[Bent17]

Hi all!

I have a 200L planted tank with Co2. I am using RO water and the parameters are:
PH 6.5
KH1
GH1

I need to increase my GH and KH. I got the Seachem Alkaline buffer to boost KH and was thinking of Seachem Equilibrium to boost GH. Are the above enough for what I am after? Raising KH will also raise my PH so not sure about that.

Also - Can I dose them directly in the aquarium right after a water change?

 

[Plinkploop]

Always better to premix before adding to the aquarium to keep parameters as stable as possible. Not saying that it wouldn't work just saying that it does add stress and from what I've heard it can kill off some more sensitive shrimp and inverts if they're right in the flow of pure ro water- I don't yet keep shrimp but I'm researching and this is a topic that I've seen a few times. I don't have experience with the seachem products you mentioned, however, so my response is just a generalization.

 

[Immortal1]

For what it's worth, many successful planted tanks run 1dKH or less.
As for the GH1, that is most likely too low in Calcium and Magnesium. The simplest way to raise your GH would be to add CASO4, and MGSO4 salts to your RO storage container. The correct amounts of each can be determined with Rotala Butterfly | Planted Aquarium Nutrient Dosing Calculator and the salts are available thru https://www.nilocg.com/ or Green Leaf Aquariums

 

[Bent17]

I came across something which raises the KH and GH together. Has anyone used something similar to this?

Shrimp King Shrimp Salt GH+/KH+ | Dennerle

dennerle.com

 

[Plinkploop]

I came across something which raises the KH and GH together. Has anyone used something similar to this?

Shrimp King Shrimp Salt GH+/KH+ | Dennerle

dennerle.com

Have had this, salty bee and salty shrimp additive recommended to me as I'm currently researching my first shrimp build. I've decided on salty shrimp as it's readily available in my area. Might be a better option.

 

[ElleDee]

You didn't mention your substrate, but if you are using aquasoil raising your kh will deplete its buffering capacity quickly.

My tap water is pretty soft, so I remineralize with Epsom salt and calcium chloride for GH and don't add any kh at all anymore.

My thinking on water hardness has evolved a lot - I have played around with crushed coral, Wonder Shells, and Equilibrium and ultimately settled on the salts. One of my tanks is pretty heavily stocked and low tech and I still use the Equilibrium as a fertilizer, but I have to add a lot more Ca and Mg on top of it to get around 6 dGH.

 

[Bent17]

My Soil is:



Tropica Aquarium Soil Powder 9L
and

Scaper's Soil | Dennerle

Scapers' Soil - Active substrate for planted aquariums

dennerle.com

 

[ElleDee]

Since you're using aquasoils, you should familiarize yourself with buffering substrates. They will buffer your kh to 0, but they only be able to do this for so long. So if you dump kh in, it's going to show up as 0 until the soil is exhausted and then your parameters are going to change rapidly. It is recommended that you use RO water with them so they last longer and the parameter swing is blunted, but if you add carbonates to your RO water it defeats the purpose. There is some information on the scaper's soil link you posted.

 

[Bent17]

Yeah thanks I kept doing research and I read that I should not touch KH and just add GH.. Apart from Seachem Equilibrium what do you guys use? I read that equilibrium darkens the water and is not the best..

 

[Quagulator]

Yeah thanks I kept doing research and I read that I should not touch KH and just add GH.. Apart from Seachem Equilibrium what do you guys use? I read that equilibrium darkens the water and is not the best..

CaSO4 for Ca
MgSO4 for Mg

That is what the vast majority of GH boosters use.

Use: Rotala Butterfly | Planted Aquarium Nutrient Dosing Calculator to help you determine how much of each to dose into your water change water to reach your targets.

A good starting point is 25ppm Ca (from using CaSO4) and 10ppm of Mg (from using MgSO4).

You will have to look outside of aquarium specific stores to find these products sometimes. Just look for pure CaSO4 / MgSO4 with no additives.