Okay-- the only water hardness test I could come up with in my area was the test strip kind. It gave me a KH of 80 ppm and GH 75 ppm. What range should these be in for Orandas and Black Moors?

One site I saw said KH 4-20
But I am wondering 4-20 what? It didn't say ppm or ????


Our water is well water with no special filtration or conditioning.

Thanks anyone and everyone~~~~

they're giving hardness in dh. 1 dh=17.9ppm
so that'd be 71.6ppm-358ppm.

I'd add crushed oyster shell or crushed coral in a bag or media basket in a high flow area. That will dissolve when pH drops below 7.5 and will replentish your KH (bicarbonates--buffering capacity) which will keep pH from getting acidic (which you'll need). It will also release magnesium and calcium which will increase your general hardness (GH) over time.

lots of questions......

our water from the tap is right about 7.0 - 7.2 PH. But ends up higher in the tank after a while. is this a result from the KH ? isn't a higher PH more alkaline?

we are doing 25% water changes weekly.

when adding the oyster shells or coral~ How often?

Also we have one snail in the tank, will either of those things cause any harm to him?

where is a good place to get the oyster shells or coral?

We also have a betta in another tank (5 gal) should I do the same for him?

sorry for all the questions!!! Thanks for the help.

Okay...I am getting confused on all of this. I looked at

http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/FishInfo.html#WaterQuality

but I am not quite sure how to proceed. I now understand how to add the coral ect and where to possibly get it.

My new question is should I also add peat into a media basket because of high PH? Or just work with water changes?

here are my water parameters:

PH currently 7.8
KH 80-120 ppm
GH 75 ppm
temp 78 degrees--no heater
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 10
Ammonia .25

I am going to do a 25% water chg today and recheck all .

We just changed the filtration and added gravel to the tank. It now has a Fluval 304 powering an undergravel filter. as well as a magnum 350 canister filter. The fluval has been working the tank for quite a while now. The magnum and the undergravel filter are new. There is also a bubble bar that is new. This is a 39 gal tall tank.
~just trying to give any info that might help.

Sounds like you're going to have a kick-butt biofilter with the UGF and the other filters driving it. As long as you keep the UGF vacuumed well, it will work great!

I wouldn't add the peat cuz you don't need to lower your pH.
pH of 7.8 is fine! perfect if you ask me.
I'd recommend KH at around 120ppm or 7dh. That should maintain pH up in the mid to high 7s.

The crushed coral should go in a media basket, or hose in a high water flow area. inside your filters would work great, preferably positioned so the water flows over it after it's passed thru your mechanical filter media. It will sit there and dissolve if the pH drops below 7.5. I don't know how often it needs replacing, but it should last for quite a while.

How much you need depends on the bioload in the tank. I'd start with 1/2 cup and move up from their if that's not able to maintain pH around 7.5 between partial water changes. Your biofilter uses up KH as it converts ammonia to nitrAte. More ammonia being produced increases the demand for bicarbonates (KH). My 55 gallon goldie tank with 4 good sized goldies in it was eating up about 35ppm/2dh of KH a week. Initially I was buffering with baking soda at each partial water change to bring KH up to 7dh. I use crushed oyster shell now. Found a 50 pound bag for 6 bucks at a feed store.

Any idea why you're seeing ammonia?