However for the average aquarium keeper simply knowing you have at least SOME general hardness GH is what is most important and by some I would recommend generally at least ppm.
Often many will pass around old myths about a high GH being unsafe for certain fish such as Angelfish or Bettas, however both long term observations and more recent research, such as into Aquarium Redox has shown this myth to be just that; A MYTH. The same goes for GH as without the elements that make up GH, your aquarium cannot contain the essential electrolytes for fish health. Simply put, having a GH of ppm does not necessarily mean you have these essential mineral ions, as with a car battery that is not charged.
You have the materials in the battery, but they do you no good, unless charged. Same goes for the GH, you must first have the elements to make up the GH, then you can add the charge.
As well, soft ions [Anions] such as sodium and potassium are critical in the tissues of fish for correct function of nervous and muscular tissues. Sodium and potassium are the most important salts in fish blood and are critical for normal heart, nerve and muscle function. In low calcium water, fish can lose leak substantial quantities of these salts into the water.
Fish must then use energy supplied by their feed to re-absorb lost salts. That can reduce the energy available for growth and may extend the time necessary to grow fish to market size.
Assuming properly mineralized water from your tap or well , a water change can add in these ions. As a side note, there are a lot of parasite sellers now for the Wonder Shell, please support the professional aquarium keeping hobby by purchasing ONLY from AAP as most all others are not fresh product without correct usage information too. Sadly many YouTubers without any real knowledge themselves, have purchased from these parasite sellers such as Amazon and then repeat the improper use information thus further perpetuating misinformation about their use often resulting in poor results!
Amazon in particular is NOT authorized to sell this product, thus they sell clearance product. So beware of websites pushing Amazon links for this product such as FishLab! Knowing your KH is is important for maintaining a stable pH, as a low or falling KH is often a predictor of an impending pH crash, which if rapid and over 1 on the logarithmic pH scale can be deadly to some fish. As well testing your KH on a regular basis such as once per week can help you determine if your aquarium needs cleaning or if your bio load is too high.
This is due to normal acid production of the aquarium bio processes which includes the nitrogen cycle. It is noteworthy that many aquarium professionals regard the KH test as more important than a pH test as it tells much more about an aquariums health. Your test kit or test strips will determine whether either or both modes of buffer use are necessary.
For example a drop from ppm to ppm in a 20 gallon tank requires very little buffer. If you want to increase only GH but not KH, you must increase the specific ions for GH calcium and magnesium without including ions that affect KH carbonates and bicarbonates.
In fact, African cichlid keepers often buy or create specific salt mixes to individually raise KH or GH. As mentioned before, KH directly relates to pH because it prevents your pH from changing as quickly. In aquariums, pH levels tend to drop over time, so when KH is raised, more acid is neutralized and pH tends to stay higher.
However, if you have a lower pH and add crushed coral, both pH and KH values tend to increase. There are many, many ways to lower and raise the pH, KH, and GH in your aquarium — some that are less effective and others that can be dangerously potent. We prefer to err on the side of caution by using gentler methods. If you want to lower pH, KH, and GH and soften your water, we recommend letting the tank acidify over time by managing minimal water changes and gradually mixing in water filtered through an RODI reverse osmosis de-ionized water system.
If you wish to raise pH, KH, and GH and harden your water, our first choice is to add crushed coral — either mixed into the substrate or as a bag of filter media in your hang-on-back or canister filter. Our retail store in Washington has very soft tap water, so we use crushed coral in every tank to help our fish stay healthy. When adding it to your substrate, we recommend starting with 1 pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons of water.
The lower your pH is, the faster it dissolves, so you may need to replace the crushed coral every 6 to 12 months to keep remineralizing your water. Another way to harden your water is by using Wonder Shells or Seachem Equilibrium.
If you already have hard water coming out of the tap, these supplements may not be necessary, and you may be able to keep the mineral levels high just by doing extra water changes.
Shop Menu. What is the Ideal pH Level for Aquariums? KH or Carbonate Hardness KH measures the amount of carbonates and bicarbonates in water, which affects the buffering capacity of the water. How to Measure KH We like using the multi-test strips for easy measurement of KH as part of our regular water change routine. GH or General Hardness GH measures the amount of calcium and magnesium ions in the water — in other words, how hard or soft your water is. I live in a very hard water area and am planning on using demineralised water with Seachem Equilibrium for my axolotls.
From my research, axolotls require moderately-hard water ranging from 7—14 degrees of hardness. I have added it to the table. Thank you so much for sharing!
I started a 10 gallon tank for my son about 2 months ago and it went great and cycled fine. Clear as can be. So I decided to break out my old 30g tank and give him a larger aquarium. I cleaned the new gravel and transferred the old tank water and fish to the new tank along with the old filter in conjunction with the new filter and treated water that was allowed to sit for 5 days. Within a week the water was milky white. The Gh is the only parameter that was high. I treated for bacteria bloom with no affect.
I then did a 6 gallon change with distilled water and the Gh seems to be higher like off the dip strip high! What could it be? The rocks are all I can think of and they were purchased at Psmart and are name brand. Is there anything I can do other than drain the tank and remove the rocks?? From here, it should be much easier to give advice on how to proceed.
