Raising KH without killing shrimp - Updated

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:39 am

My water supply keeps changing. My Kh out of the tap is almost 0.
My ph out of the tap is around 8, gh is high. I am looking for a safe way/technique to raise the Kh in a 75G tank without killing the shrimp.

I would like to do so to have some buffer and see if my ph does not go to low for the inhabitants of this tank.

Any methods I can use?

Thanks

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:21 am

The easiest way long term is to put some crushed coral on the tank where there is water flow. As it disolves it will add the proper hardness. Short term you can add products like R/O right or Electro-Right. These are designed to turn R/O water to water of any hardness you desire.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:20 am

Any ideas of how much crushed coral and how often I need to change it?

I use seachem equilibrium, it seems this only raises the the GH and not the Kh. I see no difference in the two products you mentioned. I am missing something here?

Thanks.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:26 am

You don't need crushed coral in Texas water. Just because you can't measure kh in your water does not mean that you don't have alkaline buffering. Your water authority most likely uses sodium hydroxide for alkaline buffering, which kh test kits don't pick up. That's the case here in NYC, too. kh by itself is really unimportant and you don't have to have a certain "value" for your shrimp to feel ok. Ph is important and people try to manipulate their kh just to adjust the ph. At a ph of 8 you don't need to add *more* alkaline builders into your water as you obviously already have enough.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:31 am

The ph in the tank is going from 8 to 6.4.
There seems to be no buffering in there.
I hate this Texas water.

Thanks,
Pedro

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:48 am

I suspect your pH measurment is the problem. How are you doing it and how old is the stuff? If you pH in your tank was actually doing this you'd have no shrimp.

As far as coral is concerned, it is not changed. Once it disolves away you add more. It takes a long time for that to happen.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:01 am

It is this one: Hanna pHep4. It is calibrated.
I have not seen my shrimp in a while in the tank, but some of my other inverts in the tank have died with no apparent reason. The only thing I see out of the ordinary is the ph drop from the tap water to the tank.

-Pedro

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:16 am

Hmmm...in this case go ahead and add crushed coral. Just add a little bit into your filter, wait a few days and see how it effects your ph. If you need more, you can add some more. However, the root problem is not the ph issue, it's what causes it. Have you measured your nitrates lately? Nitric acid is produced during the nitrification process, which can drive down the ph. Some nitrate is ok, but too much can kill your shrimp or at least affect their health and well-being.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:04 am

Nitrates are 5ppm.

Thanks,
Pedro

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:05 am

5 ppm is fine. Just put the crushed coral in your filter and see if things improve.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:38 am

I will try that and see what happens.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:57 am

Since I do not understand why the ph has been going down in the tank, I had set up some water samples to test the ph for various days. I started last Thursday. One water sample is from the tap water, the other is from the RO unit and the last one is from the tank that is showing the lower ph.

THe tap water and RO have exhibited the same PH in three measurements from 7.8-8.
The tank water ph has been consistent at 6.4-6.6.

Then the light struck me, in the 75G tank I have half a bag of aquasoil. I had forgot about this. So, having another tank that has only aquasoil in it I went and measure the ph yesterday and this morning. To my surprise the ph of this tank is 6.4-6.6. Coincidence?

I am not sure how this small amount of aquasoil affects the water, but if half a bag affects the water chemistry in the tank to lower the ph so much, this thing is really good to soften the water.

Any thoughts on this?

Also, the aquasoil is concentrated in certain area in the tank. How do I remove it without killing my shrimp and other inverts?

Thanks,
Pedro

Jackie · Post by **Jackie** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:48 am

milalic wrote:THe tap water and RO have exhibited the same PH in three measurements from 7.8-8.

Something is wrong. Water from a RO filter has pH around 7, after standing a while the pH is usually a bit lower due to contact with air and CO2 it contains.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:51 am

Jackie,

Read Mustafa's first post in the thread.

-Pedro

Jackie · Post by **Jackie** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:03 pm

I've read it before and now once again. I don't understand what you mean