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Questions regarding Intensely high gh/kh.

DutchMuch

Member
Joined
6 Aug 2018
Messages
509
Location
Hartwell, GA (U.S.)
Hello all,
My gH is currently at around 15, and the kH is around 13-14.

I am planning to breed a rare variant of japense trapdoor snails, which like gh/kh both around 6-8 if i am correct. Similar to neocaridina shrimp.

Try to find how to lower the gH and kH, any advice?

so far i have read that the pretty much only sure fire way is to use RO/DI from the store

Appreciate it,
Dutch
 
Last edited:
Hi all,
My gH is currently at around 15, and the kH is around 13-14. I am planning to breed a rare variant of japense trapdoor snails, which like gh/kh both around 6-8 if i am correct. Similar to neocaridina shrimp.
I'd be very surprised if the snails weren't fine at 13-14 dKH. Cherry shrimp were fine in our tap water (18 dKH/dGH), it is soft water that isn't any good for them.

cheers Darrel
 
I’d request the supplier water conditions and set tanks to match as closely as possible
Then measure water in shipping bags to check - if there is any - snails mostly ship damp, so I’d request a tank water sample be sent (though unless you know the seller/shipper well, approach any water sample (& parameters) with some scepticism ;)

Then gradually switch over to tap water conditions - over a couple months rather than weeks

Observing Nerite sp. shipments over the last year or so, they often seem fine initially, but then may die off after 2-3 months, other shipments may show high early losses (upon arrival - 2 weeks), some show few losses initially or over first months
 
Hi all, I'd be very surprised if the snails weren't fine at 13-14 dKH. Cherry shrimp were fine in our tap water (18 dKH/dGH), it is soft water that isn't any good for them.

cheers Darrel
The water runs through a water softner, is this ok?
 
Depends - most home water softeners replace with sodium ions which is seldom appreciated by plants or livestock

Check technical details on your system
 
2.5 pounds of salt are needed for regeneration.
so definitely substituting Na ions

The 950 Water Softeners can soften up to 35 grains per gallon
Check what company means by “grains”
Also is this flow rate dependent?

What are the GH etc values for local water - check municipal sites in the area - incoming water may be much higher GH, or perhaps water softener needs some maintenance
If private well, there should be a report available - though this depends on local bylaws
 
perhaps water softener needs some maintenance
If private well, there should be a report available
We have a private well, we did a water quality report once dont think we have the paper for it...

GH i assume would be Much higher if not a little higher.

I also imagine that yes it is flow rate dependent.

Water softener is brand new, dont think it needs any fixing or maintenance... *also just looked at it to verify*

We do not have local water, such as city water etc.
 
If you know which company did the report, they may still have a copy (depending on time elapsed)

If the water softener is new, it’s possible it’s not set up properly etc - the site you linked seems short on technical info

You could likely call and speak to technical support

For a quick check, just pull water before after softener to check GH etc - there are home kits that may be cheaper or more technical than aquarium kits (I’ve not looked in ages so no idea what’s available currently), kits that include standards would be my choice
 
If you know which company did the report, they may still have a copy (depending on time elapsed)
It was the gov. Ill see if i can get it.
If the water softener is new, it’s possible it’s not set up properly etc - the site you linked seems short on technical info
was prof. installed when house was built

For a quick check, just pull water before after softener
refer to last post, hope the tests helped a bit
 
Definitely something wrong there, either with the distilled water or with the hardness testing.
 
From your GH/KH values above, either the water softener isn’t doing much (should perform much better than a few degrees of softening, note if the input water doesn’t meet the required psi (from company page), system won’t work as advertised) or your kit or technique has some flaws

If using the same test container (vial, test tube etc) for successive samples, how are you cleaning this between tests?

Which test kit are you using?
Check expiry date (though KH/GH isn’t usually time sensitive as long as closed tightly and stored moderate room temp)
 
:banghead: teach me for scaning the thread and not reading it:rolleyes:

It's not distilled water it's soften water

Your cheapest/easier option dependant on size of tank is to buy some RO water. My LFS sells it at £0.06p per litre which for a hard water area is probably cheaper than doing it myself. Then mix with the tap OFC. All depends if your on a water meter, if not pick up an RO unit M8 ;)

Like Darrel says soften water is tricky as all its its through is an ion exchange, so it's just exchanged one ion for another so the hardness may change but the ppm of ions will be the same or more.
 
From your GH/KH values above, either the water softener isn’t doing much (should perform much better than a few degrees of softening, note if the input water doesn’t meet the required psi (from company page), system won’t work as advertised) or your kit or technique has some flaws

If using the same test container (vial, test tube etc) for successive samples, how are you cleaning this between tests?

Which test kit are you using?
Check expiry date (though KH/GH isn’t usually time sensitive as long as closed tightly and stored moderate room temp)
Test kit: api master kit

cleaning it with a good wash of only water then letting it air dry on a rack.

Isnt expired, kit is relatively new since i replaced the old one i had finally.
 
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