@@natureaquariumsusa hi sir, I need your expert opinion about my mystery snail tank. My nitrate-2 is 2.0 nitrate -3 is 20 High ph 8.4 Ammonia between 0-.25 Kh 12 Gh 19 I have some crushed coral in there I’ve been doing a 10% water change for the past 3 days I’m using prime and beneficial and it’s not coming down. I’m really worried about the nitrates and kh/gh can you help me please?
Nitrates for a planted tank should be anywhere from 5 to 40 depending on the plants and the setup. Nothing wrong with your nitrates. Stop over dosing prime. Only use what you need for a water change. So you have harder water. Snails won’t mind. Nitrites are the only ones that are toxic. Why do you have crushed coral? Your KH is pretty high for a tropical tank unless this is an African cichlid tank.
@@natureaquariumsusa thank you for your reply, I put the crushed coral because I thought it was low but when I tested it was high. I only have 3 small plants in there now baby’s tears and I’m not sure what the other 2 are. It’s a 55 gallon tank.
So KH should be about 3-4 in a tropical tank. GH 6 for plants Baby tears will not grow without strong light and co2 and a good substrate. They do not like high KH.
Loved this video, I’ve watched several other videos on this topic, but you explained GH and KH the best for me. I’m starting a planted betta tank and my water local tap (northern Indiana) is very hard, Ph is 8.2-8.4, and I want to lower it a bit. With me adding plants, I want to make sure my GH and KH stay in safe parameters for plants and fish, while I try to get my Ph down. I was getting confused with the loose terms of hard and soft, so you cleared that up for me. Thank you!
That’s great to hear. So a little tip. Most hybrid bettas have no issues with a KH from 2 to 5. Actually some breeders use well water of KH 20+. So just watch the KH to be in that range. If your KH is higher than 5 then mix your tap with RODI water from an aquarium store that sells true RODI. Play with the ratio and write it down. Plants like a GH of 4-6.
@@natureaquariumsusa You said adding wood to the tank to lower kh. I have a pond and our kh level is 300 and our ph is at a 8.4. we tried ph down however no luck. Wasn’t sure if I could add wood or if I needed to buy an acid buffer.
Hi. So most wood will lower ph slightly. So will peat moss. What type of fish do you have in your pond? Goldfish, koi, live bearers and African cichlids all will do very well with a high kh
Hi so plants can be due to a lot reasons. Heat, lack of fertilizers. Yes that high alk will cause issues with a lot of plants that like softer water. Are you on well water?
I have a betta fish That I was told that my parameters were good. But, my KH is 6° and the GH is 14 pH is 7.5. I saw somewhere that it suggested that I do a 50% water change and use RO water to bring down the GH. You were saying that it shouldn't be a sudden change though. What do you suggest I do? Should I just do a 25% water change with RO and then wait a couple weeks and do it again? Or, do you think since he seems to be doing well as are my plants that I should leave things the way they are?
Hybrid bettas can handle a good range of KH. I’ve seen them grown out in well water with KH of 22+. So if everything is doing well leave it along. Adding some almond leaves would be great. But that’s about it. natureaquariums.com/products/indian-almond-leaves-catappa-leaves-small
Great video! I have a question. I have very low KH and low PH in my tank. I have a neutral PH out of the tap. I use a buffer by seacheam advertised for use with goldfish. It does well for the first 2 days or so and gets my PH up to 7.4 to 7.6 which is great. But then after about day 3 my PH crashes to a 6 or lower on the test. In addition to this crash, my GH goes through the roof! I have tried addding cuttle fish to help stabalize my KH but I go through a lot of it. Do you thing aragonite would help in may case? Because having such a low KH makes they swings huge in my tank. I cant help but feel like I am a slave to waterchages in order to keep PH stable.
Great question. First let’s stop chasing ph. Fish can deal with wide tolerance of ph swings but not alkalinity. So let’s target your KH at say 5 which is great for goldfish. What is your KH out of the tap? Then we would use alkaline buffer ONLY to keep the alkalinity up. Let the ph fall wherever it falls. And only measure alkalinity.
