will also alter GH and pH. KH is not directly important to fish; it stabilises pH, and the less there is the more likely the pH can fluctuate. So it's importance is the way it affects pH not the way it affects fish or shrimps. My KH is lower than yours and provided I make sure not to get lazy with water changes, there is no problem. KH gets used up because of the natural tendency of a tank to become acidic, and water changes top the KH up again.

I have a thriving red cherry shrimp colony and my tap water is GH 5 (90 ppm) and KH 3 (54 ppm). After I had to close the tank they used to be in (alteration to kitchen so nowhere to put it) they now live in my 180 litre (47 gallon) tank. I do have a lot of plants and pieces of wood in this tank and I have to rescue baby shrimps from the bucket at every water change so despite a lot of babies being eaten by the fish in there I still have a viable colony.


http/www.planetinverts.com/Red Cherry Shrimp.html

Thank you so much for the info. Shrimp are a new territory for me.

 

[FishGuest5123]

maybe a tds meter will help too.
kh is the carbonates in the water so co3 and hco3 these are also components of water. for energy water can make them , the real deal is ca or mg which is general hardness these I think because of solubility in water should only amount to about 200-300 ppm they readily form solids with carbonates and this is the buffering of the ph . say in the presence of nitrate or nitric acid the calcium carbonate forms a solid which keeps the ph stable... this why people only use lime stone or shells as a source rather then calcium or mg ions.... but your tds could be really high or really low (if cal is cahco3) ….
though because it buffers acids and bases I could be all upside down an backtofront ….
you could also read tds as negative and positive but I have never done it...

I should have paid much more attention in Chemistry class!