Aquascape Guide - Water Chemistry for a Planted Aquarium / EP 5 - Water Parameters
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2024
- #AquascapeGuide #WaterParameters #PlantedAquarium
In this video we talk about:
0:00 - Introduction
0:50 - What Water Parameters Should We Focus On
1:46 - How Do We Test Our Tank's Water Parameters
4:18 - What Should our Water Paratmeteres Be
5:43 - Adjusting Your Water Parameters
7:45 - Increasing GH & KH
12:56 - Recap
OUR LINKS:
Free online ASG Course: www.aquascapeguide.com/asgu
ASG's Store - www.aquascapeguide.com/shop
REFERENCED VIDEOS:
AquascapeGuide - Selecting a Light For a Planted Aquarium / EP 2 - Lighting
• Aquascape Guide - Sele...
AquascapeGuide - How to Set Up a CO2 System For An Aquarium / EP 3 - CO2
• Aquascape Guide - How ...
Aquascape Guide - Providing Nutrients in a Planted Aquarium / EP 4 - Nutrients
• Aquascape Guide - Prov...
**USE OUR COUPON CODE "ASG10" TO RECEIVE 10% OFF YOUR NILOCG ORDER**
PRODUCTS REFERENCED:
API GH/KH Test kit - amzn.to/3htEaUi
API PH Test kit - amzn.to/3k3KNhv
AquaticLife RO Buddie - amzn.to/3z9Qij4
Seachem Equilibrium - amzn.to/3z5KVS7
Seachem Acid Buffer - amzn.to/2XbnKZT
Good grief. You made what seems a quite complicated subject seem SO direct, clear, to the point, extremely accessible! Wish I'd come across your videos way earlier! Absolutely agree it helps and again you illustrate so clearly, it's a good thing to understand the 'whys, whats' behind a subject. Like how the shrimp remineralizer products can work very well.. but understanding GH/KH goes very far if one happens to have parameters that doesn't lend to just adding the pre-made remineralizer powders... Brilliant.
I want to add, just watched your CO2 video for planted tanks before this. Right up to seeing that video today, I absolutely refused to even consider looking into CO2.. you massively changed my mind into being at least open to it. Again, because you made it so very accessible, both the set up and how you want to manage it in a tank. The tricky part for me is finding someplace close enough for refilling the paintball canisters. (somewhat rural, don't have the usual chain shops others go to for refills.)
Kevin! Thank you sooooo much for the kind word my scaping friend :) Comments like these are why I make these videos. 18 years keeping tanks... I've got a lot of knowledge to share. And I too still have a lot to learn, but want to learn collectively. And all of this stuff really is this easy. I think people like to make it sound harder than it is for their ego's sake. HAHAHA... That and I am just a teacher at heart. I like simplifying things so others can understand and be successful as well! This hobby brings me and my family so much joy, I want others to have that as.
And I too am a "why guy". I want to WHYYYY someone is doing something. Most people in the hobby can't tell you why because they are just doing what they've been told to do... by someone that told them to do something, by someone that told them to do something, and so on. And YES! SaltShrimp is a great product, shoot, I have used it myself, BUT, also want others to know what is going on behind the scenes just in case they run out, or can't get ahold of it, they are not reliant on it. They understand the why! ;)
And that is awesome that you are considering Co2 again! I am a HUGE fan of Co2. It just makes such a huge difference on the tank's health, and its ability to fend off algae. But I agree, for sustainability reasons I would suggest finding a way to get them filled first, before buying all your gear... that would suck. But check with paintball gun shops, home beer brewing supply shops, fire extinguisher shops, some DICKS sporting goods fill them, and even the company AIRGAS has a 5lb bottle swap service. That might be too big for your tank, but at least it would be sustainable for you. If you would like mentorship with the ASG methods, find our private group on Facebook and I'll approve you. I'd love to help you get your CO2 going!
Later scaper!
Looking forward to your filtration video. Curious to compare to my favorite either the tidal or aqua clear hang on back filters.
Mario! We're about 80% done with the script. Just trying to squeeze things in between kids and work ;) But we're looking forward to finishing the last chapter in the series and capping it all with a conclusion. Once that is all done, we're going to be creating a free course with all this information in it! We're going to call it ASG Univerity. Its going to be sweet. We'll make sure we put together an email blast with this information so you know when the Univerity is live. Appreicate your support man!
