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New Planted Tank (GH/KH Q's)

1543 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Wolf35
Hi guys,

I just started a new planted tank and have just measured the KH and GH, the kit uses drops to calculate. So, KH was 3 drops or (3x17.9=53.7ppm is that right?) and Gh was 5 drops or (5 x 17.9=89.5ppm).
Is this acceptable for plants and fish? The tank is only a little over a week old and I was told I could add fish when I noticed plant growth, so I bought a couple of mollies and some neons, one of the mollies has died but i'm not sure if it was the time it took me to get the poor little bugger into the tank (5 hours)
The PH is pretty high, up around 7.6 but i've been told to let that alone and worry about the GH/KH, so that's what i'm doing :)

Plants all seem to be doing well, no major die off yet, but it may be too early.

Here is the tank if you would like to check specs etc...

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/118876-my-first-planted-tank-up-running.html

Thanks in advance for advice/input.

Cheers
Grant
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
7.6 is not really all that high for pH. I'm not an expert, but I have almost identical pH, KH, and GH as yours and my plants and fish all do fine. =)
I didn't read through your entire other post, but do you have CO2/DIY/Excel in there?
Your PH isnt high. All my tanks are in the 8.6 area for PH all the time. Your KH is also fine at 3. You're lucky to have a GH of only 90. My water GH is 220+ which limits what I can put in there. Your Molly may have died due to water conditions and stress but not because of your GH, KH, or PH. Test the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate of the water. Thats more important to fish unless youre talking about fish that require certain water parameters which I dont think you are in this case. Certainly not Mollys or Neons. If the tank is only 2 weeks old it may not have cycled yet which can easily cause fish deaths...
Ok thanks, I think it must be a combination of stress and the tank not being cycled properly yet, lost another molly to columnaris, his lips went white so I euthanised him and one of the tetras was floating today. Guess that will teach me to be so impatient.

Thanks for the advice guys.
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