GH/KH ?????????'s pleace help

[whodini]

90G=6 silver dollars, 2 are 6 yrs old &4 are 4yrs!,2 4 yrs pictus catfish &4yrsWhodini, american freshwater Eel (natural river pebble 4 substrate)
60gal=4yrswhodini's twin eel Zippy, gimpy GF(white Quatz gravel)
45 octagon =Kaily a 18 yrs old calico goldfish(3mm gavel)
20gal planted w/ 1yrs 2zebra danio's ,3 white cload minnows& a (just resent addition)weather loach (natural river pea&sand gravel)
15gal lightly planted= 1+yrs4 black skirt tetra,4 serpia tetra's,2 tiny snails &kuhli loach (flora base substrate)

is what i have & i want to acheive soft 6.0-6.5 and be able to keep it there but basically my water is sooo soft if i use sodium bicarbanate i can get my desired ph too fast and then within a couple days its back down 5.6-5.8 being on the north west coast we just went a month of record days of straight rain and my water comes from the capalano river. i'm sure my fish can be able to handle the ph slight swing as most of my fish i've had years,and are used to the water here , but mainly i'm consurned about my GH/KH( using hagen brand drops, my tap and tank water's are the same GH=first drop clear no colour add second drop light light blue so it would be under40, KH one drop yellow so it would be 10) this GH/KH test is the same as testing it a few months ago so i would say that it's consistant.
should i just add a small amount crushed coral/limestone mix in a stocking to my filters? &how much ?

 

[TomK2]

Well, the easiest way to increase KH (alkalinity) and pH is to put some crushed coral in the substrate or in a filter compartment. In the filter compartment, it is easier to remove! So yes, that is what I would do. As for how much? you might want to experiment. Add a little, recheck in a week. As long as it is in solid state, it should be working (dissolving). The more water flow or surface area it has to dissolve in, the faster/higher it works?

 

[whodini]

now what about sea salt, very small amounts added to tub to my desiered hardness, lower the ph with sodium bicarbnate, retest 20 some minutes later if alls good ,then slowly pump tub water into tank?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

For KH Tom is right, CC is the best way. If you feel the need to raise the GH, epsom salt would do this (Mg) I believe.. but I don't know why someone would want to increase the GH, (GH AFAIK is a minimum of KH.. (so increasing the KH will also increase the GH.)

Hardness is a whole science.. from what I've read from others post, 1 teaspoon of Crushed Coral is a good addition to a 10Gal to increase the hardness 1 or 2 degrees. So that will give you a starting point.

 

[sherry]

Yup. I can vouch for that. I used 1 tablespoon in my 35 gallon and my kh wnt up about a degree and a half (since we are now guessing it was originally below 2.)
It took about a week to get htere, but that is good, since you know the cc is going to dissolve some...

It has stayed steady since.. with co2 injection, my water is 6.5ph kh3.

the gh rises with the kh when you use cc.

I know it will feel silly with a teaspoon ful of cc, but put the coral in a micron bag. If for any reason you get more of an incrase than you want, this will let you adjust the amount of coral you are using. My micron bag is in my filter.

 

[Simpte]

Well, the easiest way to increase KH (alkalinity) and pH is to put some crushed coral in the substrate or in a filter compartment. In the filter compartment, it is easier to remove! So yes, that is what I would do. As for how much? you might want to experiment. Add a little, recheck in a week. As long as it is in solid state, it should be working (dissolving). The more water flow or surface area it has to dissolve in, the faster/higher it works?

I'd have to disagree with that. Baking soda is the easiest way to increase KH as you can determine how much you need to add. Crushed coral is hit or miss. Unfortunately it doesn't always dissolve at the same rate so you get a flux.

 

[dskidmore]

Baking soda has to keep being added with every PWC. Crushed coral just stays in the tank and does it's work. Baking soda is more finely controlable, but if you make a mistake you're going to get a big swing in your hardness and pH. I've made that mistake, will avoid baking soda now. (Besides the fact that with my tank now understocked, I'm running too alkiline rather than too acidic.)