Water Hardness

[danon]

Evening all,

After finally completing my fishless cycling i have just tested water hardness.

I added some cichlid lake salt and malawi buffer,
pH 8.0
GH 24 thats how many drops it took to change colour,
KH 6 thats how many drops it took to change colour.

A bit worried about the KH, should i be, or is that ok?

Should i add more buffer?

 

[Matt_northants]

What make of test kit are you using?
If its Nutrafins then 24 drops gives a general hardness of 480 mg/l or 27dGH and a carbonate hardness of 60 mg/l or 3dKH. So you really need to increase your carbonate hardness, either use coral sand, loads of limestone or sodium bicarbonate to raise it.

 

[danon]

Hi, its the API test kit.
I have crushed coral sand and plenty of ocean rock.
After adding 4tsp of the buffer i managed to raise the KH by 4, therefore i have added another 4 tsp to hopefully raise it to 10KH which i think should be fine.

 

[chishnfips]

dont know if it helps you, but i used a load of crushed up mussel shells to help increase my KH, I collected them from my local beach, made sure there wasnt any sewage outlets near it by phoning the environmental health and SEPA (scottish environmental protection agency), boiled them and crushed them up with a hammer.

 

[danon]

After adding 4tsp of buffer last night, this morning the KH has risen to 10 which, i think is ok(think 8 is recommended amount).

 

[darrel69]

After adding 4tsp of buffer last night, this morning the KH has risen to 10 which, i think is ok(think 8 is recommended amount).

I dont know which buffer you are using but you wanna be careful as to how much you use at a time not to raise your hardness too much, too fast and stress them... its better to raise it slowly over time.. Just a tip

 

[danon]

Cheers darrel,

No fish at the moment, still cycling.

Hopefully getting some tomorow morning, if my test are ok tonight.

 

[darrel69]

Oh .. you have no fish yet lol. Soz, i dint realize.. Thats why i gave that tip..