Hi love the videos super easy to under stand. I have a neo shrimp tank my GH is sitting at 7 but my KH is sitting at 1 I know I should increase the KH to around 3-4. Now the question is if 1teaspoon is used for 75gal tank (286litre) then I guess a small pinch of backing soda should be good for a 24 litre tank (6.8 gal)
I love that you're absorbing this information! Yeah, with smaller tanks its harder to add micro amounts of baking soda. What I do is remineralize a 5gal jug of RO water and use 1/4 tsp to boost my KH +4. Then use that the water in the jug to process my water changes. You could also play around with add a pinch and resting your water after a few minutes... and over time you'll learn that X of a KH boost takes X amount of pinches. It would just take some trial and error to learn your tank, but you'll get there :) Reach out if you have more questions. You're on the right track!
My PH usually test low and i have dragon stones inside my tank should i replace them with other stones and aslo should do a 50% water change?
Hi Rosalin! Thanks for your question. If you usually have a low PH, something like an aquasoil, tannis from driftwood, or mosses can soften your water. Most of the time when we see a low PH, it means your KH (carbonates hardness) is low. We're found that SOME, not all Dragon Stone, can contain calcite, which can actually raise KH.. so something else is playing with your water. Regardless, sodium bicarbonates, or baking soda can raise up your KH again with little effect on your PH. But if you want more effect on the PH due to the livestocks needs in your tank, you can use calcium carbonate, or crushed coral. We talk about how to raise and lower your KH in our Water Chemistry video :) Check it out! - th-cam.com/video/3-rJePrlGec/w-d-xo.html
I understand you say 4 but what range would be quasi-ideal? Here is my case. My tap water is 3 (GH and KH) so I have one tank on 3 (only plants and driftwood) and another tank on 7 (GH and KH) because it has many rocks and it used pea gravel to raise the floor level. Even diluting with my 3 tap water, it goes back to 7 super quickly so I dont see how RO will do the trick. Plants grow well in the 7 tank, they only challenge I see is that PH does not drop easily with extra CO2 (buffered by the KH). On my 3GH/KH tank, I could add Equilibrium and Baking Soda, but is it worth the effort just for a 1 degree increase? So back to the original question, is there an OK range? Thanks
Hey! You're back with more question, love it. Start with your first tank that is at 3dKH and GH. if you are not seeing deficneinces, like or yellowing leafs on the new growth, then I would not worry about bumping your. If your plants are not doing well, or you are seeing defienceies and your fertliataion is where it needs to be, I would consider bumping it up. Its super quick and easy to do. Its better to be slightly over than slightly under. On the second tank with a GH/KH of 7, same principal applies. If everything in the tank is happy, don't mess with it. If the plants are livestock are not doing well, then I would considering softening the water. This is the issue with putting things in our tanks that can adjust water chemistry. Seiryu stone is notorious for having calcite veins in it, and when our PH drops due to CO2 it will dissolve the calcite and jack up our GH/KH, because calcite is calcium (GH boosting), and carbonate (KH boosting). And what you are seeing with your CO2 is the high KH fighting the PH frop. Carbonates are a buffer to help neturalize acids and stabilize PH. As explained in our CO2 video, the higher the KH, the more CO2 you are going to need to inejct to get your PH drop where it needs to be. Another reason why our target for GH/KH is 4. I'm going to preface this with, I think its a good idea to try and shoot for a GH/KH of 4, but many planted tanks can be happy outside of that. I think once you hit the teens, things get a little trickier with healthy plant growth, then up into the high teens and into the 20s, as far as GH/KH goes, things get REALLY diffficut for plants. So these are not rules, but more guidelines to help newbies be successful right out of the gate. We kept a new tank at a GH of 11 and a KH of 4, and did really well. We needed to jack up the GH for the neos, but we were about to pull it off. You can read out our experience in this article we wrote - www.aquascapeguide.com/post/neocaridina-shrimp-in-planted-aquariums
Great! As always, your channel and websites are my go to place to find something useful tips. I have a planted tank with aquasoil. My tap water has 1dKH. 8-12 hours after water change, my KH is reading less than 1 dKH. I think this is because of the aquasoil buffering effect. My plants are doing ok, but not great. I am noticing BBA on glasses, filter output, and small leaves, leggy growth, loss of colour. I think, they suggest CO2 is not optimum. I am following good fertilizer regime. Also, have root tabs. Is my KH < 1 okay? How do I address the low KH issue? Thank you!
