Still a little confused about Hardness and Alkalinity
- Thread starter AOmonsta
- Start date
Why are you wanting to change the numbers? What are you keeping/spawning?
The alkalinity is a measure of carbonates and bicarbonates, and is measured by your kH test. Higher the alkalinity more resistance you have to pH drops because the more buffer you'll have to absorb acids.
You can add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to raise alkalinity without effecting your hardness.
It can be lowered by adding distilled or RO water (since both have a kH of 0).
To get a specific kH number it's easiest to start with RO or Distilled water and change the parameters from there.
Your hardness is a measure of your calcium and magnesium levels mostly, and is measured by the gH test. Fish that are said to prefer soft or hard water, prefer either a low gH (soft) or high gH (hard). You can't simply lower or raise your pH to attain soft or hard water, if you're not adjusting your gH.
Adding lime will raise both alkalinity and hardness due to containing calcium carbonate, and possibly magnesium (therefore both calcium (gH) and carbonates (kH), and possibly magnesium (gH)). Adding something like Calcium chloride will raise your hardness without raising alkalinity, due to the presence of calcium but not carbonate or bicarbonate.
Hardness can be lowered by adding distilled or RO water, but this will also drop your alkalinity.
To get a specific gH number it's easiest to start with RO or distilled water and adjust the parameters from there.
Getting a specific pH (measure of how acidic or basic your water is) can be harder since there are a lot of factors effecting it. Your kH levels will effect your pH (generally higher kH higher pH), your gH levels don't directly effect pH but the relation between gH and kH does. As in, you use something to raise/lower your gH you are possibly effecting your kH and pH.
Really, pH is of less importance in fishkeeping than gH or kH. It's generally more important to have a stable pH than a specific measurement. The reason pH can indicate a problem for your fish is that it indicates that you might have problems with your gH and kH levels (which directly effect your fishes ability to properly osmoregulate).
You may also want to research TDS and conductivity since this has a direct effect most species of fish, especially regarding spawning.
The alkalinity is a measure of carbonates and bicarbonates, and is measured by your kH test. Higher the alkalinity more resistance you have to pH drops because the more buffer you'll have to absorb acids.
You can add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to raise alkalinity without effecting your hardness.
It can be lowered by adding distilled or RO water (since both have a kH of 0).
To get a specific kH number it's easiest to start with RO or Distilled water and change the parameters from there.
Your hardness is a measure of your calcium and magnesium levels mostly, and is measured by the gH test. Fish that are said to prefer soft or hard water, prefer either a low gH (soft) or high gH (hard). You can't simply lower or raise your pH to attain soft or hard water, if you're not adjusting your gH.
Adding lime will raise both alkalinity and hardness due to containing calcium carbonate, and possibly magnesium (therefore both calcium (gH) and carbonates (kH), and possibly magnesium (gH)). Adding something like Calcium chloride will raise your hardness without raising alkalinity, due to the presence of calcium but not carbonate or bicarbonate.
Hardness can be lowered by adding distilled or RO water, but this will also drop your alkalinity.
To get a specific gH number it's easiest to start with RO or distilled water and adjust the parameters from there.
Getting a specific pH (measure of how acidic or basic your water is) can be harder since there are a lot of factors effecting it. Your kH levels will effect your pH (generally higher kH higher pH), your gH levels don't directly effect pH but the relation between gH and kH does. As in, you use something to raise/lower your gH you are possibly effecting your kH and pH.
Really, pH is of less importance in fishkeeping than gH or kH. It's generally more important to have a stable pH than a specific measurement. The reason pH can indicate a problem for your fish is that it indicates that you might have problems with your gH and kH levels (which directly effect your fishes ability to properly osmoregulate).
You may also want to research TDS and conductivity since this has a direct effect most species of fish, especially regarding spawning.
AOmonsta;4378776; said:
Yeah that is a bit low. But all that means is you will have to do sufficient water changes to keep your alkalinity in check, and check your kH periodically. And don't overstock and slack on water changes since that will deplete your buffers quicker. High nitrates will start to deplete your alkalinity.
Make sure to keep as much detritus out of the tank and filters as possible so it doesn't decay and add to your nitrate levels. Don't overfeed, etc.