KH and GH levels for livebearers

[michmich]

I recently became aware that I should be monitoring KH and GH levels for livebearers. Until now, I've been mostly monitoring just the very basics like ph, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates with my Api master test kit. I live on the West Coast of Canada, and our tap water is generally soft. Currently, I have beautiful oyster shells attached to a rock that I found on the beach several years ago in the tank with my guppies and platies.

Is that enough to keep the KH and GH levels where they need to be or should I be adding crushed coral? The oyster shell is intact and not crushed like the coral would be.

 

[Colin_T]

Shells, limestone and dead coral rubble are all made from calcium carbonate and will help raise the pH and might help increase the KH a bit.

If you want/ need to raise the GH, then buy some Rift Lake water conditioner and add that to the new water before adding it to the tank. The Rift lake water conditioner is a mixture of different salts (chlorides) and includes things like calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, both of which raise the GH. The Rift lake conditioners also contain carbonates and bicarbonates that will raise the KH and pH.

Depending on how hard your water is and what level you want the GH, will determine how much of the Rift Lake conditioner you use. You can probably get away with using it at half strength to raise the GH of soft water to 200-250ppm. But you will need to check the directions on the pack and find out exactly what the GH of your current water supply is.

You will need to add the Rift Lake conditioner to any new water before it goes in the tank. The water and mineral salts need to be aerated and mixed for 24 hours before use so all the minerals have dissolved in the water. You can use a large plastic bucket or spare fish tank for this purpose.

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The KH isn't as important and is used mainly to stop the pH from dropping. The shells will, or should hold the pH above 7.0. If the pH drops then add more shells, limestone, or coral rubble ad monitor the pH over a couple of weeks. If it continues to drop, add more and monitor. Keep doing this until the desired pH is reached.

Shells, limestone and coral rubble can raise the pH to 8.5 if you have enough in the tank. You don't need a pH that high unless you keep marine fish or Lake Tanganyikan cichlids.

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Platies, guppies and swordtails do best in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH around 200ppm.

Mollies do best in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 250ppm. Mollies need the minerals much more than the other 3 types of fish mentioned and will suffer if kept in soft or acid water.

 

[michmich]

Thank you for the detailed info!

So, the GH in my guppy tank is super low at 40 ppm. I've ordered the equivalent to the product you recommended which in North America seems to be Seachem Equilibrium. As soon as I have it, I'll start adding it to my tank.

Do I use this in addition to the Prime Conditioner that I'm already using or instead of?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Prime is a water conditioner, it removes chlorine. If your water is treated with chlorine you need a water conditioner.

Equilibrium is a source of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese and will increase GH. It is generally used in planted tanks as it has minerals that plants require. Replenish is a similar product to Equilibrium that contains less of those minerals that the plants use.

They do different things.

 

[michmich]

That makes sense. I do have a lot of plants in that tank, so I might as well add it to bring up the GH as well.

I have Diamond Tetras in another tank. I've looked up that they do better in softer water. Should I just leave the water as is for them?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Fish are adaptable to a fairly wide range of water parameters. Keeping parameters like pH, GH and KH stable is far more important than trying to keep them to what you might consider ideal. Unless parameters are way out there, trying to alter your water can often cause more harm than good.

If you are buying locally, the fish you buy are likely to have been bred and raised in water similar to whats coming out of your tap.

Having said that your GH is on the low side, but i would have thought some crushed coral or cuttlefish bone in your filter would increase that a little. While your tapwater is on the low end for those tetras they would be ok, but a little more hardness wont hurt them.

 

[michmich]

The fish in our stores all seem to come from Asia - Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan.... you name it. I've literally experienced buying a fish, putting it in perfect parameter water (except the hardness) and having it dart around for 24 hrs and then die.

I have oyster shells in both tanks because they are beautiful, but they don't seem to be doing a ton. I have thought about adding crushed coral. I live on the coast, so it's free for me to go and get some shells, sanitize them and then add them. Are there any benefits to buying the crushed coral?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Crushed coral or cuttlefish bone is calcium carbonate. As it slowly dissolves the calcium will increase GH and the carbonate will increase KH. Your pH will rise also.

Seashells are mostly the same chemical composition, but need to be crushed up same as coral to increase the surface area and get it to dissolve the same.

 

[michmich]

Great! I will collect some shells and crush them up. Thank you.

Also, would the higher GH combat some of the algae growth in my tanks? I'm finding that the algae grows very comfortably in the softer water.

 

[Colin_T]

The pH, GH and KH make no difference to algae growth. Problem algal growth is caused by either too much light, too many nutrients, or not enough live plants to use the light and or nutrients.

Post pictures of the algae for identification.
Post a picture of the entire tank so we can see how many plants and what type you have.

How long are the tank lights on for?
Do you add plant fertiliser to the tank?

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If you have guppies and tetras in the same tank, get a second tank and put guppies in one and leave tetras in the other. Then you can raise the GH, KH and pH of the guppy tank, and leave the tetra tank as is with soft acid water.

If a second tank is out of the question, raise the GH to about 100ppm. It will help the guppies a bit but shouldn't cause too much damage to the tetras.

 

[michmich]

Fortunately, I already have the tetras in their own 20 gallon tank, so I will be able to treat the water differently for the guppies.

At the moment, I don't have many plants in the 20 gallon tank because I am quarantining some of the new ones I bought a couple weeks ago. I had such a bad experience with not quarantining new fish that I'm not taking anymore chances.

Here are some photos. The algae is green and beardlike on the anubia. The filter is covered in the green stuff and even the snails have it growing on their shells. I do have a magnetic algae remover on the aquarium glass which gets a lot of use.

I have the lights on a timer that comes on at 8:30am and off at 6:30pm. I have not been adding fertilizer since I feared it might increase algae growth.

 

[Colin_T]

The algae is growing from the light. It is nice and bright and you don't have many plants in the tank. The floating plants are helping by shading part of the tank, but some light is getting through to the glass and snails.

The algae on the sword plant is type of green algae. The stuff on the uplift tube and snails is a different type. Neither are much to worry about but you could grow more floating plants to shade about half the tank and that should help a bit. You could also reduce the lighting time by 1 hour and monitor it over a few weeks. If it doesn't improve, reduce lighting by another hour. Or you could add more live plants.