*This is a reupload. There was some important information that I missed. Please use specific Calcium and Magnesium test kits rather than solely relying on GH testing to determine those two values!
@ericogribeiro
Жыл бұрын
Great video!! Thanks for updating the GH info
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
@@ericogribeiro My pleasure! Thanks for the heads-up!
@IndoorEcosystem
Жыл бұрын
Good guide GH and KH are tricky when you're just starting!
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@ameliaguess3788
Күн бұрын
Thank you!
@stubbsaquatics6080
Жыл бұрын
Geez I wasn't the first. Working on pond... Shocker right lol. . Good tip on looking at the top with bottom on white paper. I am glad I have 3 upper school maths . Lol. I use limestone rocks. Great tutorial
@workharddieproud
8 ай бұрын
Great video and nothing wrong with it. Very helpful, thank you !!
@TropiscapeAquatics
8 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it! 😊
@zoee1996xx
7 ай бұрын
Thankyou so much! I’m rewriting my own instuctions based on your video 😂 I’m terrible with leaflets 🤦🏼♀️😂
@TropiscapeAquatics
7 ай бұрын
Happy to help!
@MatthewHewitt1984
3 ай бұрын
I’m same I really don’t understand it 😂 it’s too much science for me 🤣
@quadzilla26b
4 ай бұрын
So much detail and information amazing work and thank you 🔥
@powpowpowlo4080
5 ай бұрын
Thank you for teaching me!
@TropiscapeAquatics
5 ай бұрын
Glad I could help!
@Darnss123
9 ай бұрын
Hey Tropiscape not too sure if u remember me. But can u make a video on shrimps and different types. I like the way u explain things and I feel like there aren’t enough videos online about shrimp and specific shrimp and there needs. Yes there are a lot of videos on shrimp but not a lot on the variety and the cool ones such as blue bolt and so on… also make ur self a discord server. I’ll join rq.
@TropiscapeAquatics
9 ай бұрын
Hmm... I can see what I can do. Also, I do remember you! Only issue is that I'm not that knowledgable and have very limited experience when it comes to shrimp and their needs. I've kept some in the past and still have some, but the ones I currently have are just Neocaridina. I tried Caridina shrimp, such as Crystal Reds and Blue Bolts in the past, but I've never been successful with them. They're quite pricey here in Canada, so I do not have any Caridinia shrimp as of now. As for the discord, I do have one set up! Check out my community tab on my channel. A link should be in there.
@dictionaryguy5521
7 ай бұрын
This seems like a great deal since most kits are 16 for 15 ml of each test. The API ones seem to be 37 ml
@paulibakker8880
Ай бұрын
Thankyou for an excellent video.!......Im experienced aquarist ( tropical/goldfish) but recently had a sudden algae bloom.. turned off lites . covered the 200 lt tank etc.....after that my PH suddenly dropped to 6.4 ...( KH , nitrate and GH ok).. Used API proper PH 7.... wouldn't increase PH to 7.....KH increased to 12+... I had to carefully add API cichlid UP 8.2 to slowly bring PH up to 7 ..took 3 wks... but now cant lower the KH to 8...the algae bloom has gone but water now cloudy even with 20% w/changes...PH is now set and stable but KH too high.. tap water is oo.oo KH..... Wll small partial w/changes lower KH please??.. getting a 'bit desperate" now!!... thankyou
@TropiscapeAquatics
Ай бұрын
It should, over time. That's if there's nothing in the water that may increase KH. Alternatively, you could use RO/DI water and remineralize it to the proper water parameters. However, looking at the instructions for API Proper pH 8.2, it says that it increases KH alongside pH. While I'm no expert when it comes to cichlids, I do know that a higher KH value prevents any dramatic pH swings or prevents the pH from dropping too low, which might be beneficial to cichlids.
@majestic._
6 ай бұрын
If im trying to determine the water hardness for my shower water this test should suffice right? Better than those little strips
@TropiscapeAquatics
6 ай бұрын
Yup! It should be way better than those little tests strips. Make sure to clean the shower head if you're taking water from there. We don't want any calcium build-up on the shower head to influence the results.
@ghassanstephan3228
2 ай бұрын
Hi, do you start counting the drops only after the first drop?
@TropiscapeAquatics
2 ай бұрын
The first drop is 1 degree. It's a little tough to understand if it's either 1 or 0 if it does change colour... This is probably the limitation of the test kit...
9 ай бұрын
. THANKS FOR SHARE! May I read for first KH ppm and subtract its value from a digital TDS value to finally make these x7.1 and 4.3 Calcium Magnesium aproximately calculation? Is it valid? Thanks to you!
@TropiscapeAquatics
9 ай бұрын
No, TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. It measures the combined amount of organic and inorganic material in the water. Dissolved solids can be a combination of calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, etc. You won't be able to get an accurate reading from multiplying TDS. You will unfortunately need a KH/GH test kit if you want an accurate reading.
