whats you KH and GH?

[Stryker]

My water here in walsall has a KH of 4 and GH of 12. I guess I'm going to need an RO unit perhaps, maybe not?

Oppinions please.

 

[CFC]

With such a low KH you will be easily able to alter the pH and GH of your water to suit your needs, adding peat to the filtration will lower the pH and GH and adding crushed coral or coral sand will raise them.
I havent tested the water here in London for sometime but if i remember rightly it has a KH of around 10 and a GH of around 15 with a pH of 7.6, basicly liquid rock that is very difficult to do anything with

 

[CathyG]

My kit measures mg/l - KH being 110 mg/l and GH being 200 mg/l (this is after using RO water as 50% of tank volume)

 

[Stryker]

Thanks chaps. I was just concerned someone would see those reading and react with disgust

I may experiment with pear and crushed coral, Ideally I'd like 8GH and 8KH as that seems to be a suit all type parameter.

Then again my fish are fine so maybe I should not fix something thats not broke.

HOWEVER, I have just started doing a little CO2 injection, albeit using the home-brew method. I was concerned with a KH of 4 I may adversly affect the PH. However what I've read seems to point to anything over 3 as being pretty stable. I do wonder though.

 

[mrV]

GH could be lower for soft water fishes...

But you have quite high nitrate level (Nitrates 80ppm).

 

[RYO]

lol your kh is higher than mine, i was advised to use sodium bicarb to buffer the water when useing co2

 

[Stryker]

GH could be lower for soft water fishes...

But you have quite high nitrate level (Nitrates 80ppm).

On a good day I get about 40ppm in nitrates from my tap. I swear they just run the water through a sponge at our local sewage treatment plant.

 

[Def]

I'm not that far from you and I'm in a "worse" position. 4 dGH and about 3 dKH... You only have to look at my water funny to get a ph crash. I buffer with small amounts of sodium bicarb, it's taken me a long time but I finally got the tanks to ph 7.6, kh 10, gh 6.

 

[Stryker]

I buffered using a sack of crushed coral from "midlands aquatics" on broadway walsall. That would certainly help buffer the water and prevent violent PH swings.

It looks a lot like sand so if you had a play sand substrate you could easily mix in the crushed coral.

Well, thats what I did with my SW GSP tank..... I've not bothered with the FW tank.

 

[fishman 1]

My tap water is a pain.

KH of 1-2 and a GH of 18.

The KH causes problems as it is so low it is unstable. This sometimes results in PH crashes. My PH out the tap is about PH8. This can drop as low as PH4 if it crashes.
My tanganykan cichlids are ok because they have tufa rock and a substrate that also acts as a buffer.
A pal of mine uses a KH adjuster for his tank. I tend to keep mine under control with frequent water changes. I have thought of getting an RO unit to lower the GH.

 

[Gourami Lover88]

From the tap Kh 24 Gh 20 and Ph is 7.4, I also have liquid rock in my water.

 

[mrV]

On a good day I get about 40ppm in nitrates from my tap.

You could think about saving for RO-unit.

 

[Stryker]

Yep thats my plan.

I checked my PH this morning just at lights on time. While the CO2 had build up over night from the plants my PH was still a stable 7.5 (ish).

 

[KerriPaul]

After a great deal of effort:

Ph 6.9/7

KH2

GH4

Nitrates 10-15.

 

[Stryker]

Kerripaul, so your water could be in for a PH swing if you say, added CO2. For myself the KH and GH has been mostly neglected in the past. Ignorance was bliss.