# who here checks there KH and GH?



## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

i wonder how many people check there kh and gh and how offten? 
all i check is the basics ph amonia nitrite and nitrate

and hardness thanks


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I do. But not that often anymore once I nail down dosing. I add Equilibirum and Alkaline after water changes. I add more or less based on what my plants look like and respond to.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

I do. They don't change much.

But then again, I also populate an Excel spreadsheet with all my water parameters and everything I do with the tank (water changes, etc) so I'm kind of a nerd that way and probably not a very good reference.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I checked my KH more so than my PH after reading IPU's buffering thread.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

for me it depends on which tank I'm working on.. I only check GH/KH on shrimp tank ( along with tds). All of my SA( apsitos, dwarf cichlid) tanks, I check KH and PH.. I don't check anything on pea puffer tank..


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

I test for KH and GH monthly even though I dose for them weekly. I don't test for PH either... its always in check if my KH is where it needs to be. I keep africans and with our local water I need to raise both quite a lot.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I checked it quite often in the beginning of my discus tank. Once I know how many tsp I need to dose then I just do the same thing everytime. I still check gH just to be sure but not that often. With pH and kH I used to also check more often but now I am doing 2 big 100% water changes a day I just trust my tap. For a newly set up tank i will check more often.
I also agree that I watch my fish and use that as my main indicator--if they do not look normal I will check more often--but so far so good touch wood. LOL


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

It's hard to adjust the PH of big tanks prime is perfect cheap and a great thing but doesn't do none of those things 
I bought api PH 7.0 didn't use it yet but I heard they can cause crashes true?


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I check my GH/tds and KH in the beginning stages of a new tank setup - especially tanks requiring higher values than out of the tap. Once I get my buffering dosages right, I check mainly for nitrates to see if my water change frequency is enough. I never worry about pH - if KH values are within my range, I let the pH stabilize to whatever reading. If KH values are consistent, pH values should also be consistent. IMO, a consistent, stable pH is much more important than a specific reading.

Commercial buffers such as your api product can cause pH crashes if your water does not have enough buffering capacity. What are your water readings now?


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

I never checked my kh or gh only ph and the basics but those haven't been done in a while only ph has been I do water changed every 2-3 days so if I do adjust kh and gh it would be alot of bucks for a 160 gtank


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't check my GH and KH very often, but do check my TDS with a pen several times a month. Quick and easy and since I paid for the pen, why not?


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

whats TDS?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

TDS = totally dissolved solids


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

boyboykoi said:


> I never checked my kh or gh only ph and the basics but those haven't been done in a while only ph has been I do water changed every 2-3 days so if I do adjust kh and gh it would be alot of bucks for a 160 gtank


What Ph are you trying to get to? What fish do you have? Why so many water changes? Where in BC do you live. Tap waters PH/KH/GH can be very different from town to town have you measured what comes out of your tap?

If you don't have live plants than I wouldn't worry about GH. If you want to save money some people just use baking soda to raise PH. Its an old school way of raising PH but some swear by it. I prefer the Seachem products. They are cheap at J&L and effective. I do weekly water changes on my 120g and the bottle of Lake Malawi buffer last me months. Its $13


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## Rockman (May 19, 2013)

For me it depends on the tank. In tanks with CO2 injection I tend to check the KH after every WC; because then I can use a pH meter to approximate how much CO2 I've got at any given instant (as opposed to a DC, which is more of a rolling average). In the other tanks it's less important so long as the pH stays reasonably stable; so I only check it every so often.

As for additives: I use crushed dolomite in my big tank; it keeps the pH, GH and KH at pretty good levels (soft and acidic... but avoiding pH crashes; which is a problem if you use quartz sand). I also have a stock of dry chemicals (potassium bicarb, calcium chloride, epsom salts, etc) that I use to match the tap water to the tank when I do really big water changes. I don't go in for commercial products (Seachem et al) for the most part; the convienience is outweighed by the price markup and loss of flexibility, IMO.