@az_street_walker4181
6 ай бұрын
Hey man I just bought this kit two days ago it isn’t expired when I wheat to test the KH It never turned blue like yours I added 1 drop shook waited nothing so I decided to add more drops my way I got to 7 when it turned orange and my GH never changed from orange to green and I’ve added 40 drops
@TropiscapeAquatics
6 ай бұрын
If you can, get your hands on RO/DI water and add a little bit of Epsom salt (enough to at least get a reading) and then test it. Even better if you add the right amount to get a precise GH reading. This way, you can test to see if the GH drops are defective or not. Alternatively, you could test a different water source. You could also try emailing API and see what they say.
@Pepperdog01
3 ай бұрын
My aquarium has tap water in but my GH is 230ppm. If i add RO water or Distilled water do i still need to add minerals or not?
@TropiscapeAquatics
3 ай бұрын
If your goal is to decrease GH, then no. You don't need to remineralize. However, if your KH is not to your liking, there are remineralizers that only add KH and not GH.
@Pepperdog01
3 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics Thanks for the quick reply. If I continue to use RO or Distilled instead of the tap water I'm guessing I would then need to add minerals as the RO or Distilled water would eventually cancel out the tap water, which would mean there would be no minerals in the water at all?
@TropiscapeAquatics
3 ай бұрын
You can mix RO/DI with your tap water. You can try a 50:50 split ratio and then test for GH/KH and see if they're to your liking. If not, you can adjust the ratio. You can keep doing water changes with this water mix, and eventually it will the GH/KH levels will be the same as the mix, if that makes sense. I used to mix RO/DI with tap water in a 50:50 ratio
@Pepperdog01
3 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics Thanks. Yeah I'll try mixing until I get the desired GH I am after.
@Dariuslynel
11 ай бұрын
How much RO or distilled water would you add per Liter or Gallon?
@TropiscapeAquatics
11 ай бұрын
It's hard to tell, as there's a few factors that may influence this (tap water parameters different from location to location, hardscape, aquasoil, etc.). My default method is a 50/50 combination of RO/DI and tap water. However, this may not be the best method, depending on your tap water parameters. The best way to do things is to experiment with the API 5 ml test tube. For example: - Jot down your target GH/KH - Add 2.5 ml of tap water - Add 2.5 ml of RO/DI - Test the GH or KH - If it's not your target, try a different ratio, like 1 ml tap to 4 ml RO/DI and so forth... - Once you find the right combination, that's what you should aim for when mixing tap water and RO/DI for water changes. - A 50/50 ratio or any ratio in general will work in any size, whether that would be 5 ml, 12 US Gallons, or 32 Litres, etc. (Unless tap water parameters change for any reason) - The reason for using a 5 ml test tube is that it's easier to test as it's already in the test tube, and it costs less overral. Don't remove water from your tank and then add straight RO/DI. This could be dangerous for any sensitive livestock and plants. Instead, introduce this mixture with water changes that are less than 50% (25% is better just to be safe). Think of this as drip acclimation, but for the entire tank. Overtime, the parameters should stabilize as you do your water changes. Hope that makes sense! If not, feel free to ask more questions!
@Dariuslynel
11 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics I appreciate your detail response. Thanks! 🙏🏽
@bxbycienna
8 ай бұрын
Hi! Unfortunately my GH test seems to not be working. 23 drops in, and I’m unable to change the water color from dark orange to light-green. What could this possibly mean? My KH on the other hand, took 2 drops to turn yellow. Overall, my Ph dropped within a month, from 7.4 to a 6.0 Just tryna figure out why 😅
@TropiscapeAquatics
8 ай бұрын
Make sure the test kit (the liquid) is not expired. I know some API test kits do expire, but I am unsure if the GH/KH test kit does. If it's not changing after 23 drops, you have a really high GH degree. GH is hard to notice the colour change, you can try looking down on it with a white piece of paper as a background and take "progress pictures" as you go and compare and contrast them. Here's a test you can try. Grab RO water or distilled water, add some Epsom salt or crushed coral or anything with calcium in it (I think eggshells might work as well). Put just a little bit of it in the water, so you won't be forever testing it again. If you cannot do this, you can try testing water from a friend or any other source. Your main goal is to get it to change, not to test water in a sense.
@PaulC.494
4 ай бұрын
How do you measure magnesium in a freshwater aquarium ?
@TropiscapeAquatics
4 ай бұрын
You will need a dedicated Magnesium test kit. There are plenty of manufacturers that makes them.
@PaulC.494
4 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics I could only see test kits for marine tanks, are they the same ?
@TropiscapeAquatics
4 ай бұрын
@@PaulC.494 I am not 100% percent sure. It would be best to ask the manufacturer themselves, as each test kit can be different.
