Colin and I are saying leave them alone they will be fine. So not everyone is suggesting what you are saying.
Seachem Replenish vs Equilibrium - raising GH in planted axolotl tank
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No idea.
I use a Rift Lake water conditioner to raise the GH of my tap water and it has a dose rate on the packaging whereby I add 1 heaped teaspoon per 7 litres to raise the GH by about 300ppm.
The product you are looking at should have a similar dose rate on the packet.
You might want to make up some water in a 20 litre bucket and measure the GH before and 24 hours after adding a certain amount of the mineral salts. That will give you a rough idea of how much you will need to add.
OP
OP
I mean people here are saying the are fine, but everything else suggests they need higher GH. It isn't that I don't believe people here, I am trying to understand
What you now need to do. Is, do what you want to, and then take responsibility for what happens. If it all turns to custard, put it down to experience and remember what happened.
Aside from Colin, how many in this thread saying the axolotls are fine really know anything about them? I said earlier that I do not, so follow the advice of those who have the credentials. That is what one does for fish. I've only been commenting on issues with ingredients, not meaning to imply this or that GH is OK or not.
I for one, have only bred them and kept them, so don't take my advise, mainly because I haven't googled twenty-five sites to find out information on them. And like Byron says I really won't know anything about them. Go with the Guru's advise. 
OP
OP
I’m not saying any of you is wrong, I apologize for it coming across that way. I am looking to understand where peoples different opinions are coming from. There seem to be a lot of mixed views on the matter.
Note I am not recommending you use a GH booster. I am only providing you will with enough information for you to make the best informed decisions for your tank.
I never noticed Replenish has sodium (Na). Most GH booster just have Potassium (K). However that said the GH test doesn't detect sodium or potassium. Only Ca and Mg will effect the GH of your water.
Most plants don't need sodium but there are small number that do. Most just ned potassium. Neither is dangerous to plants in an aquatic environemnt. However animals do need potassium and sodium in ballance. Water with just potassium can lead to an electrolyte imbalance, kindny problems and or death in fish and people. Same with just sodium in the water.. You always want both. Tap water will typically have both. I don't know what is the best sodium to potassium balance for. fish is but can vary a lot in river water seasonally or by location.
To many aquarium product are too heavy in potassium (K) in my opinion. KH booster, GH boosters and fertilizers have it but most don't have any sodium. My preference for GH booster is to just dose calcium and magnesium. And then have the sodium and potassium in the fertilizer. That way I can adjust the GH level without changing the sodium and potassium levels. But I don't know of any product that just has CA and Mg.
Aquarium water never has these nutrient at the levels plants prefer. Often some nutrient while be at levels higher than plants need. while other will be at very low level or simply not pressent. Any excess can lead to Algae growth, PH,and KH changes or fish death. Note if any one nutrient is missing.it cause plant growth to completely stop or the plant dies, other nutrients may accumulate to very high levels possibly killing the fish. Algae grows best in water with too many nutrients or in water with a couple of missing nutrientnts.
So in theory you want all nutrient levels in the water to equal the amount plants will consume between water levels. However it is very difficult to get an match. Typically some will be at levels that are higher than need which other might be too low.
Manufactures don't even try to balance the nutrients in their products leading to product that simply don't work or are potentially dangerous to fish. Manufactures don't even try to ballance the nutrients in their products leading to product that simply don't work or are potentially
So if you use equilibrium you will have more sulfur than the plants can absorb. If you use Replenish you have too much Cl. So if you do decide to use a GH booster use only the amount need to minimize the excess. As always always do a weekly water change to remove fish waste and excess nutrients.
I never noticed Replenish has sodium (Na). Most GH booster just have Potassium (K). However that said the GH test doesn't detect sodium or potassium. Only Ca and Mg will effect the GH of your water.
Most plants don't need sodium but there are small number that do. Most just ned potassium. Neither is dangerous to plants in an aquatic environemnt. However animals do need potassium and sodium in ballance. Water with just potassium can lead to an electrolyte imbalance, kindny problems and or death in fish and people. Same with just sodium in the water.. You always want both. Tap water will typically have both. I don't know what is the best sodium to potassium balance for. fish is but can vary a lot in river water seasonally or by location.
To many aquarium product are too heavy in potassium (K) in my opinion. KH booster, GH boosters and fertilizers have it but most don't have any sodium. My preference for GH booster is to just dose calcium and magnesium. And then have the sodium and potassium in the fertilizer. That way I can adjust the GH level without changing the sodium and potassium levels. But I don't know of any product that just has CA and Mg.
