Question About Hardness

[kapsey]

Hello!

I have a 20 gallon with a male Betta, 6 rummy-nose Tetras, and a Nerite snail.

I check my water regularly, and everything is fine, save for the hardness. My GH is weirdly low at 1.5 dGH, while my KH is very high at 15 dKH.

I use API Proper pH 7.0 as a pH buffer, which claims to cause falsely high KH readings on their website:

API PROPER pH 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 contain no carbonate hardness, but will cause a spike in KH as measured with KH test kits.

I want to raise my GH to around 4dGH, since that fits best into the GH ranges the species in my tank require. However, I’m also concerned about my KH, since it measures as being super high, and I don’t want to throw off the balance for my fish.

Any recommendations as to what I should do? I’m still new to aquariums, so the water quality stuff is a bit overwhelming still. I don’t want to kill my fish on accident!

 

[Jmccahill23]

Hello!

I have a 20 gallon with a male Betta, 6 rummy-nose Tetras, and a Nerite snail.

I check my water regularly, and everything is fine, save for the hardness. My GH is weirdly low at 1.5 dGH, while my KH is very high at 15 dKH.

I use API Proper pH 7.0 as a pH buffer, which claims to cause falsely high KH readings on their website:


I want to raise my GH to around 4dGH, since that fits best into the GH ranges the species in my tank require. However, I’m also concerned about my KH, since it measures as being super high, and I don’t want to throw off the balance for my fish.

Any recommendations as to what I should do? I’m still new to aquariums, so the water quality stuff is a bit overwhelming still. I don’t want to kill my fish on accident!

Hi I'm no scientist but I have had alot of fish and from my experience all of that doesnt rly matter as long as you keep your nitrates and nitrites down as long as you get your fish from your local fish shop which will be using the same tap water as you are (with conditioner) you will be just fine. You may read that some fish need different p and gh and all that but It comes down to what water they are raised in.

 

[ClownLurch]

Hi I'm no scientist but I have had alot of fish and from my experience all of that doesnt rly matter as long as you keep your nitrates and nitrites down as long as you get your fish from your local fish shop which will be using the same tap water as you are (with conditioner) you will be just fine. You may read that some fish need different p and gh and all that but It comes down to what water they are raised in.

I’m no scientist either but the boys n girls over at seriouslyfish.com are. Seriously. Take a look over there sometime. Seriously.

 

[StevenF]

My GH is weirdly low at 1.5 dGH, while my KH is very high at 15 dKH.

Do you by any chance have water softener in your home? Water softeners reduce GH but replace that GH with KH and increase sodium levels in the water. If you have a water softener you might want to use your unprocessed well water mixed with RO water to achieve a target GH. Also what is the KH of the water before you put it in the tank and before you apply the proper PH product.

IF your home doesn't have a water softener you can be increased without increasing GH. The GH test only detects calcium and magnesium. A GH booster will increase GH such as Seachem Equilibrium or Seachem Replenish without increasing KH. Note thare as some GH boosters on the market that also contain ingredients to also increase KH. Before buying a GH booster read the label carefully. if it says it also increase KH avoid it.