Raising Kh

[danski]

okay, well we seem to be headed into winter and received alot of rain lately and i just did a water change.Thing is i tested my kh today and it was at 4dh.Normally when i test it was around 8dh. with a ph of 6.8 and a kh of 4 my co2 levels are not right.Do i need to buffer my water or is 4dh okay, and just up the co2? what is the process if i need to raise my kh? thanks

 

[danski]

or dKH if you will.

 

[iggy01]

A KH of 4 is fine IMO. You only need to buffer it up if it drops to 3 or below. This is because 30mg/l CO2 will drop pH by approx 1.0 full point.

I.E. with a KH of 3 you would expect pH to be around 7.4-7.6 and if you were to inject CO2 at around 30 mg/l the pH would drop to around 6.4-6.6 . It really isn't wise to keep fish too much below a pH of 6.4 unless you really know what you're doing.

If you ever need to raise KH this can be done by adding bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the tank water. I do this weekly because my KH is only 2 from the tap. Be warned it must be done slowly as it will not only raise KH but the pH also. 1/4 teaspoon will raise the KH of 50 litres of water by 1 degree.

HTH.

 

[pseud]

iggy, how slowly do you raise your KH?

 

[George Farmer]

You do not need to change your CO2 levels when adjusting KH and vice-versa.

I would leave your KH and CO2 levels as they are. Fish adjust readily to varying pH as long as it isn't sudden.

 

[iggy01]

iggy, how slowly do you raise your KH?

My tank water is 4 dKH, my tap water 2 dKH. At water change I buffer the tap water so it too is 4 dKH. This way the tank water doesn't change.

By saying it should be added slowly, I mean you can't go from a KH of 1 straight to a KH of 4 without causing problems You would need to raise the KH in small increments, several days apart. But as already stated, KH only needs to be buffered IMO if it is under 3 degrees.

 

[danski]

thanks everyone. now i just need the formula to convert litres to gallons.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

1 UK gallon =4.546 litres

1 US gallon = nonsense! (or 3.785 litres if you really want to know)

WK

 

[danski]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^tyvm^^^^^^^^^^^