Various fishies died although still some live and seem to be ok. Could someone help me balancing these as needed to maintain healthy fish? Hi Vero, it sounds like you need to spend some time doing water changes and reading up on aquarium maintenance — that level of nitrate is way too high.
I was advised by my local fish shop not to worry about water hardness, but after my third dwarf gourami died I did some investigating. My water quality is fine but — after using the API test kit on gh and kh I think I have a problem — the KH is 11 and then 9 after a water change and the GH is 13 — I tested twice to make sure before and after a water change. Ph looks to be 7. I have fish that need softer water — neon tetras, shrimp and a honey gourami.
That is some hard water you are dealing with. Same goes for people with softer water who want to keep hard water fish. Thanks Ian. Strangely the ghost shrimp seem to be thriving in this tank. If I did go down this road how would you recommend I do it? With the new tank, which fish would you recommend I look at? If you go down this road, buffers are probably the easiest and consistent way to do it.
If your water is hard, you may be able to get by with Neutral Regulator, by seachem, which drops the pH to 7 and keeps it there. If you are going to mess with the pH, I highly recommend checking out this article on KH. Thank you so much for this very informative article. You have probably just solved the problem as to why my fish are stressed each summer. In the summer I remove the same amount and then top up whatever has evaporated, so presumably the GH is rising each time I do that currently — I only just checked it after being very frustrated that pH is fine at 8, nitirites are negative and the fish are still stressed….
Have you any advice as to how much extra water I should remove at each exchange in the summer? The GH of the tap water is OK around 8. If you do it less, and top up instead, then it can cause GH to climb. However, I must add that it is very rare that I have seen GH be the cause of stress in fish. What behaviors do they exhibit to show stress? Also, is their tank getting too warm in summer?
This can be a major issue for cold water fish in hot climates. Hello Ian, my name is Lisa and I wanted to ask a few questions on my tanks GH, I am a member of a few fish sites online like on Facebook goldfish keepers and a few others. If your water is incredibly soft, then it can mess with the osmoregulation of fish.
Some hardness is essential. I guess the big test will be that if your fish improve on the back of using equilibrium alone. This is so important to know…. This is entirely driftwood dependent. Want to start with discus fish, but the Gh in my aquarium is 5… Is that good for diacus? Or should it be lower. Other things I can do to get the Gh lower?
It sounds like you should read up on discus and their preferred parameters if you are asking a question like this. It depends on your source, are they tank bred or wild imports? Tank bred, ask the breeder what his water parameters are. Peat moss, catapa leaves, driftwood, many more… Google can sometimes be your friend. We live in a very hard water area. Our tank is fresh water and planted. We have tropical fish and a temperature of 24 degrees.
We have lost 5 of our 7 cardinal tetras over the last few weeks. Nitrite and nitrate levels are within the acceptable range. Do we need to do anything about our GH level please and if so, what? The PH is too high as well. I have a gallon in wall Frontosa tank. Total system volume is gallons and will be increased to or so with my new tanks.
My tap water is very hard with a GH of and a KH of It has a lot of dissolved Co2 so the pH out of the tap is It raises to 8. My problem is mineral precipitation.
I notice if I run straight tap through a carbon block filter I will get cloudy water and my filters will clog with minerals fairly quickly. Advantage of my drip is stability and less labor. I Know this is not ideal but seemed to reduce the precipitation to almost non detectable but my tanks GH has dropped to 9 from Getting it dialed in has been a challenge.
Would having my tap water flow through a water tank with good aeration help maybe stabilize this drip system? It would solve two issues, bring the temp up, remove the dissolved CO2, match tank pH etc… not sure if the minerals would precipitate in this tank and maybe get filtered out before going into the tank? That IS some hard water. Although this is dramatically higher than most fish should be in, I have had no problems keeping many species and even breeding some in these conditions.
Assuming the fish are properly drip acclimated to these parameters, do you expect the overall life span of the fish to be reduced? To be honest, it entirely depends on the fish. A lot of it has to do with sensitivity, which is a difficult thing to measure because you can have more or less sensitive fish within the same species.
At the end of the day, fish keeping is somewhat of an experiment hobby. If you are seeing success and long lives, then keep doing what you are doing! I have a planted aquarium, with fish that can survive between 6. Any suggestions that you may have would really be appreciated. That sounds like an absolute nightmare. Unfortunately my suggestion is to typically create a tank to suit the water out of the tank. Stablizing water is a lesson in frustration.
I would like to lower it. I am trying to avoid going to any store. What about boiling a large pot of water and letting it cool? I appreciate your advice! Great question.
Unfortunately, you have me stumped. The minerals will stay behind in the solution. Can anyone else weigh in here? HI, thanks for answering questions, my mess is as some others is my gh has gone sky high, The tanks have been up for 3 years and i have never had this problem. I am very high risk with virus no way to go out.
Stay Safe Always. There are multiple ways to do this, but they are all a bit of a chore. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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