What is the pH, gH, and kH of your water?

[BrownBullhead]

I've got a bit too much time on my hands tonight so I decided to "test" samples of tap water here... and... I'm curious to know the water parameters of people local to me and people far away and compare my local water to yours... I then thought it would be interesting to compare what fishes we keep and how they do in our respective waters.

pH = 8.0

General Hardness [gH] = 180 mg/L (CaCO3) = 10.1 dH°
Carbonate Hardness [kH] = 230 mg/L (CaCO3) = 12.9 dH°

Tropheus Keepers: In your opinion, are my water parameters close to "optimal" for Tropheus? I also "buffer" my water as the pH tends to drop to about 7.6 after it "sits" for a while. I add "SeaChem Tanganyika Buffer" and "SeaChem Cichlid Salt" to my water at approximately the doses directed on the bottle(s).

So yes... if anyone wants to share their water parameters I for one would be curious to see them.

 

[RoK]

I live in the north-east of US, the state of Connecticut.
pH: 7.1
KH: only about 2-3 dH
I don't remember the GH but it's higher than the KH.

Livebearers don't seem to do well at all but strangely african cichlids seem to do ok. Schooling fish (tetras, danios, etc.), gouramis, many SA cichlids, loaches, "sharks", many kinds of oddball fish, and many kinds of catfish seem to do great here. Most fish are pretty adaptable but to me it seems like livebearers really like their hard, high pH water. Some SA cichlids, such as oscars and angelfish don't seem to do too great though. I think it's because of how they heavily stock and what little room they give them (in the stores).

 

[BrownBullhead]

Yes as far as I know GH should be higher than KH. DrHelm website explains --> "Permanent hardness and alkalinity (often referred to as carbonate or temporary hardness) (kH). The sum of both types of hardness is called general hardness (gH)." I am not sure why KH is higher in my scenario but every test I have ever done shows KH higher than GH.

Alkalinity or temporary (carbonate) hardness (kH) refers to the hardness derived mainly from carbonate and bicarbonate ions and directly reflects the buffering capacity of the water. It can be precipitated and removed by boiling the water. This is why lime-scale forms in kettles and shower heads.

Permanent hardness measures ions such as nitrates, sulphates, and chlorides etc, and cannot be removed by boiling.

 

[Toirtis]

Calgary’s tap water has an alkalinity that typically ranges from about 120 mg/L CaCO3 to 150 mg/L CaCO3, hardness that ranges from about 120 mg/L CaCO3 to 250 mg/L CaCO3, pH that ranges from about 7.8-8.2.

 

[jsoong]

My water is the same as Tortis! (not surprising as we are only a couple hundred miles apart).

Yes as far as I know GH should be higher than KH......

I actually do not like the term "hardness". What we should be looking at is total osmolarity - that is what the fish see anyway.

Total osmolarity is the total number of particles dissolved in water, which consists of:
unionized particles - eg sugar, many organics.
cations - positively charged ions - Na, Ca, Mg, etc.
anions - negative ions - Cl, HCO3, CO3, etc.

In any water (that is stable) the positive charge must equal the negative charge. This is the only hard & fast rule.

The problem is thatour tests don't measure all the particles. GH only measures double charged cations (Ca & Mg), while KH only measures HCO3 & CO3. That left a whole bunch of ions (not to mention the non-ionic molecules) unmeasured - for us, the important ions like phosphates, sulphates, silicates, and salt (NaCl) are not accounted for.

For most water, the GH is higher than the KH because we have lots of phosphates or other anions that we can't measure, so we see an excess of cations (or an excess in GH). But it is possible to have lots of unmeasured Cations as well - if you have high Na or K for example - you would see Kh higher than GH. YOu can achieve the same result by adding baking soda (NaHCO3) to your water .... the Na isn't measured so the KH goes up without the GH changing.

 

[Rondory]

I must have been bored myself last night because I checked my water also!

pH = 8.0

General Hardness [gH] = 7 dH°
Carbonate Hardness [kH] = 5 dH°

 

[rich311k]

Mine is ph 7.6 gh 9 kh 4

 

[greenmaji]

I dont test gH.. but the rest is in my sig..
location.. to the left
I dont see the need to buffer down but up for some speices to induse spawning maybe..

 

[BillD]

Don't know (other than pH, which I haven't tested for 2 years)) and don't care. I have bred a variety of fish from angels to tangs, so there is no reason to care. I don't want to get into playing with the water. That would be reason to quit the hobby.

 

[Jchillin]

Mine is ph 7.6 gh 9 kh 4

Gosh Rich...almost the same:

kh - 3
gh - 8
ph 7.4

Fish loving soft water...priceless.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

KH 4-4.5
GH 9
PH 7.2 ish(fluctuates about .2 because of insonsistant Co2)

 

[BrownBullhead]

OK... so a week after my last water change (50% on a 150-gallon) my water parameters are as follows:

Nitrite (NO2) = less than 0.1 mg/L
Nitrate (NO3) = less than 5 mg/L
Ammonia (NH3/4) = 0 mg/L

pH High Range = 8.4 to 8.6

Carbonate Hardness [KH] = 420 mg/L (CACO3) = 23.5° dH
General Hardness [GH] = 360 mg/L (CACO3) = 20.2° gH

Carbonate Hardness has decreased about 20%, but General Hardness [GH] has increased about 20% ??? pH is relatively unchanged.

So it would appear my tank is a well-balanced, cycled tank and it would not appear I have any overstocking issues.

16 x Tropheus Moorii Nkonde, 4 x Tanganicodus Irsacae, and 1 x Panaque Nigrolineatus.

Now, I wonder if I could get away going two weeks between water changes then? OR... perhaps cut back to 25% water change every week instead of the 50% I have been doing?

 

[greenmaji]

less then 5ppm NO3!.. Uhhhhhh I would keep on doing what I had been doing..

 

[DepotFish]

I agree with Bill on this one. Don't know don't care. The ph is around 7.5 in our tapwater. We have hardwater. That's all I know. The fish are good and healthy and have been for years.