@natureaquariumsusa Interesting, I never tried to look at alkalinity products. It makes sense. I will buy this product and see how it goes 😊 my KH according to the test stripes I have is about 40 ppm out of the tap and goes down to an undetectable amount about 3 days after a water change. My hardness hovers between 75 ppm and 100 ppm. I never really wanted to chase PH because it can be exhausting. I remember reading that PH helps with bone growth, especially with goldfish. I wanted to make sure I was keeping the PH up because when I saw it get low, they didn't seem as happy. They are more active and digest their food better when their PH is higher. These are just my observations. I am interested in seeing if this will help my problem. As it seems, I have an alkalinity issue, not a PH issue. Thank you for responding!
Great question! Most plants do well with a kh between 2 to 5. Although many can handle as high as 9-10. I have a tank that is that way that I will showcase soon. Gh 4 to 6
Thank you for the feedback. Since that video we switched microphones that are less sensitive. Stay tuned as we will be redoing some of the earlier videos with better audio, editing and updates based on questions we have received. We already have reshot a very popular video on the Oase biomaster filter. It’s being edited now. Thank you for the feedback
Oh man. I have electric blue crayfish since January and its august. And ive always avoided this topic. But now that i got cajun dwarf crayfish i noticed that they are more sensitive to a small change of water. Which idk why they acted weird. Wairing on gh and kh test to come in.
Thanks
You are welcome
Sir, I just want to tell you thank you. Your explanation was so thorough and you also said how to correct the problems. Good job thanks again!
Thank you so much for the feedback. Let me know if there are other videos you would like to see. Please share and like as it helps my channel!
@@natureaquariumsusa hi sir, I need your expert opinion about my mystery snail tank.
My nitrate-2 is 2.0
nitrate -3 is 20
High ph 8.4
Ammonia between 0-.25
Kh 12
Gh 19
I have some crushed coral in there I’ve been doing a 10% water change for the past 3 days I’m using prime and beneficial and it’s not coming down. I’m really worried about the nitrates and kh/gh can you help me please?
Nitrates for a planted tank should be anywhere from 5 to 40 depending on the plants and the setup. Nothing wrong with your nitrates. Stop over dosing prime. Only use what you need for a water change.
So you have harder water. Snails won’t mind. Nitrites are the only ones that are toxic. Why do you have crushed coral? Your KH is pretty high for a tropical tank unless this is an African cichlid tank.
@@natureaquariumsusa thank you for your reply, I put the crushed coral because I thought it was low but when I tested it was high. I only have 3 small plants in there now baby’s tears and I’m not sure what the other 2 are. It’s a 55 gallon tank.
So KH should be about 3-4 in a tropical tank. GH 6 for plants
Baby tears will not grow without strong light and co2 and a good substrate. They do not like high KH.
Thank you very helpful. Subscribed
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Great video thanks! I have a planyed tank that has a GH of 50ppm and a KH of 35. I'm thinking I need to raise my kh, what do you think? Thanks
Yes. KH to around 50 and GH definitely to 100 - 120.
Alkaline buffer and equilibrium
natureaquariums.com/
Great info Ty!! Background music is too loud
Yes. We will be redoing some of our older content Thx for watching
Loved this video, I’ve watched several other videos on this topic, but you explained GH and KH the best for me. I’m starting a planted betta tank and my water local tap (northern Indiana) is very hard, Ph is 8.2-8.4, and I want to lower it a bit. With me adding plants, I want to make sure my GH and KH stay in safe parameters for plants and fish, while I try to get my Ph down. I was getting confused with the loose terms of hard and soft, so you cleared that up for me. Thank you!
That’s great to hear. So a little tip. Most hybrid bettas have no issues with a KH from 2 to 5. Actually some breeders use well water of KH 20+. So just watch the KH to be in that range. If your KH is higher than 5 then mix your tap with RODI water from an aquarium store that sells true RODI. Play with the ratio and write it down. Plants like a GH of 4-6.
Informative but the music is unnecessary
Unfortunately it came in louder. We will be reshooting a new video on it.
Is there a certain type of wood you need to add?
I don’t understand your question
@@natureaquariumsusa You said adding wood to the tank to lower kh. I have a pond and our kh level is 300 and our ph is at a 8.4. we tried ph down however no luck. Wasn’t sure if I could add wood or if I needed to buy an acid buffer.
