# kH Question



## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

Last night I added some crushed coral to my canister. My kH is 2 and gH is 5 and plan on doing co2 injection. I haven't noticed a change in kH today so was wondering how long it takes for there to be a noticable change?


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

Use baking soda to raise your KH.

1tsp per 50liters will raise your KH 4 degrees.

jB


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The coral will add to KH, but slowly. If your pH is lower, it will dissolve more rapidly.


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## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

My pH is about 7.0. I didn't want to mess with baking soda because I need a more permenant solution than constantly adding baking soda. Its not imperative that I get it up right away as I'm in no rush. I probably won't add the co2 for two weeks. Do you think it will be up by then? I think my cycle might be done by next weekend and I will probably go ahead and add fish then. I just tested and its the first time my nitrites have come down and my nitrates have jumped to about 40 (8 out of the tap).


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## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

Is lime safe to use to raise kH? The guy at the petstore was trying to convince me to buy a lime formation but cautioned me that it might raise it to much. I finally convinced him to give me some crushed coral. Maybe I didn't get enough as I"m not noticing a difference yet. Maybe I should look for something else?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Crushed coral will have a slight long term effect on the KH of a tank but it takes forever.

I would suggest that crushed coral is not a permanent solution because every time you do a water change you're going to have to wait another eternity for the KH to sloooowwwwly come up. If you're planning on a heavily planted tank with good light, CO2 injection and an EI fertilization scheme you're going to be changing about 50% of the water quite frequently...

All you need to do is add a little baking soda every time you change water. You don't need to raise the KH that much: a KH of 3 or 4 should be fine and it won't go back down significantly over time. At a GH of 5 I'd also add a bit of Magnesium at water change just to make sure you're not short of that (use either MgSO4 or Seachem's Equilibrium, neither of which will have an effect on KH).

If adding some baking soda at water changes poses a problem, wait till you start dealing with the fertilizers!  

And welcome to APC!


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## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

Thanks. I guess I can do baking soda. I was just concerned that it would make it unstable. But I guess if I did it every water change it wouldn't be so bad.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Check this website

http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/C...da+(Teaspoons)=2.88&SKH=2&EKH=4&pHChange=0.00


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## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

Thats a great link! I guess it wasn't so bad adding the baking soda  . I decided to do it because I tested my pH and it had dropped from 7.0 to 6.4 (in 8 days, I think I need to test pH more often...). I had just done a huge water change yesterday as my nitrates were ridiculously high. I added 1/4 tsp and that raised my kH to 3 (from 2) and my pH is now 6.9. So I'm much happier with that. 

What does a full-bioload of fish produce in ammonia? I've decreased my ammonia to about 2ppm a day to promote my nitrite eaters. But is that high enough to support a full-bioload? Do fish produce that much ammonia in 24 hours? Should I raise it to 3ppm?

Thanks.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I assume that you're speaking about the Nitrogen cycle when you're refering to Ammonia?

If you start the tank heavily planted, good light, CO2 and ferts, you'll never see a cycle  .


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## sherry (Sep 30, 2005)

i use cc.. do smaller more frequent water changes and my kh stays at a fairly constant 3 from about 1.5

I am happy with the result.. lime is considered good because it adds calcium AND magnesium and i can't find lime chips for the life of me or I'd use it too.. dolomite is another word for it.


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