@SifuKelp
Жыл бұрын
My KH was 1 drop and GH was 3 drops from regular tapwater with prime. Does that sound right/possible?
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
It is possible to have that kind of tap water. However, the tap water parameters will depend on your local waterways and how they treat local water. The water where I'm from can be completely different in another city 3 hours away from me. The only way to be super sure is if you can find local government documentation on tap water quality, or do multiple tests straight from the tap and see if it's consistent.
@kylegoodyear2951
6 ай бұрын
Is it normal for the gH to turn more orange afther each drop? I've put 30 drops of the gH and it never turned green only a deeper orange
@TropiscapeAquatics
6 ай бұрын
"Normal" depends on your water source. If the source of your water is also around 30, then yeah, it is normal. If there's a difference of like 10+ or something like that, then no, there's something in the tank or something that's increasing the GH...
@kylegoodyear2951
6 ай бұрын
My tap just read out about 4 degrees, which doesn't make sense as to why it was going above 30 degrees out of the tank
@TropiscapeAquatics
6 ай бұрын
@@kylegoodyear2951 Hmm... There's something in there that's causing it. Could be hardscape, or something in the filter that's causing it. If it's a used tank, it could be residue calcium stains.
@kylegoodyear2951
6 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics it was a used tank but I did give the tank a deep rinse
@poppinpills2442
Жыл бұрын
how to decrease kh without ro or rain water?
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
You can use Seachem Acid Buffer as a way to decrease KH, however, this will decrease pH as well. Furthermore, this will need to be done for every water change you do, so the cost may add up more than simply using RO water, and you need to be very precise with chemical measurements. For me, a single 5 US Gallon jug of RO water costs $2 CAD at my local water filling station. Personally, I would stay away from any chemicals, but you are free to do what you think is best for your tank.
@poppinpills2442
Жыл бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics thanks, your answer is very detailed, so it's better to install a reverse osmosis system if it's long term use
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
@@poppinpills2442 That may be the best choice, however, you also have to have a look at how often you'll be using it, how much water you'll be using, your water bill, and any necessary equipment. In the long run, it would definitely be cheaper. It's like buying a new GPU for "future proofing". But just like GPU's, RO systems are definitely not cheap, well at least not here in Canada from what I've seen. For me, I've only used RO water for a 5 gallon tank, so the amount I needed wasn't too large. To save even more money, I also combined half of the RO water with tap water for a 50/50 split. I was completely fine with paying the $2 per 5 gallons.
@NihiABI
Жыл бұрын
I got myself my own test kit and I think my water parameters is weird. I think 've done everything right. My KH turned yellow at around 10 But my GH turned light green at the 1st drop. My PH is around 8.2 - 8.4 which is weird because I've read that when PH and KH is high GH tend to be high as well. I want to balance it out but I am not sure what's the best method to approach it. Decreasing my PH and KH or Increasing my GH? Can't to afford RO/DI method
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
Which water did you test? The tap water or the tank water? If you test both and one of them is not the same, then there must be something influencing the parameters. CO2 being one of these factors. Generally, when GH is higher, pH does tend to be higher, but not always as you've just proved. Since KH is at a 10, there won't be any worry about fluctuating pH, which can be good for certain, but not all livestock. As for trying to balance it, do you really need to? Personally, I do think that GH might need some improvement, but having these results isn't inherently bad, and it's definitely possible to still grow healthy plants. There's also some livestock that do prefer higher pH water, such as Guppies. Have a look at your goals for tank and see if you can work around what you currently have instead of messing around and potentially messing something up. If you're going to do this, make sure to keep an eye on the health of your livestock and plants. However, if you do want to decrease the pH, KH, and raise GH, there are a few things you can do: - Introduce driftwood or other botanicals such as dried oak leaves or even peat moss in a filter bag. These will decrease your pH over time. Also, be careful then scavenging these items yourself from outdoors and make sure to disinfect anything you use through boiling. The only issue is that it may make your tank water look like tea, unless you use stuff like Seachem Purigen or activated carbon. If you choose to do this, go slow with the amount you add and see how it changes your water. - Use CO2. As mentioned before, CO2 will decrease pH. - Chemicals. There are chemicals that can lower or raise these values. However, this will cost money, and you will need to be consistent with every water change you do. Personally, I would stay away from using any chemicals unless you're treating RO/DI water. - RO/DI water. I know that you can't afford this method, but I'm not entirely sure if you know that you don't have to purchase an RO/DI system. Check around your local area to see if there are any water suppliers that offer RO/DI water. There's a few around me where I can fill up a 5 gallon jug for just $2 CAD. If you do go down this route, I recommend mixing half RO water with half tap water. This will help bring down any higher values (monitor your GH with this, as it will also bring that down). This will also help save money when it comes to water changes depending on the amount you are changing.
