Hello all,

I was having troubles with the water parameters and they are finally getting better. The ammonia is back down to 0 from 0.5 - 1. The Ph is 7.0 but now I am conserned about the GH and KH which is very low. the GH is 5 and the KH is 2. According to the test kit it should be between 8 - 11 for goldfish. How can I get the GH and KH up to what they are supposed to be and how will this affect my fish?

Thank you,

Dee

Also forgot about the Nitrites which are 0. I do not have a Nitrate tester though.

Sorry that I don't really know alot about Gh and Kh but if you're using your local tap water and your goldfish are happy and healthy I would be hesitant to tamper with it.

Like pH, I imagine goldfish can tolerate a wide range of Gh and Kh and once you tamper with it you will constantly have to monitor it and adjust it.

You could check with your lfs and see if they use the same water as yours, see if they have any problems and what they do to correct them.

Another suggestion would be gf conditioning salts with buffering agents, these will increase your pH, Gh and Kh. If you stick to the same dosage then I guess your levels would remain fairly constant.

Sorry I could not be more helpful, someone else will come along with a better understanding I'm sure.

Monitor your pH for a couple of weeks (early morning and late evening if possible), do not worry about KH/GH if the pH is stable. However, if you have variations of more than 1/2 pH units then you must condition the water. Petshops sell substrates that will increase the alkalinity and pH... these are used for cichlid tanks. You could also add sodium bicarbonate to increase the alkalinity.

Thank you both for your reply. I don't think I will mess with the GH and KH. He seems to be doing well. With each water change I use Amquel and 2 tablespoons of Aquarium Salt. He had some splits and a big hole in his dorsal fin which I used Jungle Fungas Eliminator but found out that it tends to hike up the ammonia so I stopped using it and just using the salt which has been helping. I also use a product called Algone that helps bring down ammonia and control algae which is working great. It can be purchased at www.algone.com

Dee
Goldie

When you say your GH is 5 and your KH is 2 I assume you are speaking in units of degree dGH & dKH. If so, your carbonate hardness/total alkalinity is about 35.8 ppm KH. Any KH under 50 ppm will need to be watched very carefully because you may experience a sagging PH or even PH crash.

Ok I will test again tonight and watch them closely. Thank you for your help on this matter. I really appreciate it.

If you have a low kh, you could be at risk for having a pH crash, so it's very important to pay attention to your kh. The kh is what holds the pH steady. I also have water with a low kh. To increase it, I use crushed oystershell or crushed coral in my tanks. You can get the coral at petstores, and oystershell at farm and ranch stores. Be sure to rinse them well before using them, because they can be pretty dusty! You can put them in a media bag in your filters, or in nylons in your tank. I have some mixed into my substrate, but you'll want to make sure they aren't the right size for getting stuck in your fish's mouths if you do that. Good luck on getting your kh buffered!

KH is the basic measurement of carbonate hardness which is the buffering capacity or the ability to absorb and neutralize any added acid without affecting the pH of the tank

General hardness (GH) refers to the measurement of dissolved concentration primarily of magnesium and calcium ions. When a fish is said to prefer soft or hard water, it is gH, not kH.. Thus distilled water or boiled water has lower GH (or even ZERO GH) which is no good for goldfish (goldfish dwells better in hard water).. Especially distilled water where it is even deprived of dissolved oxygen which is the primary factor (#1 ingredient) to the survivor of goldfish..

Best advise, never try to adjust KH or GH if they are not giving you any problem.. and to avoid problem, never use distilled water or boiled water..