Hey! Glad to hear my content is helping you. I've seen certain plants struggle in softer waters. One plant that comes to mind is Staurogyne Repens. When the KH get too high or low, it start to look like its dissolving. Its odd. And yes, it could very well be your aquasoil buffering your GH and KH down. So make sure you check your GH as well. But to bring your KH back up, I used baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate. 1/4 tsp in 5 gallons will give you a +4dKH boost. I tend to keep all my tank around a dKH of 4. That seems to be plenty. I've also learned that some plants will use carbonates as a carbon source. I don't know much about it yet as I need to research it more, but just another reason to keep your KH boosted slightly, versus no KH. As far as your BBA goes, if you go to our website, and click on blog at the top, there is an algae section which has a BBA article in it. Its REALLY in depth, but the short answer is that you're not getting your one point PH drop before the light turn on, OR, you phosphates are too high compared to your nitrates. Those are the two areas I troubleshoot when helping others with BBA. Our Co2 video also goes into the PH drop method, so if you have not seen that video, it will help you dial in your Co2 injection. Hope all that helps! ... and thanks for commenting with your question! It helps other learn that are too shy to ask ;)
@@aquascapeguide Thanks for your detailed response! I will follow your advice on the KH.
Also, I have been turning on my CO2 two hours before the lights come on, but my drop checker stayed blue for the entire photoperiod. I thought drop checker was not working. Three days ago, I decided to leave the CO2 running for more than two hours or until it turns green. I did work, after three and half hours later drop checker turned green and continue to lime green through the entire photoperiod. So, simply turning my CO2 on for two hours was not simply enough. Furthermore, I see almost no BBA growing on the glasses. Your videos are really helpful, and looking forward to more such videos. Thank you so much!
3 week old 10 gallon tank, gravel, filters, heater etc.. Cycled with fish food. Yesterday I added clear ammonia (too much - went up to > 3ppm). This morning I removed & replaced 1.5 gallons to lower ammonia. Three different tests are showing zero ammonia, 0 - .05 nitrites and 10 ppm nitrates. UGF AND HOB filters, some juice from the old filter (fish had Myco). Why is this happening?
Why is what happening? Your question is unclear.
@@aquascapeguide sorry, - why is a clearly uncycled tank that just read 3 ppm ammonia, reading 0 ppm ammonia after a slight water change. BUT, I did not take into consideration the pH and temp......maybe it's only reading NH3 and not NH4. Thanks for the reply.
Hello, I purchased an RO unit about one week ago. My tank TDS is at 350ppm but my RO water is at 11ppm, my question is, can I mix the two by half to cut off my TDS, GH, and KH? or can I do that in one day? and will it affect my fish or plants if I do it in one go rather than taking a long time to add RO water each and every day in small amounts till desired TDS?
Hey! We're excited you're getting into RO water. It does really make a huge difference. We'll first start off by saying that any changes you make to GH/KH will effect your plants. You might see the old growth get unhappy and maybe even collect come aglae, but the new growth will be really happy! So just stay the course and focus on the new growth. You'll need to remove all the old plant mass over time, and keep replanting the new growth that is used to the softer water. Overall, the new plant mass will be much happier, but it will take a few weeks to get there if you are running the ASG method. With that being said, we will always suggest that you remineralize straight RO water as staright RO will not have all the other chemicals (junk) that come in out tap water. If you do chose to remineralize with tap water, which you can do, you'll be putting tap water chemicals back in your tank. Just something to keep in mind. And nothing good happens overnight with these system, so we'd suggest dropping your GH/KH little bits over time. Maybe over the course of 2-3 water changes. We teach that you should be process weekly water changes. And over the course of a few water change you're GH/KH should drop. Also notice how we've said nothing about TDS. Don't focus on TDS, focus on GH/KH readings. ALSO, we need to be mindful of the livestock you have in the tank. Pretty much all plants will be happy in a GH/KH of 4, but not all livestock are happy with water that soft. So you need to google the water parameters your fish can live in and adjust the water softness to their lower range as to not kill them. That is what we'd suggest. Thank you for asking your question as other passing by can learn with you! Reach out if you have more! :) Later scaper! ;P
Hi there, my water comes out the tap at pH 7, kH 0 and gH 0. How do I get my tank to pH 6.5 (I have soft water fish) and have at least 2 or 3 for gH and kH? I had been using seachem buffers at 1:1.3 but having a BBA nightmare and read the buffers might be making it worse.
Are you on well water? It's extremely rare to have zero GH and KH for "tap water". If you have no KH, you can add vinegar to your water column to drop the PH. Since there is no KH in the water, it alters the PH easily. What I would suggest is to adjust your GH and KH to where it needs to be and the PH should follow. As far as BBA goes, it is generally a phosphate or Co2 issue. Phosphate-based buffers can obviously make a phosphate issue worse. This is why it's not advised to use buffers. Instead, I'd suggest using pure RODI water and remineralzing that. We have an extensive article on BBA on our website. Go to the blog and use the filter to select algaes. BBA is one of the last algae articles on the list.
