GH in high levels!

[alvinchan80]

by the way, any intention of using a liquid test kit instead? i think it'll be more accurate, hehe.

yeah.. wanted to get the liquid test kit, but ended up getting the test strip kinds... maybe after i use finish then decide on buying the liquid or not... spent too much recently.. (-_-")

[WiNd08]

having the same problem now, my gH is 11 now. used to be too low at 1.. so i added coral chip.. forgetting that my mineral rock / mineral plus will gradually increase my gH!.. just removed all my coral chips in the afternoon, hopefully after few rounds or WC and not adding mineral plus, my gH can drop to a 3-6... im thinking the high gH is the reason why i don't have berried shrimps

[alvinchan80]

having the same problem now, my gH is 11 now. used to be too low at 1.. so i added coral chip.. forgetting that my mineral rock / mineral plus will gradually increase my gH!.. just removed all my coral chips in the afternoon, hopefully after few rounds or WC and not adding mineral plus, my gH can drop to a 3-6... im thinking the high gH is the reason why i don't have berried shrimps

i think that is the same situation as me, except that my GH hits 21... haiz.... trying my best to bring down the GH doing alternate water change ba... removed my mineral rock too and also stop adding in mineral plus... test my tap water & seems like my GH got at least between 3-5 (i think, based on the test strip), so i wont be adding in anymore mineral stuff until i can bring it down...

[Misery]

Try aging your tap water with peat ? might help to lower your gH before it enters your shrimp tank..

[alvinchan80]

Try aging your tap water with peat ? might help to lower your gH before it enters your shrimp tank..

where can i get the peat? doesnt it turns water brown? if it will bring down GH, can i just add it to the tank instead to bring it down?

[eviltrain]

just add active charcoal to absorb all the colourings lor

[alvinchan80]

so i can actually just pour peat into my tank directly to bring down GH? advisable? or stick to the water change planning?

peat is it the blackwater solution?

[Misery]

hi alan, http://aquaria.co.za/shop/images/cat...super-peat.jpg , i use this brand of peat, not advertising or anything but i find it quite useful to aid in lowering the gH, i place it in my canister. Active Carbon can take away the brown water, but so far i have no issues with brown water, my water quite clear.
you can find it at C328 and many other LFS around. i have not tried putting it in the tank itself, but you can try (:
what's your gH reading now?

cheers.

[alvinchan80]

hi alan, http://aquaria.co.za/shop/images/cat...super-peat.jpg , i use this brand of peat, not advertising or anything but i find it quite useful to aid in lowering the gH, i place it in my canister. Active Carbon can take away the brown water, but so far i have no issues with brown water, my water quite clear.
you can find it at C328 and many other LFS around. i have not tried putting it in the tank itself, but you can try (:
what's your gH reading now?

cheers.

Misery, does your PH drops when you added peat?

[Misery]

i took out peat after i solve the gH problem, not much change in pH. maybe slightly lowered but can be solved by WC, which will also speed up the process in lowering your gH problem.

[alvinchan80]

i took out peat after i solve the gH problem, not much change in pH. maybe slightly lowered but can be solved by WC, which will also speed up the process in lowering your gH problem.

so its to be placed in one of my trays in my canister filter?
how long you put in there to solve the GH problem?
actually right now i have low PH prob also.. its somewhere at 6-6.3PH... so if i add in the peats and it drops further.. then i will have a bad acidic water instead.. even after my wc, seems that my ph still quite high.. quite surprised...

latest updates:
NO2 & NO3 - 0
GH - approx 14 (yeah!! it dropped!!!)
KH - approx 4
PH - approx 6.3

[Misery]

i settled my gH problem within 4 days , i took a risk by WC about 25% everyday, but lucky me no casualties (:
pH 6 - 6.3 looks alright to me bro, since your gH is about 14 without peat, just do more WC ~

[alvinchan80]

i settled my gH problem within 4 days , i took a risk by WC about 25% everyday, but lucky me no casualties (:
pH 6 - 6.3 looks alright to me bro, since your gH is about 14 without peat, just do more WC ~

ya.. i also thinking of doing 20%-25% wc daily.. but worry that it might stress the shrimps too much... till now, no casualties *CHOI*... so thinking if i should do it daily or not... the GH only drops to 14pt on the 4th day of water change & also after removal of the mineral rock.. which means the mineral rock is actually very very rich in nutrients i think...

[sword28]

ya.. i also thinking of doing 20%-25% wc daily.. but worry that it might stress the shrimps too much... till now, no casualties *CHOI*... so thinking if i should do it daily or not... the GH only drops to 14pt on the 4th day of water change & also after removal of the mineral rock.. which means the mineral rock is actually very very rich in nutrients i think...

I am skeptical that your mineral rock cause a spike in GH. Your GH value seems very high. I think even 14 is still very high.
I have 4 mineral rocks in my 4ft setup (4 partition), one mineral rock in each partition, so meaning 1 mineral rock for about 1ft of tank water.
And my GH is only 4-5.