Adjustment of GH and KH (especially) will cause a swing in water characteristic and this can be VERY DEADLY.. All Fishes can die in a matter of minutes or hours or overnight.. So adjustment of KH and GH should only be attempted only if you know how.. usually the best advise is to change water frequently and have adequate buffer to stablise your water...

if you really have to adjust KH and GH, here are the safer ways to do so:

Raising KH:
1) Add sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). KH and PH is raised instantly.. but this buffer is a weak buffer that will dissolve or neutralise very fast..
2) Adding Coral or Sea Shell or rocks containing limestone.. These are good buffering agents that will raise KH n PH.. either drop them into the tank or let the water flow over them.. to be more effective, crushed them and put them into a used stocking..
3) Adding sodium carbonate.. this is a good stabliser that raise KH very well.. it acts as a slow PH buffer.. You can buy normal calcium carbonate pills from pharmacy.. jus ensure the pills do not contain any other mineral but jus purely calcium carbonate.. drop them into your filters and it act as food to the bacterias too... do not drop directly into tank or pond as it does not melt but dissolve into powders thus best left in the filters..
4) Adding an air stone to drive off carbon dioxide (CO2)..
5) Using commercial akaline buffer (dangerous if untested)

Last point - Any adjustment to pH should be done gradually!!! Add bit by bit, and test result.. NEVER pour/add everything in one go!!

Raising GH
1) Adding Lime stone
2) Adding Calcium Carbonate

take note, only methods to raise KH and GH are introduced.. nothing on lowering is covered.. if interested, do feel free to ask.. But raising KH and GH is more suitable for goldfish..

lastly, and once again - Any adjustment to pH should be done gradually!!! Add bit by bit, and test result.. NEVER pour/add everything in one go!!

Hope this helps..

Again, thank you for your reply and all the helpful info. I tested again today and here are the results -

Ph - 7.2

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

GH - 6

KH - 3

As you can see Ph, GH and KH have all gone up. I also did a test on my tap water and her are the results -

Ph - 7.0

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

GH - 2

KH - 2

I will do another 25% water change on Friday. The water I use is from tap which I add Amquel and let sit for the week until I do a water change. I also add 2 tablespoons of Aquarium Salt which have been helping with the holes in fins.

Is it possible my tank is cycling again? It has been up for over a year and a half now.

Why do you think your tank is cycling again? You don't have any nitrite or ammonia in your test. If you've had a little elevations in ammonia/nitrite you could be having a mini cycle, which can happen from adding more fish to the tank, cleaning the filter too well, changing your gravel, etc. -- things that require your tank to have more bio-bugs or that remove too many of them. Mini cycles should resolve pretty quickly. If you've had a real cycle crash there'd be no guessing about it, you'd know it -- believe me, I've just been through that on one of my tanks!

and a few reason for cycle to crash:
- heavy meadication
- extremely high salt concentration
- over cleaning of filters
- 100% water change with total cleanout of filtration (this happens when a major disease strike and owners will cleanout the tank entire to start all over again)
- PH plunge (all bacteria goes into hibernation mode and die off once PH goes way too low..)

I think I did have a mini cycle because my ammonia and nitrites went up when I was treating Goldie with Jungle Fungas Eliminator. After 2 weeks the ammonia and nitrites when back down to 0. Only trouble now is with the GH and KH that has gone up one degree. I will test again Friday after the water change. So far so good. I will be watching closely and keep you posted. Again, thank you all for your help.

Hello again,

I did the water change and 2 hrs later I tested the water. Ph is the same at 7.2. Ammonia and Nitrites are 0. KH is the same at 3 but GH went back down to 5. What do you suggest I do? Should I get some crushed coral and put it in the back of my filter so GH and KH will go up and stabilize?

read please

If your kh is low, you should definately use coral/oyster shell to buffer it. Otherwise you risk having a pH crash, which could kill your fish. So I say go for it. Good luck!

Thank you for your reply - I will go and get some coral or oyster shell and put it into my filter box.

Make sure you put it in a media bag or tie it up in a pantyhose leg or something similar before you put it in your filter (unless your filter has a media compartment it absolutely can't escape from) or else it'll get all over your tank, the filter, in the filter's impeller -- trust me, I made this mistake before and cleaning it all up sure was a chore!

OK thanks for the tip!

crush them for better effect...

another thing to consider if you want to soften the water and drop the ph is to add driftwood to the tank and/or use peat moss (well contained in a filtering bag) in the filter. both will add a slight tea color to the tank but the GH and ph should come down.

Problem is not with it being to high - my problem is that the Gh and Kh are to low. My Ph is 7.2 which is ok. My water is already to soft.

gotcha. my misunderstanding.

That's ok - that's great info in case I have a hard water problem =)