@NihiABI
Жыл бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics I tested both of my tap and aquarium waters and both came out as light green on the first drop so 0 -1dKH from tap. The only conclusion I found online that has similar parameters with mine that my water provided uses water softener to soften the water. To be honest, I really do not need to lower my PH and KH as I feel like they are pretty stable in my tank. The only reason wanted to lower my PH down a bit is because I am planning to add some calcium/mineral blocks inside the tank as an attempt to raise the GH, specifically I just want to add more calcium in the water, but I've gather some information that calcium increases KH and in terms PH. Since I have already high PH i am hesitant adding some calcium addetives as an attempt as I fear that the PH swings would be too much for my fish to handle and I am not sure if my 10dKH would buffer it. I only really wanted to increase my GH alone but I am unsure that having high KH would prevent that. I purchased and added some GH booster product (Calcium Sulfate and Magnesium Sulfate powders) into my dummy 20gal tank (same parameters as my main tank and tap water). My GH still wont increase even at 6x the recommended ammount (after testing with the recommended amount first). So I am just puzzled all in all, thank you for your advice.
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
A dKH of 10 is quite high in my eyes, so there shouldn't be any sort of wild pH swings. If your dKH was around 0 - 2 then I would worry more on the pH swings. The issue would be how high pH would end up increasing. If you're worried about pH shock, you can slowly add the GH booster and increase the dosage overtime while watching how any livestock will react. This is similar to drip acclimation in a way. GH and KH are values that measure separate things, so there shouldn't be any crossover where one may prevent the other. KH buffering comes into play when acidic water, or anything acidic in general, gets added to the water. The carbonates in the water will react with the acidic water and basically neutralize it. The higher KH you have, the more carbonate is present in the water, as KH measures the carbonate hardness. The more carbonate is in the water, the harder it is for anything acidic to affect the water and lower its pH. As for the 6x GH booster not being picked up, check to see if liquid for the test kit is not expired. Another experiment is to add water to a cup, add GH booster (doesn't have to be the 6x times again), and do another test. Doing this may make it easier when it comes to testing as you won't be using much booster, and you will only be using a small amount of volume of water. With a smaller volume of water, it is easier to influence its parameters, if that makes sense.
@udaydas6291
Жыл бұрын
Gh- Orenge to green. But i think orenge is not orenge its yellow?
@TropiscapeAquatics
Жыл бұрын
It's more of an orange-yellow, a mixture of the two colors. API also uses the term 'orange-yellow' in their manual.
@terrybarreneche7388
4 ай бұрын
I moved from Pittsburgh, Pa to Indiana, Pa and just realized the reason my neocaridinia shrimp are having problems molting. GH=2.
@TropiscapeAquatics
4 ай бұрын
Oof, yeah, that'll do it... A city 2 hours away from me has completely different tap water parameters. Hope everything works out for you in the end!~
@sAmiZZle82
11 ай бұрын
Multiple by 17.9!
@TropiscapeAquatics
11 ай бұрын
A more accurate measurement would be 1dKH = 17.848 ppm of CaCO3. Rounding to any place would still give 17.8. However, I do see where you got 17.9 as this Wikipedia page ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKH ) does state 17.86, but the superscript mentions a citation needed. So, I would trust the 17.8 a bit more given the .edu source I listed alongside the Wikipedia source. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonate_hardness (For the 17.848) users.cs.duke.edu/~narten/faq/chemistry.html
@Dad66890
5 ай бұрын
My shrimps was dieing so I tested the water, turned out my gh was 2😭
@TropiscapeAquatics
5 ай бұрын
Oof Press 'F' to pay respects.
@marc8973
9 ай бұрын
Your video is very confusing.
@TropiscapeAquatics
9 ай бұрын
In what way is it confusing? Let me know if there are any questions you may have
@Darnss123
9 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquaticsur video is not confusing my friend. Marc is simply special:)
@TropiscapeAquatics
9 ай бұрын
@@Darnss123 Thanks for the reassurance! But, if he needs a little help understanding the concepts, it's my job to also make sure that they are able to understand it since I made the video
@marc8973
9 ай бұрын
@@TropiscapeAquatics It's simply a matter of editing. The music level, the fast camera movements, the sounds that have been added. The way numbers appear. The way informations are said quickly. I can't give you all the details of what I'm talking about, but overall, it can be confusing if you're not very focused on the words said in the video.
@TropiscapeAquatics
9 ай бұрын
That's fair. This is an older video, so it may be faster than my newer ones. However, I'm always experimenting when it comes to editing, especially when it comes to retention editing. My editing style is a little unorthodox compared to other aquarium KZitemrs. I completely understand that this kind of editing will not be for everyone, just like how slower videos aren't for others
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