Reply With QuoteThe only way of reduce KH is to slowly change water in your tank with RO water which has been re-mineralized to GH 6, Kh 0, TDS180.
Currently the water parameters are
Ph: 7-7.5
Gh: 6
Kh: 6
Tds: 180 ppm
hoping to reduce kh to 1-2 but not sure how to go about it. adding co2 is not an option for me though.
Thanks in advance.
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The only way of reduce KH is to slowly change water in your tank with RO water which has been re-mineralized to GH 6, Kh 0, TDS180.
Thanks. Googled and found a few shops that sell ro/di system. Saw one brand ZeRO by madpetz; 4 stages and 5 stages options. For shrimp keeping, which one do I need?
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And correction on my first post. Realised co2 could only help lower my ph but I think won't affect the kh anyway.
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anything inside your tank that cause kH increase?
Setup has around 2 years old shrimp soil. Added some BW humic soil and ketapang leaf recently. Had a petrified wood and some grey pebbles from previous scape. Think the kh has been around 4 to 6 for the past 1 year using api test kit until I bought the sera kit and confirmed at 6.
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check you tap water. If your tap also high kH then change water will not help, you need ro/di system.
Ok I will test the tap water tonight. Thanks.
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Not sure if anyone has mentioned this... but since your current shrimp soil has exhausted its buffering ability, maybe consider doing a substrate change to new shrimp soil?
Most shrimp keepers change their substrate periodically to keep the pH and kH buffered, easier than having to constantly buffer the parameters separately.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 9th May 2014 at 11:11.
Mosura Softwater should be able to reduce KH too, but it will reduce GH and PH as well.
Need to be careful as it will cause PH swing if not monitored.
Hi UA, I did suspect the age of the soil but hesitant to carry out such overhaul due to the need for cycling. But will keep this in mind while I test out my water.
Hi onionsg, thanks too. I will check out the product.
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Most shrimp soils tend to exhaust their buffering ability after 12-18 months... the buffering lifespan can shorten quite significantly if tap water with high pH/KH is used (due to the soil having to work harder to buffer), or could be extended if properly re-mineralized R/O water is used (the soil has easier time buffering).
Changing the substrate in shimp tank is quite straightforward, i did it for my shrimp tank a few months ago, here is what i did (the shrimps are a colony of both RCS and CRS):
1) Get a plastic bucket or tank (clear plastic tank is better so you can observe the shrimps).
2) Transfer all the shrimps over to it with the old tank water (keep the rest of the old tank water in another bucket).
3) Run the seasoned filter in the temporary bucket or tank.
4) Empty your main tank and take out everything.
5) Put the new shrimp soil substrate in... along with all those "magical" powders and additives that we always end up buying.
6) Put all the hardscape and plants back into the main tank, fill it back up with old tank water.
7) Put the filter back with the main tank and let it run for a few hours (since your filter is already seasoned, and shrimp soil is usually very low or zero in ammonia, the tank should resume its cycle very quickly).
8.) While waiting, take the opportunity to cull shrimps and do headcount in the temporary tank.
9) After a few hours, check that the main tank's water conditions are stable.
The next step is very important...
10) Slowly drip acclimate your shrimps for another 1-2 hours before adding them back into the main tank with the new substrate, this is because the main tank will now have different parameters to what the shrimps were previously used to.
Monitor the tank and shrimps for another few days to make sure everything is okay and the shrimps have adapted well to the new parameters.
Hope that helps!
Thanks UA. That's great detailed advice.
Actually I'm quite tempted to upgrade my 1 ft tank to 2 ft. With that, I'm afraid that I will not have enough old water tank to fill up the new larger tank for cycling.
In addition, I will like to use ADA Amazonia soil instead of shrimp soil for the much heard about quality. The cycling time will be much longer I suppose?
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Pardon me. hahahahahah.....
It does sounds a little familiar on what I did when my tank leak recently. Only difference is that you do this at your own sweet time where I have to rush and panick. hahahaha.
No offense, please. Just a laughter a day. Hopefully can get younger each day.
Water only mah... Very simple. Do daily water changes but don't throw away the water. Instead put the water into your 2 feet tank. Once you gotten half of your 2 feet tank, you can probably transfer from your 1 feet tank over with enough water. Still need to cycle?Originally Posted by popimac
Thanks UA. That's great detailed advice.
Actually I'm quite tempted to upgrade my 1 ft tank to 2 ft. With that, I'm afraid that I will not have enough old water tank to fill up the new larger tank for cycling.
In addition, I will like to use ADA Amazonia soil instead of shrimp soil for the much heard about quality. The cycling time will be much longer I suppose?
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I get what you mean. Assuming I do WC at 10-20% daily for 4 or 5 days, I should get enough cycled water for 2 ft (including the water from the 1 ft tank).
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That's right. I would prefer to do 10% daily and take note that if your water is currently high in ammonia then you should not use those. Instead ensure ammonia, etc is low before you do this. 10% is slower but can ensure lower parameters changes to the water in the current 1 feet tank due to daily water changes.
Water that you remove from 1 feet tank will not have much BB so using back your old filter and substrate is still important in this method of upgrading. I use this method when I upgrade from my GEX slim 45 tank to a 2 feet (still feeling sad that it has recently leak). hahahaha.
Just got this thought came to me. You can do faster if you dilute the water you have remove from the 1 feet tank into your 2 feet tank. It's similar to water changes in a tank where you remove 10-20% and top up the tank. So, you can mixed the water that you remove from the 1 feet tank with water that you normally use for topup. I'll be safe and mixed 10% since this is done daily.
Bro, your 2nd message is a little hard to comprehend. haha
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Hahahaha...... Oops..... Hope not getting you confused.
1 feet tank. Remove 10% water that goes into 2 feet tank. You will then topup the 10% water into the 1 feet tank diluting the water but your 2 feet tank water concentration remains the same as it was when it was in the 1 feet tank. So, you do the same percentage topup in the 2 feet tank.
This goes on daily until you reach the level you want in the 2 feet tank. Maybe not much faster for a 2 feet (1 day earlier probably) but would be more for bigger than like 4 feet.
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