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

jbyoung00008 said:


> What Ph are you trying to get to? What fish do you have? Why so many water changes? Where in BC do you live. Tap waters PH/KH/GH can be very different from town to town have you measured what comes out of your tap?
> 
> If you don't have live plants than I wouldn't worry about GH. If you want to save money some people just use baking soda to raise PH. Its an old school way of raising PH but some swear by it. I prefer the Seachem products. They are cheap at J&L and effective. I do weekly water changes on my 120g and the bottle of Lake Malawi buffer last me months. Its $13


I live in Surrey reason why I do water changes often is because I feed them high protein shrimp I don't do it exactly 2-3 days when I feed less I'll do it 4-5 days depending I don't have live plants so i guess that cuts out GH just neutral 7.0


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

I check nothing (except for salinity) unless something seems off


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

What fish are you keeping? Why are you after a Ph of 7.0?

Fish are adaptable. They don't care if the Ph is 7.0. They just want it stable for the most part depending on the species. BC's water is different than most places. Its clean and has a Ph of around 6.3 +/- right out of the tap but it has no KH. . Doing as many water changes as you are doing your water should stay close to the tap water in PH. I wouldn't add anything doing as many water changes as you are doing. The reason people use buffers here is because BC tap water has little to know KH. Meaning if you don't do water changes all the time your PH will lower over time. KH is directly related to buffering capacity. With no KH, PH falls. With high KH, PH stays high. Hope that makes sense. Obviously fish don't want to live in water with a PH of 5.0 but anything in the 6.0 to 7.4 ish is perfectly fine IMO. As long as it stays at that constantly.

Heres a few articles.

Bufering capacity: Beginner: Water Chemistry
Aquarium Water Buffering Agents
http://www.talkfishy.com/resources/...dify-water-chemistry-in-a-freshwater-aquarium


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

jbyoung00008 said:


> What fish are you keeping? Why are you after a Ph of 7.0?
> 
> Fish are adaptable. They don't care if the Ph is 7.0. They just want it stable for the most part depending on the species. BC's water is different than most places. Its clean and has a Ph of around 6.3 +/- right out of the tap but it has no KH. . Doing as many water changes as you are doing your water should stay close to the tap water in PH. I wouldn't add anything doing as many water changes as you are doing. The reason people use buffers here is because BC tap water has little to know KH. Meaning if you don't do water changes all the time your PH will lower over time. KH is directly related to buffering capacity. With no KH, PH falls. With high KH, PH stays high. Hope that makes sense. Obviously fish don't want to live in water with a PH of 5.0 but anything in the 6.0 to 7.4 ish is perfectly fine IMO. As long as it stays at that constantly.
> 
> ...


I keep indo datnoids there sensitive to nitrate so that's why also I do water changes often so I don't need to adjust ph or anything? What about the KH? So if the pH stays around 6-7.4 it should be fine? Thanks I just don't understand KH and dH


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

jbyoung's got it, if you are doing frequent water changes (more than once a week) adding buffers and additives is just pouring money down the drain.


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## boyboykoi (Aug 22, 2013)

my ph is 6.0 but i did add api salt and melafix since my fishes fins got screwed up does those things cause diffrent ph?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Im not saying don't test PH. If it was me Id test the Ph/KH/GH/Nitrate/nitrite/Ammonia often for a few months and see what the tank sits at. If its constantly 6.5 or somewhere within range than there is no point in adding chemicals or products to raise PH. If the Ph falls over the few months than YES you should add some sort of Buffer. 

IMO/E its better to do the water change once a week. Set a day. Drain 50% of the water and stay on that schedule. Feed the same amount everytime. Keep the tank stable. If you have lots of bio media in your filters and a good colony of beneficial bacteria, than waiting a day or 2 before your next water change shouldn't hurt. I don't know what your filtration is. Im assuming its enough for what you have. If you don't have enough bio media or beneficial bacteria than you will need to do water changes more often. Its your tank, you will need to do all the testing and figure out what will work. 

