# Water Hardness



## tvs3699 (Aug 29, 2008)

I set up a 100 gallon African Cichlid tank a couple months ago. Iâ€™m a little confused about my water hardness. I use well water and the aquarium water levels are currently PH â€" 8.4, GH â€" 6 dKH and KH â€" 24 dKH. Itâ€™s odd because GH indicates it is soft water but the KH is through the roof. I know that cichlids require hard water. Will these conditions put stress on my cichlids? Is there anything I should do to make the conditions better for my cichlids? Thanks in advance for your advice.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Add a tablespoon of Epsom salt per 5 gallons and it should make the water hard. :thumb:

I recently have been seeing the same inside my aquarium and thats all I do.

I have yet to nip the cause but I do plan on it so things can mellow out naturally if possible.

Also not sure if this will help but give it a good read:..http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/gh_kh_ph.php


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## tvs3699 (Aug 29, 2008)

Thanks for the tip! Will the Epsom salt affect the PH & the KH as well? Also, do I add more epsom salt with every water change?

Thanks again!


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

It shouldn't to my knowledge and as long as you know how many gallons you take out I would put that amount of salt back in. Just make sure to dissolve the salt in the bucket of fresh water before it goes back. Or,.... if you use a python to fill back up what I do is scoop out some water with a piture and add the salt to it. Then I wait for it to dissolve and slowly poor it back in as the water is going back in from the python.


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## tvs3699 (Aug 29, 2008)

Great! Thanks so much for the advice! I'll get going on this right now.


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## JeffreyL (May 31, 2006)

tvs3699, there are several excellent articles on water chemistry in the "library" section here. Probably show you more than you want to know.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> currently PH â€" 8.4, GH â€" 6 dKH and KH â€" 24 dKH


With parameters like that, I'd be tempted to just use as is. You've got plenty of buffers(KH) that'll keep the pH from crashing. That's the most important thing. Your GH isn't that far off of the 'normally recommended range'. For tank raised cichlids, I don't see where whether the GH is 6 or 10 or 12 would make a whole lot of difference to the fish. Some claim the fish color up better. I'd try keeping it simple first and use it as is. I'll bet they thrive and look good too.


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## tvs3699 (Aug 29, 2008)

Too late ... I added the epsom salt gradually starting a few days ago. A couple of my africans do seem to appear slightly brighter or more iridescent. They also seem to have gotten a little more active... may be a coincidence.
:fish:


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## peasey (May 18, 2008)

How do you guys test the hardness? All I could find was the dip strips with GH and KH in ppm. I had to go online to find the conversion to see if it's remotely close to what I need.

We all know how accurate those dip strips are. :roll:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

You can usually find the API liquid kits locally. The GH and KH kits often come boxed together.


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

I use the api liquid hardness tests.

My africans do color up better with higher GH. I use a mixture of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate (epsom salt). I see a little more color with calcium carbonate than I do with magnesium carbonate. Calcium carbonate can't be found at walmart like epsom salt (unless you want to crush up tums and have coloring in the water :lol: ) but you can get it at any chemical supply or even ebay for next to nothing.


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## giblit (May 20, 2008)

i have crushed coral in my canister to make my water harder


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