Extremely high GH and KH.

[crazyhanz]

Hi guys. I'm really new to CRS keeping and I am worried with my water parameters. I bought a GH and KH tester from API earlier today and have just tested my parameters.

GH: 22
KH: 9
PH: 6.4

This is very alarming. I have been keeping the shrimps close to 2 months without any problems but I have to rectify this problem. One thing I have to add is that I add Seachem Equilibrium and Mosura Mineral Plus after each water change accordingly to the stated dosage. Tank is covered with GEX soil. There are several pieces of driftwood and some rocks. For the Singapore guys here, are the rocks bought from Colorful causing the extremes in my readings? What can I do to check if the rocks are contributing to it? These are the rocks which are grey in color which are often used in Iwagumi setups. How can I go about lowering the GH and KH respectively. I also add CO2 (2bps) on timer(8hrs). Your help is greatly appreciated.

[Ghanguss]

Your KH reading does not make sense with that PH. Something is not right.

[gr81]

what is wrong about Ph and Gh? I don't see problem.

[Ghanguss]

With the KH of 9 and a PH of 6.4, this equates to a CO2 level of about 90 ppm (because KH, PH and CO2 are related) which is unusually high and I would expect the shrimp could not survive this high concentration of CO2.

If you are not adding CO2 to this tank there is definately a mistake with the readings either PH or KH is not correct...

Im not speaking about whether the CRS is suited to these levels. I think the test results have a mistake somewhere

[crazyhanz]

Ghanguss: I did state that I am injecting C02 into the tank at 2bps. I did the test again today, and the numbers are exactly the same.

[Ghanguss]

OK, yeah I missed that one.

So that means its possible your CO2 is running at 90 mg/l which is really high. Im no expert but Ive read above 50 mg/l (ppm) is stressful for fish. At 90mg/l I thought you would have big problems, thats why I questioned your readings.

To test rocks put them in a bucket of plain water that you know the parameters of, wait for a few days and test the water to see if theres any change.

To lower GH add less equalibrium and mineral powder. Or mix RO water when you do a water change.