K have plantzd tank and the tds is in 900 and 1000 ppm and i have good sol and co²
The plants can growth or no
I think you've missed the entire point of this video, and the series. This series is not to teach what you can get away with, its to teach what we should be aiming for. Also, TDS just tells us that you have dissolved solids in your tank and speaks nothing to what your GH/KH ratios are. So to answer your question, I don't know. Nor would I suggest running a tank with a TDS of 1,000, even though we have no clue what those total dissolved solids are. As stated in the video, buy a GH/KH kit and adjust your mineral content down to a GH/KH of 4.
Hello buddy nice to know your channel its really helpfull tho currently. I get any problems here.
1. My H. Polysperma and and other leaves starts growing new leaves and become tiny and curly shape.
2. Seachem Equilibrium at my area isnt available.
Can you give me an advice about that? Thanks.
Note: I use RO water, CO2 Injection, Seachem Excel, Tropica Speciallized, 24w light on 5 hrs durations with +-10cm above the water surface, and 60x20x20 cm tank.
On CO2 off: PH 7 and KH 5
and also Seachem Prime isnt availabe on my area too
Hello Muhammad. Tiny twisted leaves is generally an indication of low GH. You need to find a way to test and up your GH. Calcium carbonate would do the trick if you weren't injecting Co2. If you add it to a Co2 tank, your GH and KH will rise each time the Co2 is on. Epsom salt will help with magnesium, but not Calcium. You'll have to find a Calcium supplement or another reminieralizer that can help you with your GH. I've never really seen twisted leaves due to a nutrient deficiency.
Isnt dragon stone clay based and so its inert?
Yeah, you are right. Its seryui stone than CAN be an issue if it has white veins in it. Those veins are calcite, but dragon stone is inert. I've had other hobbyists saaaaaay its messing with their water chem, but I can't see dragon stone doing that at this point.
Can you use Purified Drinking Water as a alternative for RO Water and Distilled Water? Purified Drinking Water is much cheaper for my area.
The short answer is no. Purified water is simply ran through a carbon and sediment filter and does not reduce the hardness of the water. Your water can be purified, but still hard. RO water is a 3 stage filtration that reduces your TDS to around 20-30, but not to zero. This leaves behind some trace minerals. RODI and distilled water is water that has been through a process that removes EVERYTHING in the water, leaving it as just pure H20, with zero TDS. This is idea if you are wanting to scrub the water of all impurities, and add back the good minerals our plants and livestock need. Hope this helps!
@@aquascapeguide Oh okay thank you.
@@aquascapeguide Hello again, I tested my GH and KH for the purified water,, they are both at around 4 drops before they turn into the desired color. or probably they are at 0dGH/dKH because at first drop it releases no color.
4dGH and KH sound about right. That is pretty awesome if that is the case. Most of the time when someone buys a RODI unit, they are removing everything, to then boost their GH and KH back up to 4. So if you are there with your purified water, its pretty easy to just process water changes and the tank will eventually end up there! Love it.
How do you raise KH and GH without raising PH?
Raising your GH (calcium and magnesium) won't raise your PH. So no need to worry about it there. But raising your KH will always have an effect on PH. As stated in the video, when raising your KH, if you want a lessor effect on PH, use bicarbonates. If you want a higher effect on PH, use carbonates. And then naturally if you KH and PH are height, and you want to lower your PH, reducing your KH will bring the PH down. Stick with a GH/KH of 4 and your PH will sit around 6.8-7.0.
@@aquascapeguide what if my ph is 8.2 out of the tap?
What is your KH? If your KH is low, but your PH is high, you can use white vinigar or hydrochloric acid to pull the PH down. Waters PH can not stay high when an acid is introduced if KH is non-existent. KH is like a support system for PH. Make sense?
@@aquascapeguide my KH is 40ppm and GH is 0 I have softened water so that's why my readings are like that.
So you're around a KH of 2.2 (40ppm / 17.9 = 2.2) which means your PH is artificially high from the water softening process. I assume you mean a home water softener and not an RODI unit. So if you added an acid like vinegar it would drop the PH quickly because you don't have the KH to support a PH of 8.2. Try a 1/2 a teaspoon for every 10 gallons and see where that gets you. Again, it will drop your PH pretty quickly down to something like 6.6. That is where I would guess a KH of 2 would put your PH. 8.2 is pretty high for such a low KH.
Informative video, but watching this cartoon leaf wearing Chuck Taylors is worse than the old “paperclip” help icon from Microsoft Office.
Thanks. But we disagree. We love Phyl.
@Karson Kilpady Appreciate all the love ❤️ 🙏