How to Increase KH of water?

[Metallic Sardine]

Tap water registeres zero KH right? How do I increase it? Must I use chemicals?
Thanks,
MetaSard

[Metallic Sardine]

Tap water registeres zero KH right? How do I increase it? Must I use chemicals?
Thanks,
MetaSard

[Metallic Sardine]

Tap water registeres zero KH right? How do I increase it? Must I use chemicals?
Thanks,
MetaSard

[Metallic Sardine]

Tap water registeres zero KH right? How do I increase it? Must I use chemicals?
Thanks,
MetaSard

[vinz]

Singapore water KH registers between 0 to 2.

Click here for more info at the Aquatic FAQ forum.

Any further questions about this, please post back here. Thanks.

[markyen]

Use KH up readily available from LFS. or baking soda. []

[David]

you may use baking soda or KH up powder to raise your KH. If you have fish already in your tank, do not attempt to raise more than 1 KH point within 24 hrs...the sudden raise in KH will up your PH and your fish will get a PH shock.

[benny]

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On 11/3/2002 10:51:23 PM

you may use baking soda or KH up powder to raise your KH. If you have fish already in your tank, do not attempt to raise more than 1 KH point within 24 hrs...the sudden raise in KH will up your PH and your fish will get a PH shock.
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Hi David,

If the KH should not be raised more than 1 degree in a 24 hr cycle, does that mean that when we raise the KH over a few days when we do a massive water change?

[Metallic Sardine]

Hi David,
I bot some white powder stuff from nature aquarium that came in a round plastic container. It cost me S$5 for a container full. Is that baking soda? How much should I roughly add to raise the KH by 1 degree if I have a 2ft tank?
Thanks,
MetaSard

[tawauboy]

Benny,
yes, you'll need to raise the kh slowly over 2-3 days.
add enough baking soda predissolved in water to raise 1dkh.
if you have plants only in your tank, you can ignore this requirement.


Metallic Sardine,

is there any marking/brand/ingredients listed on the container? did Chan tell you what's in the container when you bought it?
to determine the amount to add you can refer to the link provided by Vinz (2nd post) or here.
since your tank is a 2ft(10gallons or 32l), the amount will be about 0.2 teaspoon.

[juggler]

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On 11/3/2002 11:58:17 PM

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On 11/3/2002 10:51:23 PM

you may use baking soda or KH up powder to raise your KH. If you have fish already in your tank, do not attempt to raise more than 1 KH point within 24 hrs...the sudden raise in KH will up your PH and your fish will get a PH shock.
----------------

Hi David,

If the KH should not be raised more than 1 degree in a 24 hr cycle, does that mean that when we raise the KH over a few days when we do a massive water change?
----------------

Correct me if I am wrong:
The pH will rise with the kH when you add baking soda just because baking soda is alkaline. But in a planted tank with neutral substrate (i.e. non-coral type), the pH should stabilise lower to about 6.8~7 due your CO2 injection. However the kH does not come down.
For kH, usually we dosed to about 2~4 dkH.
So if you do a massive 75% water change on a tank with 4 dkH, say, the pH should still be roughly the same since tap water is quite neutral. The kH would be back to about 1 dkH if your tap water is 0 dkH. The change in kH is not so bad. Actually I have experienced changing water for my tank with kH up to 11 dkH and ending with 5 dkH. The fish still OK.

So I think what David advised earlier not to increase kH too much in 24 hours because you are going to swing the pH too much. That will really stress the fish.

[benny]

Hi Juggler,

Thanks for the reply. Can I assume that if we can regulate the pH through a pH controller in a planted tank, then pushing the KH up from 0 to 4 should not be a problem?

Cheers,

[PeterGwee]

Nope..the speed at which the pH rise with KH powder or sodium bicarbonate is too fast even for the controller to react not to even say that bringing down pH with CO2 takes time.

The best method is to use a standard bottle or container, fill it up with tap water which is to be added to the tank and adjust the KH to the value you want by adding KH powder or baking soda. This method is apply daily until the desire level of KH in the tank is reached without stressing the fish.

[David]

thanks tawauboy and juggler for explaining......juggler you making me blur man[]

[vinz]

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On 11/4/2002 3:36:02 AM

Hi David,
I bot some white powder stuff from nature aquarium that came in a round plastic container. It cost me S$5 for a container full. Is that baking soda? How much should I roughly add to raise the KH by 1 degree if I have a 2ft tank?
Thanks,
MetaSard
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Yes, Chan told me that is baking soda.

[Metallic Sardine]

Thanks for all your help guys. Chan didnt really tell me what the white powder was but after reading what Vinz wrote, I know now it is banking soda.
Thanks again for your replies, otherwise, I probably would have killed all my fish in one go by trying to raise my KH from 0 to 5 in one day.
xie xie,
MetaSard