Hello,
I am still quite new to the hobby and have a 240L aquarium setup for just over two years now.
When getting into the hobby and doing my research something I believe isn't properly discussed is what GH and Kh.
Doing any sort of research at the early stage all I read up about was pH, High Range PH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. The most recommend test kit was API master kit doesn't even contain the GH or KH tests.
So here is me setting up my first tank with all the test kit I could possibly need "how wrong was I"
That is the first mistake, the second is putting too much rocks into my aquarium increaseing that water hardness even further.
🙁 so far I have killed two betta, two dwarf gourami, two blue German rams.
Sorry fishy 🙁
After I found this out I have been back doing testing and research on general hardness and what I found out is me just taking out the rocks dropped my GH by 250ppm
I have learned a valuable lesson these past couple of weeks and I will never use rocks again with fish that require softer water.
Hopefully somebody will be able to use this and don't follow the same mistake as me.
Posted by shankly1985
3 Comments
You can lower the hardness with kh minus. I ve got aquariums full of stones and always managed it with kh minus.
Rocks are fine. Not all rocks leach hardness. Weekly water changes reset it anyway. High GH shouldn’t kill anything so that doesn’t sounds right to me. It should be between 4-6 but people with naturally hard water have a GH of 10+. You’d have to have Extremely High GH to kill most freshwater fish. More than any rocks alone would do. What could kill the fish is a low KH causing PH swings. You want your KH to be between 2-3, 4 max. I personally think you have the wrong suspect. I don’t believe it’s GH at all. (Like, I’m convinced it’s not GH. That’d be almost impossible.) Are you doing weekly water changes? What are your readings now? PH, GH and KH? How much flow and surface agitation does the tank have?
I’m guessing you were using Seiryu Rock or perhaps something else containing lime?
There are loads of rocks you can add which will have zero impact on your parameters.
https://preview.redd.it/dmxceerqqu4g1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ce42dd2c333f7ef91156a92a0b000646a260725
I use a lot of mountain stone which is a bit lighter than Seiryu Rock but still gives a nice effect. The PH in this tank is 7.