Water Parameters help please.

I've just done tests on my new set-up and get the following two readings;

ph 6
kh 0

I assume these are not what they should be ( according to the sera kh test it should be kh 5 - 10 and ph 6.5 ). What do I do to get my kh up and then how do I keep it there? Once my kh is correct, will it affect my ph?

When I had my marine tank, I would just add some ph / kh buffer, but I do not know if it works the same with freshwater tanks and / or if the buffer would affect my plants?

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

 

managed to find the answer in another forum..........add crushed coral to my sump??.........no idea how much or for how long...will try it out.

 

Firstly, It would be helpful to know what fish you want to keep in the tank?? Tetras, Discus and in fact most South American species love a lower pH! pH6 is not bad unless you want to keep Malawis or other african cichlid species??

The kH is more of an issue! Try retesting it! I would be surprised if it was 0!!

If it is, then you need to buffer your water. I am not sure what is best to stabilise it at around kH4? Some people would add crushed shells, but I would think this would also affect pH? Once you have stabilised the kH, your pH should stabilise also. At the moment with no kH any addition of fish waste or CO2 will cause a drop in pH, which with no kH would be quite severe! What complicates this is that you will also have large pH fluctuations, not just drops!!

Hope I've explained that well enough!!

Cheers
Big G!

 

Hi Big G, the test kit says to put 5ml water into the test bottle thingy and count the drops as the water changes from blue through to yellow. Number of drops = kh, ie 5 drops =kh5. The very first drop made the water yellow, so I retested, same result. I continued to add drops and by the time I reached 14 drops, and the water was still yellow, I figured something was not right.

I plan to keep mainly tetras, ottos, cory's and if possible dwarf chiclids and dwarf gouramies. I have two big pieces of bogwood in the tank, not leaching too badly, as they came from a previous tank that I had +/- 6 years ago. Substrate is Florite, I do not know if this affects ph or kh?

 

Crushed coral does not buffer ph effectivly as it takes very long to break down, hence why marine aquarists use Aragonite. To raise Ph simply use sodium Bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda), but in small amounts at first. With regards to hardness the harder your water the higher the ph will be, the softer the water the lower the ph. As big g said at a ph lower than 7 you can expect fluctuations. Another interesting fact is at a ph value lower than 7 ammonia becomes ammoninium, which is less toxic than ammonia. Hope iv helped you.

 

"at a ph value lower than 7 ammonia becomes ammoninium" ...mmm interesting
How does that work ?

 

steve - go to the beach and pick up some CLEAN mussel shells - check them in your filter - it acts as a buffer and keeps the water stable

 

Low ph values develop in an aquarium through addition of acidic tap water, mistakes in adjusting ph with mineral acids, and biological degradation through bacterial respiration especially when water is poorly buffered. Low ph values in freshwater aquaria can affect both the fish and bacterial oxidizing system. At ph values below 7 the rate of oxidation of Ammonia by bacteria (nitrosomas) is reduced resulting in increased AMMONIUM levels.

 

Thanks guys.