I have a KH of 7, GH of 6 and PH of 8 what does this mean?

J

Just Prince

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Nov 2, 2007
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My readings on my planted 56G FW Tank:

Ammonia:0
Nitrates:0 working on raising them
Nitrites:0
PH:8.0
Phosphates: 2.0
GH:6
KH:7

I am keeping:
6 Pristella Tetras
4 Rasboras
6 White Fine Rosy Tetras
3 Oto's
1 Platy
1 Black Varitus
10 Neon Tetras
1 BN Pleco
2 Bamboo Shrimp
MTS, Rams Horn and Olive Nerite Snails

I had 5 Blue lyretail Killies die over the last week and a half. One Choked on Neon Tetra, One was bullied to death over night by the other Killie I think. The other three just expired after appearing to be doing fine. Any idea what is going on? Can soem oone explain the KH and Gh readings to me. The explaination the came with the API kit did not help.
 
I'm not sure about the KH and GH, but your water ph is pretty high. Also, what are your tank parameters? Nitrate? Nitrite? Ammonia? How big is your tank?
 
7 KH makes a good pH buffer, i have less than 2 KH from my tap and add calcium carbonate to raise it.
 
It means you have hard/alkaline water. If your goal is to soften and acidify your water, then filtering with peat should do the trick. Otherwise, just leave it alone. I'd avoid products like pH Down, btw.
 
Basically your water is fairly high in dissolved solids. Not a bad thing for most aquarium fish as pretty much all captive bred fish will adapt to your water.

Killis are not the hardiest fish. I would chalk the deaths up to poor stock over your water chemistry. If your other fish are doing fine I wouldn't worry...
 
jpappy789 said:
Basically your water is fairly high in dissolved solids. Not a bad thing for most aquarium fish as pretty much all captive bred fish will adapt to your water.

Killis are not the hardiest fish. I would chalk the deaths up to poor stock over your water chemistry. If your other fish are doing fine I wouldn't worry...
Click to expand...


Thanks, I figured it was the Killis but wasn't sure.
 
Your parameters sound pretty darned good to me. My hard water here in SoCal makes yours look like the Amazon.
Driftwood or peat filtration may lower the PH a little. Other than that I would say leave it be.
 
GH 6 is not only not hard, it is bordering on outright soft.

KH of 7 means your pH should be pretty stable over time.

pH of 8 is on the alkaline side, but given the GH, your fish should do OK.

Phosphate is basically meaningless without knowing the nitrate. In a planted tank, especially higher light ones, the goal is to try to maintain a ratio between these two. often folks who run co2 for their plants have to dose nitrates to keep the two in balance. In lower light planted tanks phosphates can result in algae.

I am not a snail person, but I do believe they may need added calcium for shell formation. Somebody who keeps escargot would have to chime in here.
 
Yeah it's planted. I listed all of my other test results in the first post. I can't for the world of my raise the nitrates though. I have tried dosing using the recommended seachem dose. But can't get them up. I filter with a Magnum 350 and Seachem Purigen.
 
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