Kh Question
- Thread starter vicchic
- Start date
nater
Member
This Is Probably A Dumb Question But Can Anyone Explain To Me What Kh Is And What To Do If It Is High Like 200? All Other Levels In My Tank Are Okay, Calcium Was At 400, Expect Nitrates Which Were At 20, Nitrite And Ammonia Undetectable, Ph 8.3. Thanks For Your Help
Kh is the Carbonite Hardness of your water, and a measure of it's buffering capacity or resistance to PH fluctuations. A good numerical value test kit (like Salifert) will give you values in either dKH or meq/L--a healthy system will be in the range of 7-10 dKH or 2.51-3.65 meq/L. If your alk was at 200 dKH your tank would look like a morgue.
Your nitrates are a bit high--they need to be kept as close to zero as possible. Try less feedings and/or more water changes to correct this problem.
Calcium is pretty good--but only if it's proportional to a good alkalinity. If your Ph reading of 8.3 is accurate and taken after your lighting has been on for a while, hopefully your alk is O.K.
I would suggest getting a good alk test kit to get a better idea of where you're at. If you find out your system needs balancing try correcting the problem with water changes.
Good Luck--Nate
Kh is the Carbonite Hardness of your water, and a measure of it's buffering capacity or resistance to PH fluctuations. A good numerical value test kit (like Salifert) will give you values in either dKH or meq/L--a healthy system will be in the range of 7-10 dKH or 2.51-3.65 meq/L. If your alk was at 200 dKH your tank would look like a morgue.
Your nitrates are a bit high--they need to be kept as close to zero as possible. Try less feedings and/or more water changes to correct this problem.
Calcium is pretty good--but only if it's proportional to a good alkalinity. If your Ph reading of 8.3 is accurate and taken after your lighting has been on for a while, hopefully your alk is O.K.
I would suggest getting a good alk test kit to get a better idea of where you're at. If you find out your system needs balancing try correcting the problem with water changes.
Good Luck--Nate
stonynut
Member
kh at 200 = 4meg/l alk = 11dkh
(conversion: 50ppmkh=1meg/l=2.8dkh)
IMO... you are sittin pretty... if you want you can bump Ca up to about 450ppm... but if you do a 1x dose to get Ca to 450... you will probably end up with a balancing act somewhere around 420ppmCa and 9dkh (which is near sea water levels)
but... i wouldnt change anything... 'cept work on the no3s
(conversion: 50ppmkh=1meg/l=2.8dkh)
IMO... you are sittin pretty... if you want you can bump Ca up to about 450ppm... but if you do a 1x dose to get Ca to 450... you will probably end up with a balancing act somewhere around 420ppmCa and 9dkh (which is near sea water levels)
but... i wouldnt change anything... 'cept work on the no3s