Hi. So most wood will lower ph slightly. So will peat moss. What type of fish do you have in your pond? Goldfish, koi, live bearers and African cichlids all will do very well with a high kh
@@natureaquariumsusa thank you! We have goldfish. Our plants started dying so we checked the water. Just wanted to make sure the fish would be ok ☺️
Hi so plants can be due to a lot reasons. Heat, lack of fertilizers. Yes that high alk will cause issues with a lot of plants that like softer water. Are you on well water?
I have a betta fish That I was told that my parameters were good. But, my KH is 6° and the GH is 14 pH is 7.5. I saw somewhere that it suggested that I do a 50% water change and use RO water to bring down the GH. You were saying that it shouldn't be a sudden change though. What do you suggest I do? Should I just do a 25% water change with RO and then wait a couple weeks and do it again? Or, do you think since he seems to be doing well as are my plants that I should leave things the way they are?
Hybrid bettas can handle a good range of KH. I’ve seen them grown out in well water with KH of 22+. So if everything is doing well leave it along. Adding some almond leaves would be great. But that’s about it.
natureaquariums.com/products/indian-almond-leaves-catappa-leaves-small
Great video! I have a question. I have very low KH and low PH in my tank. I have a neutral PH out of the tap. I use a buffer by seacheam advertised for use with goldfish. It does well for the first 2 days or so and gets my PH up to 7.4 to 7.6 which is great. But then after about day 3 my PH crashes to a 6 or lower on the test. In addition to this crash, my GH goes through the roof! I have tried addding cuttle fish to help stabalize my KH but I go through a lot of it. Do you thing aragonite would help in may case? Because having such a low KH makes they swings huge in my tank. I cant help but feel like I am a slave to waterchages in order to keep PH stable.
Great question. First let’s stop chasing ph. Fish can deal with wide tolerance of ph swings but not alkalinity. So let’s target your KH at say 5 which is great for goldfish. What is your KH out of the tap? Then we would use alkaline buffer ONLY to keep the alkalinity up. Let the ph fall wherever it falls. And only measure alkalinity.
natureaquariums.com/products/alkaline-buffer-70gm25oz
The rate is as follows
1 TSP will raise the alkalinity by 2.5 dkh in 20 galloy
Also what does your hardscape look like? Do you have lots of wood in the tank?
@natureaquariumsusa Interesting, I never tried to look at alkalinity products. It makes sense. I will buy this product and see how it goes 😊 my KH according to the test stripes I have is about 40 ppm out of the tap and goes down to an undetectable amount about 3 days after a water change. My hardness hovers between 75 ppm and 100 ppm. I never really wanted to chase PH because it can be exhausting. I remember reading that PH helps with bone growth, especially with goldfish. I wanted to make sure I was keeping the PH up because when I saw it get low, they didn't seem as happy. They are more active and digest their food better when their PH is higher. These are just my observations.
I am interested in seeing if this will help my problem. As it seems, I have an alkalinity issue, not a PH issue. Thank you for responding!
If you use crushed coral to bring up KH will it also bring up GH. I have high GH but low KH. My PH is neutral.
Depends on the crushed coral blend. Some bring up GH more than others
My ph drops from 7.6 to 5.8 in freshwater I have a very low gh soft water healthy plants and fish. Only carbon keeps it up.
Hi. Carbon does not impact ph. Have you tested your KH? Also many plant species do well in low ph water.
Thank u now i undetstand
Thank you for the feedback. Let me know what other topics you would like to see explained
What is the best GH and KH for growing most aquarium plants?
Great question!
Most plants do well with a kh between 2 to 5. Although many can handle as high as 9-10. I have a tank that is that way that I will showcase soon.
Gh 4 to 6
Good info but couldn’t finish listening due to the background noise. Very distracting and grating.
Thank you for the feedback. Since that video we switched microphones that are less sensitive. Stay tuned as we will be redoing some of the earlier videos with better audio, editing and updates based on questions we have received. We already have reshot a very popular video on the Oase biomaster filter. It’s being edited now. Thank you for the feedback
Oh man. I have electric blue crayfish since January and its august. And ive always avoided this topic. But now that i got cajun dwarf crayfish i noticed that they are more sensitive to a small change of water. Which idk why they acted weird. Wairing on gh and kh test to come in.
Yes they can be