Need Some Ideas On How To Raise Kh And Gh Without Raising Ph To High

[Dragonnette]

Hello, I am new to the hobby and found this forum to be very helpful in my research.
A little info about my tank,
It's a beautiful 75 gallon tank that someone gave to me. I had a hard time with the old tank syndrome after moving it but I think I got it sorted out with lots of water changes.
It has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, between 20 to 30 nitrates (was off the chart after the move) ph is 6.8 and I got super soft water almost non existant kh and gh. Ph use to be super low so I added crushed coral to the filter about 2 weeks ago. It slowly raised it to almost 7 but my kh and gh are still almost non existant. I don't really want the ph to go much more then 7 so I'm not sure adding more crushed coral is a good idea. Anyone knows how to raise kh and gh without raising ph any further? I do around 30% water change once every 5 to 7 days. The tank came with 1 pleco and an iridescent shark that's about 7-8 inches (that I want to rehome because he needs a bigger home) and there is 5 baby Angel's.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[NavyChief20]

Hello, I am new to the hobby and found this forum to be very helpful in my research.
A little info about my tank,
It's a beautiful 75 gallon tank that someone gave to me. I had a hard time with the old tank syndrome after moving it but I think I got it sorted out with lots of water changes.
It has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, between 20 to 30 nitrates (was off the chart after the move) ph is 6.8 and I got super soft water almost non existant kh and gh. Ph use to be super low so I added crushed coral to the filter about 2 weeks ago. It slowly raised it to almost 7 but my kh and gh are still almost non existant. I don't really want the ph to go much more then 7 so I'm not sure adding more crushed coral is a good idea. Anyone knows how to raise kh and gh without raising ph any further? I do around 30% water change once every 5 to 7 days. The tank came with 1 pleco and an iridescent shark that's about 7-8 inches (that I want to rehome because he needs a bigger home) and there is 5 baby Angel's.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

What is your tap water pH

 

[Dragonnette]

Tap water has a ph of 7

 

[NavyChief20]

Tap water has a ph of 7

Your tap water has a pH of 7? That's amazing. So naturally it will off gas and drop when you do water changes. You can add some shells or crushed coral that will buffer it. What pH are you trying to get to? Chasing pH is not an advisable thing to do by the way. If you get roped in to buying that pH up or down garbage you will have drastic swings and oh btw dilution is the solution. Its best to buffer it with rock or shell that adds hardness to the water as well as bumping you to a more basic pH.

 

[AquaticJ]

I’ll trade you tap water lol. Try adding Seachem Equilibrium and more crushed coral. There’s no way around raising the PH when the KH and GH are raised.

 

[Dragonnette]

Yeah, I didn't want to go the baking soda route for that reason. I only cared to bring the ph above 6 as it was quite a bit lower. Once I got the nitrate down to 20 the ph was a constant 5.5 but the water has no kh and barely any gh in it. I do have wood in the tank. Do you think adding more crushed coral will raise the ph some more? I just don't want it to get to 8. My fish like it a bit more acidic and the plants aren't like having no minerals I don't think.

Thank maybe I'll add a little more crushed coral and see how it goes.

 

[coralbandit]

I use wonder shells on my swordtail/ red picta tanks .
My water normally has a ph of 7.6 /kh2-3 /gh 9 with a TDS of 350.
Adding wonder shells raised one of my tanks to 1,112 TDS with a ph of 6.8
I am not sure what the kh and gh levels were ,but a good guess from the TDS says they were both also elevated although my ph clearly dropped .5 at least.
It is documented that to keep ph up in regular use that baking soda should be added. So maybe the wonder shells add everything needed but the baking soda that raises the ph??
I agree with AquaticJ that even equilibrium will likely raise your ph along with gh and kh.. Seems like no one can raise their kh /gh without raising their ph..
I should explore the wonder shells .

 

[Dragonnette]

I quickly looked at wonder shells on amazon. They seem interesting. I will look it up some more. It even said it removes chlorine?! For now I'll just add the crushed coral since I have more and maybe with some patience I'll get the kh and gh up. I can always take some out if it turns into African cichlid water. I just worry my fish won't get the minerals that they need. My shark wasn't in the best shape when I moved him to my place and I tried a number of meds and nothing has work but hes not getting worst either. I need him to be healthy to find him a new home. No one wants a half healthy fish.

 

[NavyChief20]

I use wonder shells on my swordtail/ red picta tanks .
My water normally has a ph of 7.6 /kh2-3 /gh 9 with a TDS of 350.
Adding wonder shells raised one of my tanks to 1,112 TDS with a ph of 6.8
I am not sure what the kh and gh levels were ,but a good guess from the TDS says they were both also elevated although my ph clearly dropped .5 at least.
It is documented that to keep ph up in regular use that baking soda should be added. So maybe the wonder shells add everything needed but the baking soda that raises the ph??
I agree with AquaticJ that even equilibrium will likely raise your ph along with gh and kh.. Seems like no one can raise their kh /gh without raising their ph..
I should explore the wonder shells .

That's because pH and kH/gH go hand in hand. They are not exactly directly proportional but its close.