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I'm new to the whole aquarium thing and i'm just wondering how you raise and lower your dH? and does it greatly affect the fish if it is too high or too low?

Im looking into some glowlight tetras but it says the recommended dH is 12 but my other fish need a higher dH number of 13 or 14... thanks

It's not really as important as it seems at first glance. The majority of freshwater fish commonly kept in aquariums are quite hardy and are highly adaptable, and can live in water conditions very unlike that of their natural wild environs. You don't need to worry about hardness for glolight tetras, as these fish will thrive in many types of water. The main concern is to keep the pH and hardness levels the same, because rapid fluctuations do become problems. They stress the fish and sometimes invite infections, which can be very hard to fight.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Flex Jr. do you mean pH because I'm trying to understand what dH is.
and since we are on the topic of water hardness I would like to know what is the relation of water hardness to alkalynity
GH to KH
I have been using these test strips that are telling me my GH is over 300 ppm and my KH is 0 and for some reason this is not making sense.
please advise.

Hi,
Carbonate Hardness (KH), is a measure of the Carbonate
(CO3\2) and Bicarbonate (HCO3) ion in the water.
Essentially, it buffers the water and "mollifies" the effect
of the pH. You can raise the KH, only, of the water by
adding simple baking soda to the water.

General Hardness (GH) is a measure of the Calcium (Ca) and
Magnesium (Mg) in the water. The GH of the water can be
changed by the use of distilled water or RO water mixed
with the regular tap water.

Some measure the GH and KH in degrees and others prefer
the Parts Per Million (ppm). One degree = 17.9ppm.
300ppm is considered the "middle" of the "hard" water
range (200-400ppm) and is great for African Rift fish,
goldfish, and brackish water fish.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks FRANK

"mollifies"

please elaborate.

and is there a guideline to how much bakingsoda to add per gallon to achieve a set result?

Hi,
It's a non-chemistry word that I use. In this case
as the CO2 creates a weak acid, the carbonate neutralizes
the acid (buffers) the acid. This has the effect of making
the pH swings from highs to lows during a 24 hour cycle of
light and no light coupled with CO2 injection smaller and
less stressful to the fish.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

So FRANK what you r saying when you use the "word" mollifies is that is enables the water to withstand fluctuations in pH..
correct me if I'm wrong
thanks for your patience.

Yep the higher the kh or buffer the less likely the ph is to move. Also the higher the kh the higher the ph usually is. Such as my tapwater is 18dkh(degrees carbonate hardness) and the ph is around 8.2. It takes 2 gallons of straight ro or distilled water(6.0ph, 0dkh) per 1 gallon of tapwater to lower the ph by about .4 and I packed 2 penguin 330 filters with concentrated peat granules and never moved the ph in my 55g. Now when I take the water I mixed up for the ram breeding tank which is nearly all ro water (kh 5, ph 7.2) and add just a small bag or slightly less than half a handful of peat the ph drops below testable on my kit(6.0 ).

If you have a tank below 3dkh your ph may not be very stable and even just the acids resulting from the breakdown of fish waste and food could lower the ph. As long as your water tests above about 3 dkh and the ph holds stable you don't really need to worry. Most fish adapt just fine and I easily kept fish requiring all different parameters in my hardwater before I started using ro water for various other reasons. With few exceptions unless your keeping sensitive wild caught fish or breeding sensitive fish you only need to worry about having a stable ph instead of the correct ph and hardness.