how frequent you need to adjust your kH ?

[dx]

kH can be increased by baking soda, calcium carbonate and coral chips, right ?

May I know after you set the kH value, say at 4, how stable is this value. Can it be stable for 1 month before you need to increase kH again ? Maybe long term if using coral chips ? How about people using baking soda / calcium carbonate, how is your experience ?

[chua]

You have to measure your KH after each water change. Your KH will be affected depending on the amount of water change. Say if your KH decrease by 1, u just have to add the respective amount of sodium bicarbionate to increase by 1 back to your desired KH.

[dx]

i see ... so using coral chips might be easier. I read that a lot of people just putting small amount (fist size ?) of that in the filter compartment.

[caseSENSITIVE]

Coral chips are unreliable as a source to raise KH and GH because the rate at which they dissolve is quite variable. They are IMO best employed as supplements to other methods of raising hardness. You would be better off by using baking soda if all you are looking for is to raise KH.

IME, there's no need to test the KH weekly after each water change as long as you are consistent with how much water you remove and how much baking soda you add accordingly. If you can provide us with your (1) tap water's KH, (2) tank size, and (3) how much is your water change, then we can recommend a specific baking soda dosage/regiment for you.

On a side note, if the KH needs adjustment, then more likely than not, the GH would also needs to be adjusted. What's your GH? In cases where both KH and GH need to be increased, CaCO3 powder and MgSO4.7H20 (Epsom salt) would be the better choice.

[juggler]

[quote:24ea3121cf="dx"]i see ... so using coral chips might be easier. I read that a lot of people just putting small amount (fist size ?) of that in the filter compartment.[/quote:24ea3121cf]

I have been doing that for my 3 tanks. It saves me time. It works like a 3-in-1 mix: kH, Ca and Mg are provided for.

Why not try out using coral chips as well as separate dosings to see what works best for you? The coral chips is best kept in a mesh bag in the filter so that you can easily remove it in future.

Cheers!

Small note: I found that those "coral chips" containing crush shells (like those used in marine tanks) provides more hardness than just the plain chunky ones.

[crandf]

egg shell, most available, so long as you not scared of bird flu