How much General Hardness In Test Strip?

[CT 501]

How much is my general hardness? Its the third color on the strip, and also is my general hardness good for mollies?

 

[connorlindeman]

Its practically the same as the last time you posted on this same topic.

 

[Byron]

The third (down) colour on the test strip seems to be leaning toward brown, it is certainly not green, so at a guess this might mean GH around 200-250 ppm. That equates to 11 dH to 14 dH, depending. This is in my view, based upon the data I have researched, minimum for common mollies.

What I do not understand though is the "Soft" designation under the 250 and 425 ppm colours. These terms "soft" etc are of course subjective, not scientific per say, and one person's reading may not bee another's, nor indeed at all accurate. Based upon most accepted scales, I would consider 250ppm to be moderately hard, and 425 to be a tad harder. Ignoring the terms then, this GH is fine for mollies.

From the former thread on this topic to which @connorlindeman reffered above, shimmies are mentioned; these are usually due to soft water or acidic water (the pH here seems to be above 7 so no issue there), but mollies are also highly susceptible to any form of nitrogen, especially ammonia. I cannot see what the first two rows refer to, but assuming it is ammonia and nitrite it should be OK. Which leaves the question, what is the nitrate? This is often assumed OK at levels much too high for mollies, indeed all fish, so this could be another cause. Or any toxic substance in the water.

 

[CT 501]

The third (down) colour on the test strip seems to be leaning toward brown, it is certainly not green, so at a guess this might mean GH around 200-250 ppm. That equates to 11 dH to 14 dH, depending. This is in my view, based upon the data I have researched, minimum for common mollies.

What I do not understand though is the "Soft" designation under the 250 and 425 ppm colours. These terms "soft" etc are of course subjective, not scientific per say, and one person's reading may not bee another's, nor indeed at all accurate. Based upon most accepted scales, I would consider 250ppm to be moderately hard, and 425 to be a tad harder. Ignoring the terms then, this GH is fine for mollies.

From the former thread on this topic to which @connorlindeman reffered above, shimmies are mentioned; these are usually due to soft water or acidic water (the pH here seems to be above 7 so no issue there), but mollies are also highly susceptible to any form of nitrogen, especially ammonia. I cannot see what the first two rows refer to, but assuming it is ammonia and nitrite it should be OK. Which leaves the question, what is the nitrate? This is often assumed OK at levels much too high for mollies, indeed all fish, so this could be another cause. Or any toxic substance in the water.

1. Well the word “soft” under 425 and 250 ppm, thats prolly a mistake by the strip company.
2. The two strip boxes above refer to zero nitrite and nitrates. And ammonia is also zero from another test kit.
3. And also, my molly has been in soft water for months and i corrected the water hardness 5 days ago. If i keep my ph high and water hard, can my mollies get better from shimmies??? I am still seeing them shimmy even though the water is hard.

 

[StevenF]

1. Well the word “soft” under 425 and 250 ppm, thats prolly a mistake by the strip company.

Some companies list hardness in "degrees" while your test strips reads it in PPM. 1 Degree = 17.8 PPM (milligrams per liter). Your picture shows the strip between 50 and 250 but you placed the strip right on top of the charts square between 50 and 250. yOu should have taken a picture of the strip next to 250 and the hidden one without blocking the view of any of the squares on the color chart.. It looks like he hardness might be below 250 but I need to see the entire chart to know for sure.

In general 75 PPM is soft while 150 PPM is about the starting point for hard.

 

[Byron]

If i keep my ph high and water hard, can my mollies get better from shimmies??? I am still seeing them shimmy even though the water is hard.

As I already said, shimmies are "usually" caused by soft and/or acidic water, but other water issues can cause them as well. We have no way of assessing all possible water issues here. Also, there is a suggestion that the water may have initially been soft, though I may just be misreading this. If the fish are kept free of stress, and have suitable water (the GH, pH, temperature, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate can be tested, but toxic substances cannot) they may recover. I cannot say. All you or any of us can do is research the habitat needs and provide them, and this should result in healthy fish.