How long have you used the mineral rock when you observe this GH spike?
I would recommend you buy those solution test kit instead of using the stripe ones.
The worst thing is doing all these WC and risking your shrimps if later you find that it is a false alarm due to inaccurate test kit.

[alvinchan80]

I am skeptical that your mineral rock cause a spike in GH. Your GH value seems very high. I think even 14 is still very high.
I have 4 mineral rocks in my 4ft setup (4 partition), one mineral rock in each partition, so meaning 1 mineral rock for about 1ft of tank water.
And my GH is only 4-5.

How long have you used the mineral rock when you observe this GH spike?
I would recommend you buy those solution test kit instead of using the stripe ones.
The worst thing is doing all these WC and risking your shrimps if later you find that it is a false alarm due to inaccurate test kit.

The mineral rock has already been in the tank after a week of cycling with no fauna during that time. But it might be the weekly Mineral Plus which i have been adding into the water, together with the mineral rock that is causing the spike & i never do WC but only top up water for that 3 weeks of cycling..
After first 2 water change, the GH is still very high despite 25% WC... but after removing the mineral rock, from 3rd & 4th WC onwards, there is a drop in the GH... (Note, Mineral Plus isnt added anymore after the 1st WC)..
So I am assuming that its because of me adding in Mineral Plus even though the mineral rock is already adding nutrients to the water, but also because when the GH is already so high & the mineral is continuing releasing nutrients that is causing the GH to maintain at such a high level.. Moreover i never tested for GH for approximately 3-4weeks from day 1 of cycle (dont have test kit), so i am quite sure that alot of Mineral Plus has already been added inside because of my own mistake...

I will add the mineral rock into my tank again when my tank's GH drops to 3 or 4, then do a test again to see if there will be a spike again or not... but in the meantime, guess its alternate WC or weekly WC.... So... Alternate or Weekly WC?

Will definitely be getting liquid test kit soon because of reliability now after using them.. (it tested my tap water to be PH6.4) when i check my PH on liquid test kit to be 7.2-7.5....
But when i check the tap water's readings for GH, it is actually already at the 2-3, so i think just using aged water to do WC should be alright without adding in mineral plus, without having the mineral rock inside, but just shizhen to dechlorinate the water..

[sword28]

The mineral rock has already been in the tank after a week of cycling with no fauna during that time. But it might be the weekly Mineral Plus which i have been adding into the water, together with the mineral rock that is causing the spike & i never do WC but only top up water for that 3 weeks of cycling..
After first 2 water change, the GH is still very high despite 25% WC... but after removing the mineral rock, from 3rd & 4th WC onwards, there is a drop in the GH... (Note, Mineral Plus isnt added anymore after the 1st WC)..
So I am assuming that its because of me adding in Mineral Plus even though the mineral rock is already adding nutrients to the water, but also because when the GH is already so high & the mineral is continuing releasing nutrients that is causing the GH to maintain at such a high level.. Moreover i never tested for GH for approximately 3-4weeks from day 1 of cycle (dont have test kit), so i am quite sure that alot of Mineral Plus has already been added inside because of my own mistake...

I will add the mineral rock into my tank again when my tank's GH drops to 3 or 4, then do a test again to see if there will be a spike again or not... but in the meantime, guess its alternate WC or weekly WC.... So... Alternate or Weekly WC?

Will definitely be getting liquid test kit soon because of reliability now after using them.. (it tested my tap water to be PH6.4) when i check my PH on liquid test kit to be 7.2-7.5....
But when i check the tap water's readings for GH, it is actually already at the 2-3, so i think just using aged water to do WC should be alright without adding in mineral plus, without having the mineral rock inside, but just shizhen to dechlorinate the water..

FYI, I also dose mineral plus (about 4ml) during every week WC of 10%

[alvinchan80]

FYI, I also dose mineral plus (about 4ml) during every week WC of 10%

So there might be something wrong with my mineral rock, mineral plus, soil, or anything... Or I gauge all the measurements to pour in wrongly wrongly I guess.. So my GH rises to such a high point also my fault.. I just want to know how to bring it down safely.. That's all..

[sword28]

I think what you are doing is right, i.e. stop dosing mineral plus and doing WC until GH stablise to low level.
I am also curious what other stuff in your tank that might be the problem.
Do you have other rocks besides the mineral rock in your tank?

[alvinchan80]

I think what you are doing is right, i.e. stop dosing mineral plus and doing WC until GH stablise to low level.
I am also curious what other stuff in your tank that might be the problem.
Do you have other rocks besides the mineral rock in your tank?

no other rocks already.. just a driftwood, GEX soil, fissiden, mini pelia, riccia, marimo moss ball, which i dont think will contribute to the GH...

I did another 20% WC last night again.. (the 5th in 5 days) GH drop a little more last night.... and another thing is that i saw a berried snow white... *yeah!!*

[Misery]

congrats on the berried snow white.
how's the gH coming along?
try to get your liquid test kits for more accurate readings!
cheers~