# GH&KH testing questions



## eaking (Sep 1, 2013)

Hello, 
I'm fairly new to the world of aquatics. My tank set up is as follows:
54 gal corner
3-Gold Panda Mollies
2-Danios
3-Harlequin Rasbora
Aqueon QuietFlow 55/75
Aqueon 150 watt heater
Air pump with one small air stone
Solarmax H.O. Deep blue high output 236, (1) T5 10,000K daylamp (1) T5 actnic-03 lamp
35lbs natural gravel
45lbs CaribSea FloraMax substrate
API master test kit w/ API GH&KH test kit
_______________________________________

I recently added 4 Jungle Val's and 3 Bronze Wendtii
my PH is 7.6 tested a few hours ago
Whats the recommended testing procedure because the directions are throwing me off and what should my preferred results be?? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!


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## eaking (Sep 1, 2013)

Also Lighting time recommendations?


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Your light is a marine or ocean sort of light. Tropical coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific. Glaring sun shining through the ocean and losing a lot of the reds, but showing blues (10,000K) and high end blue to purple shades (Actinic). 

The better lighting for plants will emphasize PAR, but if the only rating it has is a K number then that will be sort of near 6,500K. Plants use certain of the red wavelengths, and certain of the blue wavelengths. If a bulb has only those that the plants use then the PAR rating will be quite high, but the tank will look a bit odd. The gold, orange or yellow fish look weird. So something that is more like a 'Daylight' spectrum will have the orange and yellow wavelengths that will make the tank look right. A "Plant' bulb will have a somewhat purple tone to it. I run that sort of combo over most tanks. (Daylight + Plant). The daylight or cool white bulb is good to show off the greens, yellows and oranges. The plant bulb is best for the plants. 

GH and KH tests have some similarity. 

1) put 5ml water into the test tube. 
2) Put 1 drop of reagent in the tube. Cover, shake, look. 
3) If the color change you are looking for has not happened, then add another drop, shake and look. Keep doing this and counting drops. 
4) When the color change has happened that number of drops is the German degrees of hardness. 

KH: The liquid starts out blue. The color change you are looking for is to turn yellow or somewhat orange. Sometimes I see the color change take place over about 2 drops. One drop is sort of 'not quite blue anymore' and the next is significantly yellow (or orange) I read that as about halfway between the two values. For example if it sort of changed with 4 drops, then really changed with 5 drops I would call it 4.5 degrees. Most of the time the change is more distinct. It is clearly blue, or has obviously changed to yellow (or orange). 

GH: The liquid starts out yellow. The color change you are looking for is to turn green. This is not a very intense change. I usually stand by a bright window and hold the test tube a foot or so away from a white background. Careful: If there is a tree outside then the test tube can reflect some of the green from the leaves. Some people find that they see these tests better when they stand the test tube on a white card and look down through the tube. 

Importance:
GH is the one you want to have in the right range for the fish. Mollies (the hybrids usually sold in stores) are hard water fish that thrive in water with a GH 11-30 degrees. 
Harleys are soft water fish that thrive in water with a GH in the single digits, and can tolerate it up to 12 degrees. They will not usually breed in that hard water, though. 
Zebra Danios are pretty adaptable, and will do fine in water with GH between 5-12 degrees. If your Danios are some other species, then you will have to do the research, but many of the other Danios are also soft water fish, and not quite so adaptable. 

Since you are mixing hard water fish and soft water fish, then you will be walking a tightrope to keep the parameters right at the low end for the Molly and at the high end for the others. 11-12 dGH. 

I generally set the KH pretty close to the GH. KH is a buffer that stabilizes the pH. 
Unfortunately the fish you have are not very compatible as far as pH. 
The Mollies thrive in alkaline water pH 7.5 to 8.2. Salt is optional. If you set the KH about equal to the GH (anywhere from 8-15 degrees) the pH may be somewhere in the right ballpark for the Mollies. 
The Rasboras prefer pH in the 6s, from 6.0 to 6.5, and they like the organic acids that can be added to the water with peat moss or black water extract. 
There is no way you can keep the water at 2 different pH levels, and both add and not add the organic acids. 

I would do this:
1) Test your tap water. 
2) If the water is more like what the Mollies want, then take back the Harleys and Danios. Run it as a hard water tank. Get more tank mates that thrive in a warm (upper 70s F) tank with hard, alkaline water. 
3) If the water is more like what the Harleys and Danios want, then you have a choice: Keep it as a soft water tank (return the Mollies) or set it up as a hard water tank and add the minerals the Mollies want (Return the soft water fish).

Aquarium plants will thrive in either sort of water, just do not add salt. It is optional for Mollies, anyway.


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