Trouble Raising Gh With Seachem Equilibrium

[Firstman]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place for this topic, but couldn't find a better area from what I could see.

Anyway, I have a 40 gallon planted tank and I am trying to raise my GH to around 3 degrees from 1 using Seachem Equilibrium at the dosing rate recommended. I am testing GH/KH with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit. When I add Equilibrium the KH goes up to around 5 degrees, which is good, but the GH stays the same.

Has anybody else had this problem? Either using or not using this product? Any recommendations?

Please give any info you may have. Thank you in advance.

 

[RadaR]

Sounds like only calcium carbonate is being added to the water which is causing KH to increase but leaving GH the same.
GH Booster - 500g. This will raise your GH, directions are in the link too.

 

[Firstman]

Sounds like only calcium carbonate is being added to the water which is causing KH to increase but leaving GH the same.
GH Booster - 500g. This will raise your GH, directions are in the link too.

The contents of Equilibrium are very similar to GH Booster. Not sure of total percentages in both products, but Equilibrium has 23% Soluble Potash, 8.06% Calcium Sulfate, 2.41% Magnesium Sulfate, 0.11% Iron Sulfate, 0.06% Manganese Sulfate as well as unknown amounts of Ferric Sulfate and Potassium Sulfate.

GH Booster has Calcium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Sulfate, and Iron Sulfate. Which is everything that Equilibrium has. So I don't think that this will be of any help to me.

 

[wolfwolf]

I though that kH was a part of gH??? In other words an increasing kH caused an increasing gH? Am I right?

Maybe your test is bad. Speaking of that how are you testing?

 

[RadaR]

I though that kH was a part of gH??? In other words an increasing kH caused an increasing gH? Am I right?

Nope.

 

[aaronnorth]

I though that kH was a part of gH??? In other words an increasing kH caused an increasing gH? Am I right?

Maybe your test is bad. Speaking of that how are you testing?

KH - measure of alkalinity (total carbonate & bicarbonate ions in the water)
GH - measure of general hardness (Mg & Ca ions in the water)

increasing the KH will mean more stability in pH.

try adding diuble dosage, it wont hurt anything, just do it gradually when jumping in large swings.