KH is carbonate Hardness. dh is how its measured ex.. A Measuring tape is (dh) it measures inches. It can also be measured in PPM (parts per million)

Here is a good example I found Carbonate hardness KH. It measures the buffering capacity or the ability to absorb and neutralize added acid (fish pee) without major changes to pH. Think of buffering capacity as a big sponge, the higher the buffering, the bigger the sponge. How much buffering does your tank need? The higher the kH (the bigger the sponge), the more resistant to pH changes your water will be. A tank's kH should be high enough to prevent large pH swings over time. If your kH is below roughly 4.5 OdH, you should pay special attention to your tank's pH (e.g., testing periodically) until you get a feel for how stable the pH is.
Buffering is both good and bad. On the good side, the nitrogen cycle in our tanks produces nitric acid (nitrate). If we dont have buffering (kH), the pH will drop over time. Sufficient buffering will keep the Ph stable. On the bad side, hard water almost always has a large buffering capacity and if the pH is to high for your fish, this large buffering capacity will make it more difficult to lower the pH.( Not in BC unless you are using well water)
Buffering is sometimes referred to as "alkalinity" but should not be confused with "alkaline". Alkalinity refers to buffering and alkaline refers to a solution that is base rather than acid (pH).


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

boyboykoi said:


> my ph is 6.0 but i did add api salt and melafix since my fishes fins got screwed up does those things cause diffrent ph?


Test your PH out of the tap

Salt will raise KH but not PH from what Ive read. Now if you add baking soda you will raise PH.

I use melafix all the time since my Africans are always chasing each other. Im not sure if it effects PH

All this is complicated. I took me a long time to understand it. I think I finally do. Read, read, read


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## Rockman (May 19, 2013)

boyboykoi said:


> my ph is 6.0


Are you sure? On some of the popular kits 6.0 is the lowest reading; if that's the case with yours then the pH is likely to be lower than that.



boyboykoi said:


> but i did add api salt and melafix since my fishes fins got screwed up does those things cause diffrent ph?


Nope. API aquarium salt is jsut plain old sodium chloride; which has no effect on pH. Melafix might in theory; but the concentration you'd dose at is too low for it to do anything significant in terms of acid/base chemistry.



jbyoung00008 said:


> Im not saying don't test PH. If it was me Id test the Ph/KH/GH/Nitrate/nitrite/Ammonia often for a few months and see what the tank sits at. If its constantly 6.5 or somewhere within range than there is no point in adding chemicals or products to raise PH. If the Ph falls over the few months than YES you should add some sort of Buffer.


Exactly. Buffering is done on a tank by tank basis. It depends on your water supply and tank decor. If you find your pH is variable or consistently too low (depends on your fish... some like alkaline conditions; others do well down to pH 4), then you'd add buffers.

How much buffering you need depends on the fish you want to keep. Ideally you'd keep fish in similar conditions to which they've evolved. I suspect your water is probably too soft and acidic for datnoids to really do well; but that's something you'd have to figure out.



jbyoung00008 said:


> Salt will raise KH but not PH from what Ive read. Now if you add baking soda you will raise PH.


Not really... it depends on what you mean by salt. Marine salt will raise both KH and pH (it contains carbonates); but regular aquarium salt is just sodium chloride. It will raise TDS; but won't impact KH or pH.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Thanks for clearing up a few things rockman.  

All the different salts is confusing to most. Including me. I prefer to use Seachem products. Its quick and easy.


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## ami (Sep 4, 2013)

I started checking the GH after too many "unexplained" shrimp deaths. Needed buffer for our crazy soft water. Now everyone is happy and even the OEBT are berried!


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

I use a homemade mix of epsom salt, non-iodized kosher salt, and baking soda to buffer my pH/gH/kH. If I don't use the baking soda the pH will remain the same since the salts stabilize it from what I've seen


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