Increase KH and PH

[Lalafish]

Hi, can I get some advice how to increase KH and PH? I have attached the water parameters readings. I have cardinal tetras and Otto cats in a 10 gallon.

 

[itiwhetu]

How often do you water change your tank and what are the parameters of your source water.

 

[Lalafish]

Once a week. I have noticed higher nitrate so I changed about 10-20% of water three times in the last 3 days . Now nitrate is good but I noticed slightly low in KH and PH. The readings are shown in the photos attached

 

[Lalafish]

The reading

 

[itiwhetu]

I would add some lime chip to your filter and then monitor, any movement will be slow but you should find that your hardness and pH values rise. Then it is a case of working out how much water you can change to maintain your tank where you want it.

 

[Lalafish]

I would add some lime chip to your filter and then monitor, any movement will be slow but you should find that your hardness and pH values rise. Then it is a case of working out how much water you can change to maintain your tank where you want it.

Thank you

 

[Myraan]

1. I found those JBL test strips are not terribly accurate (love the idea though, they are much more precise than a colour chart judged by eye from a liquid test)
2. If you have cardinals and otos just leave it be - if anything those fish would prefer things with even less pH and kH than that.
3. JBL are just telling the values are too low because they are using an average that could be suitable for a mix of community fish. That is is not the ideal way to keep fish. JBL are just trying to sell you extra chemicals to cure a problem you do not have.

 

[Byron]

I completely agree that you do not need to be raising pH or KH. The mentioned fish species occur in water with basically zero GH/KH and the pH is acidic. Cardinal tetras live in water with a pH in the 3-4 range. You are fine as is.

Nitrate is an issue though, you want to keep it as low as possible and consistently at that level. In other words, it should not increase between water changes. If it is, then it can be due to overstocking, overfeeding, too few water changes and/or not sufficient volume water changes. Live plants also help as they use ammonia/ammonium and faster than the nitrifying bacteria which means no (or less) nitrite and then less nitrate occurs.

 

[Myraan]

Nitrate is an issue though​

I find a nitrate of 18ppm using that test strip app will vary depending on light conditions you scan the strip with.
In general though I have found a reading of 18ppm using that corresponds to a reading of 5ppm or less using a liquid test.
Those strips are uncomplicated to use though - I have just come to the opinion that any numbers they give you should be viewed as purely relative to the numbers it gave you last week.
My app always in fact only gave readings for nitrate as 18, 25, 40..... so it may well be less precise than liquid tests.... one can visually tell if your sample is "in between " two yellows (or pinks depending on test used.
Comparing liquid tests and with JBL proscan - I think

• 18 = less than 5 with liquid test
• 25 = 5-10
• 40 = 10 plus

I haven't seen a nitrate higher than 10-20 using a liquid test to be able to compare the two

 

[Lalafish]

I would add some lime chip to your filter and then monitor, any movement will be slow but you should find that your hardness and pH values rise. Then it is a case of working out how much water you can change to maintain your tank where you want it.

Thank you for your

1. I found those JBL test strips are not terribly accurate (love the idea though, they are much more precise than a colour chart judged by eye from a liquid test)
2. If you have cardinals and otos just leave it be - if anything those fish would prefer things with even less pH and kH than that.
3. JBL are just telling the values are too low because they are using an average that could be suitable for a mix of community fish. That is is not the ideal way to keep fish. JBL are just trying to sell you extra chemicals to cure a problem you do not have.

Thank you so much . I was also
skeptical about the accuracy of the JBL cos I found the reading can be quite varied.
I will just leave it and keep monitoring the parameter. May better get some traditional test strips instead.

 

[Myraan]

Traditional strips might be worse because they come with the same inaccuracy but this time you have to rely on your own eyes to judge the colour which probably looks like none of the options and vaguely close to any one of three options. I think test strips can be useful (including the ones you have) but only to get a vague idea if the water quality is consistent when you are too lazy to liquid test.

As discussed in other threads - testing is often not needed anyway. You will see if the fishes behaviour changes, if the tank looks like you need to water change more often or feed less you are probably right. Some of us are weird and find monitoring water quality fun, and when you have problems you ask about online here or elsewhere test results are the first thing asked for (in which case it helps to know what is "normal" for your system), but if your system ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Lalafish]

Traditional strips might be worse because they come with the same inaccuracy but this time you have to rely on your own eyes to judge the colour which probably looks like none of the options and vaguely close to any one of three options. I think test strips can be useful (including the ones you have) but only to get a vague idea if the water quality is consistent when you are too lazy to liquid test.

As discussed in other threads - testing is often not needed anyway. You will see if the fishes behaviour changes, if the tank looks like you need to water change more often or feed less you are probably right. Some of us are weird and find monitoring water quality fun, and when you have problems you ask about online here or elsewhere test results are the first thing asked for (in which case it helps to know what is "normal" for your system), but if your system ain't broke don't fix it.

Thanks

 

[Mollyforever]

Try testing your tap water! If your tap water is on the softer side, you can use stuff like wonder shell or try to get some limestone. What I did was I went for a walk to find some rocks and boiled, scrubbed , sun dried, and then tested them with vinegar. I also tried leaving them in a container with tap water and tested the water for like a week.. It worked for me!

 

[Essjay]

But this is not needed if the fish in the tank are all soft water fish.