The issue isn't how fast they plants take up nutrients. It is really agbout how much they need. This site list the nutrient content of plant tissue. Plant only need about as much chlorine as as iron. then a little more sulfur , so if you list thenutreints by the number of atoms in plant you get N, K, Ca, Mg, P, S, Cl, Fe, Mn, B, Zn, Cu, Mo, Ni. Plants need a lot of nitrogen (N) to make DNA but they need almost no Nickel (Ni)
Aquarium water never has these nutrient at the levels plants prefer. Often some nutrient while be at levels higher than plants need. while other will be at very low level or simply not pressent. Any excess can lead to Algae growth, PH,and KH changes or fish death. Note if any one nutrient is missing.it cause plant growth to completely stop or the plant dies, other nutrients may accumulate to very high levels possibly killing the fish. Algae grows best in water with too many nutrients or in water with a couple of missing nutrientnts.
So in theory you want all nutrient levels in the water to equal the amount plants will consume between water levels. However it is very difficult to get an match. Typically some will be at levels that are higher than need which other might be too low.
Manufactures don't even try to balance the nutrients in their products leading to product that simply don't work or are potentially dangerous to fish. Manufactures don't even try to ballance the nutrients in their products leading to product that simply don't work or are potentially
So if you use equilibrium you will have more sulfur than the plants can absorb. If you use Replenish you have too much Cl. So if you do decide to use a GH booster use only the amount need to minimize the excess. As always always do a weekly water change to remove fish waste and excess nutrients.
Why remove fish waste when that is what the plants need to grow. How do you know you have excess nutrients in your tank, surely if you dose correctly, you will never have an excess.
OP
OP
I can buy food grade Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride off amazon?
Is there any truth to this?
OP
OP
Mine were always in soft/acid tanks. I never had any problems with them. The young were all raised in soft/acid tanks never had any problems raising them. I also had them on a gravel base and never had an axolotl swallow a piece of gravel. IF the Axolotls gills are losing color, I would look at nitrate levels first, same as if Cory's barbels are being lost, I would look at nitrate levels before the substrate they are being kept on.
you might be able to find Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) in the store but often there is no way to know for sure it is pure. I purchased my supplies from Loudwolf.com They carry calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium sulfate, and Magnesium sulfate and many common fertilizer ingredients and all at 99% purity. And they sell it in small quantities. At amaon .com and many stores the minimum you can buy is often 1 pound or more. which is often enough to last years.
Be advised that if you do decide to make your own that most plants prefer 3 parts calcium to 1 part magnesium. Most GH boosters on themaket also use this ratio. You can use a fertilizer calculator such as Rotalabutterfly.com and a scale to measure out the the appropriate amount of each ingredient achieve the 3 to 1 ratio.
It is only true under very specific situation that is generally not pressent in aquariums. CaCO3 only dissolves in water that is acidic due to high levels on CO2 int the water. it does not dissolve in water with a PH of 7 or higher. CaCO3 does not dissolve in water with low CO2 levels. it the water is acidic due to excess sulfur the CACO3 will convert to Calcium sulfate and no KH will be present. The only way to increase KH and GH simultaneously is to place calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate in a bottle an then add carbonated water. Once it has stopped fizzing and all the carbonate is resolved you will have water with a equal amount of GH and KH. however over time the CO2 will ougass out of the water and then the calcium carbonate will precipitate out of the water. I is not a practical methode of boosting KH
To dose correctly you need know exactly how much of each of the 14 nutrients the plants are consuming. Unfortunately plants to always consume the same amount of nutrients per day. Sometimes they consume a lotted other times they don't This variation makes it impossible to get the dosing exactly right.
Sometime the fish generate a lot of wast and other days not so much. So you cannot predict the amount of fish waist and the amount the plants are consuming.
Also some fertilizer ingredients use EDTA dn DTPA to get the iron to dissolve in water. Plants cannot consume EDTA or DTPA so you have to do water change to remove the excess EDTA or DTPA. Also there are no test kits available able to measure all 14 nutrients. You can send out a water sample to a lab but even then you cannot be absolutely certine the results are correct.
Basically dosing correctly is equivalent to asking a weather man how much rain will fall during each day of the next year. Which is impossible. The best we can do is to assume some excess exists and do water changes to remove it.
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