Help raising GH and KH

[libertybelle]

Wow they must be really old test strips or they had gotten damp or something. (You should tell them that, btw, they may not actually know their strips are not working at all.) Test strips can be inaccurate but they shouldn’t say water of those parameters is fine. There are ammonia test strips too. My lfs tests samples with both and they might be a little off from time to time but they’re usually in the ballpark.

Technically KH is carbonate hardness which should be unaffected by the neutral regulator which is a phosphate based buffer (this is according to a seachem rep) however my understanding is that what these KH kits usually actually measure is just the simple resistance to ph swings which would be effected by both phosphate based (neutral regulator) and carbonate based (acid and alkaline buffer) systems.

I don’t think either should effect gh though which as I understand it is specifically measuring mg/ca in the water. So this shift does suggest something in your tap has changed. (Or you are adding something else?)

 

[Autumnsky]

That is the problem with test strips. I used them always periodically testing to double check but guess what, just one of the squares was wrong somewhere in between the double checking and how I found out was that I lost a tank of fish! So I haven't used them.

Dampness / humidity seems to effect them, and I always made sure to tightly close the bottle after pulling out the strip with dry hands as well and STILL!

You could always decide to use RO water and it is a chunk of money though reasonably priced units can be bought, finding fish which prefer the water you have is better.

It would make sense to start doing more frequent water changes to remove the additives which you want to stop using.

As for the neutral regulator I am not sure how it works and not sure how to adjust other things if using it... .

It is nice to have a pretty similar water parameter to work with.

Depending on your tap water you just need a little KH / calcium, and if needed magnesium to keep the pH stable. It seemed the other test was better.

If you have the tap water okay though you may not need much to add to the water. I am confused which numbers were the natural not treated tap water and which / if the other higher numbers were the treated with neutral regulator.

 

[Demonaca]

So I forgot to set a cup of water out lol I'm doing that today and testing GH/KH.
I decided im going to stop using the neutral regulator. I did a big water change today(50% I usually do a max of 25% once a week and spot clean with a Turkey baster) and I'm going to buy a container of Shrimp Salt off of Amazon. I looked locally but none of my stores carry it.
I had algae on everything and it was getting to the point that I couldnt see my betta because the algae was growing so fast on the tank glass, it doesnt help that I use an entire IAL leaf so my water was super dark with tannins too lol

I'll let you guys know what my GH/KH says when it comes out of my tap. It'll be a couple of days before I can buy the shrimp salt. Gotta wait for payday.
Once everything is adjusted how long should I wait before introducing shrimp or a snail?
I'm sure the container will tell me how often I should add it to keep my GH and KH to the right spot.
Also is this the right stuff?

 

[Demonaca]

Okay so I ordered the product pictured above itll be here Thursday my GH/KH for my tap is also 1 drop each.
I'm currently treating my guy for ich :/ it popped up out of no where.
But his treatment is almost done according to the bottle( kordon rid ich plus)
Now I know some ich meds can affect shrimp so should I wait to get shrimp until I set up my 10 gallon? I'm getting a hospital tank Tomorrow so I can start treating anything wrong with fish outside the tank instead of in the tank but I had no choice but to start treatment immediately because my guy hurt himself itching on his driftwood.
I'm still going to use the saltyshrimp to raise the gh and KH in his current tank since it's going to be a few months before I can start cycling the tank.
I was supposed to pick up a stand today and the person backed out last mintue so now im building my own stand with my brother in laws help.

 

[libertybelle]

Probably a good idea. Bettas and dwarf shrimp don’t usually go well together. He will definitely eat the little ones and may or may not go after adults. You also want to be sure things are really stable so probably good to make sure you’ve got the drill down with using that product before adding shrimp. Is the 10 their final destination or with the betta.

Just realized I assumed you were talking about dwarf shrimp. What kind were you planning on adding? The larger varieties can be okay with bettas (that depends on the bettas temperament)

 

[Demonaca]

My guy is super dolice and doesnt mind companions, each time I add the shrimp he never showed interest other than when I floated them and even then he just looked at them and then went about his business. Hes also doesnt flare at a Mirror at all. Hes only flared twice since I've got him and both times were at the bottle of prime lol but now he just stares at the Mirror with no reaction. I swear hes a broken betta.
I'm planning to keep neocardia or amano shrimp with him.
I'm actually splitting the 10 gallon completely so that their is no water flow between the sides so I can keep two different color varieties of neocardia if I want. On the other side I had planned to either get a baby betta to raise or a trio of killifish but I think I'm going to hold off on the killi for now untill I can get a tank to dedicate solely to killifish.
I know theirs a chance he might eat babies and I'm okay with that since it will help keep the population in check.

 

[haroutvartanian]

Ammonia spike

I just started using SaltyShrimp - Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+. i had an ammonia spike right after adding this to my tank to raise the ph from 6.9 to 7.0, is this spike temporary and why? My ph went up fine from 6.9 to 7.0 but so did my ammonia. Its a new cycled tank. Does this product have an effect on ammonia/nitrate levels or have an effect on an ammonia/nitrate meeter? Right after using a tiny bit of this, my Ammonia meeter started showing high ammonia.

 

[Desperado070]

Help raising GH and KH

Don't

Only if you know water chemistry like a pro.

 

[KaylNeko]

I can't add much more to the question, but for anyone curious I will point out that thinking Petco uses your local tapwater can get you in trouble. All the stores I've been in, aquatics uses RO water and remineralizes for freshwater/ saltwater.

 

[Desperado070]

I can't add much more to the question, but for anyone curious I will point out that thinking Petco uses your local tapwater can get you in trouble. All the stores I've been in, aquatics uses RO water and remineralizes for freshwater/ saltwater.

Actually our big box pet store does uses tap-water for all their fish.
It is not really a secret, everyone knows it...
Now do they change the water, but that is also only one old dude with big glasses...
(whos been doing that since the 1st world warr)

Only thing i'm saying, if you have no idea what you doing don't bother with it!!!

If you need different water, go buy different water.

And if you don't like those 2 options, go learn it.


A guppy has no problem with a ph swing, but a mineral swing is deadly.
What you wanna say???