Gh And Kh Testing - How On Earth Does This Work?
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Aqua Tom
Fish Gatherer
Shamlessly nicked, cut & posted.
"This is a very general response. GH is the general hardness which is basically determined by the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. At zero you have very soft water with respect to general hardness. KH is the measure of carbonates (Karbon being the German for Carbon, hence the "K") which for our purposes is important for its buffering capacity with respect to pH. The higher the KH, the more buffering which means any attempts to change the pH will be very difficult. Fish are not affected by KH. They are affected by GH and pH"
Tom
"This is a very general response. GH is the general hardness which is basically determined by the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. At zero you have very soft water with respect to general hardness. KH is the measure of carbonates (Karbon being the German for Carbon, hence the "K") which for our purposes is important for its buffering capacity with respect to pH. The higher the KH, the more buffering which means any attempts to change the pH will be very difficult. Fish are not affected by KH. They are affected by GH and pH"
Tom
The test is simple. You get a water sample and add the drops. A color is seen right away but as you add more chemical drops the color eventually changes. At that point you count the number of drops and that number is the number degrees of german hardness, either in GH or in KH. A high GH means that you have lots of calcium or magnesium ions in the water. A high KH means that your water has a high buffering capacity and it will be hard to drop the pH of that water, meaning it will have a stable pH.
It is very soft water that will have its pH easily affected by any chemical contaminants such as nitrites and nitrates. It probably has a fairly neutral to a little low pH and would be great water for things like Amazon basin fishes. I cannot keep the kinds of fish that would love your water. I get 12 drops on both KH and GH.
The cories and tetras will love it. The guppies will probably survive but you will be one of those people that think that guppies are hard to keep.
For me and my water, I toss guppies into an unheated tank and they reproduce out of control.
It is far better to match the fish you keep to the water you have than try to do things the other way around. I keep almost exclusively livebearers for the simple reason that most love the kind of water that I have. Other people focus on tetras for much the same reason, tetras love their water. You might want to do your research on Asian and South American fishes. They are almost all fish that would appreciate your water. African cichlids and most livebearers are simply not going to be easy for you to maintain.
For me and my water, I toss guppies into an unheated tank and they reproduce out of control.
It is far better to match the fish you keep to the water you have than try to do things the other way around. I keep almost exclusively livebearers for the simple reason that most love the kind of water that I have. Other people focus on tetras for much the same reason, tetras love their water. You might want to do your research on Asian and South American fishes. They are almost all fish that would appreciate your water. African cichlids and most livebearers are simply not going to be easy for you to maintain.
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