20 drops kh test (360 ppm)

[Mike343]

I recently bought a go/kh test kit and was shocked to see my kh required 20 drops to turn yellow. From the chart I understand this is 360 ppm. I'm chasing minerals for my live plants but I believe this reading tells me I should have more than enough? Would anyone with more experience be so kind to guide me on this? Is equilibrium a safe choice for my plants at this level?

[Filip]

Hi Mike and welcome to Simply discus.
Are you sure that you are measuring KH and not GH with your test kit ?
360ppm KH =21 D . KH is way off the regular carbonate hardness that drinking water ussually have .
If you are measuring GH - General hardness , then 360 ppm is still very hard water , but in normal ranges for fish and plants .

Do you keep discus or just a planted tank ?

I would not advice dosing too much minerals in discus tanks , but if you insist , you can start with low levels of micro and macro fertilization.

Your hard water means that you should have plenty and enough MG and Ca for the plants , but still would have to add Pottasium , Nitrates and phosphates along with the micro feftilizers- i.e. Iron .

[RogueDiscus]

I don't know about your plants, but that's about the same number of kh drops as my well water, and the gh drops are almost exactly half, which I think means my hardness is primarily calcium carbonate which is common in well water.

[Filip]

I don't know about your plants, but that's about the same number of kh drops as my well water, and the gh drops are almost exactly half, which I think means my hardness is primarily calcium carbonate which is common in well water.

Wow Steve and I thought my tapwater with 16 Kh was the worst cas scenario regarding CaCo3 .
I'm in a constant struggle , trying to clean the decor and my filter materials from the nasty Caco3 deposits.
Aging helps to lower it down , but its still very high value for aquarium use .
I wish there was a device that can strip Caco3 right off the tap , without having to wait it out like in case with RO units .

[DJW]

My well water is 18 to 22 drops for KH, depending on the time of year. It seems like half the bottle of test fluid before it changes color. There are springs nearby where soda water bubbles out of the ground, so there is lots of CO2 in it too.

[Lido]

Wow Steve and I thought my tapwater with 16 Kh was the worst cas scenario regarding CaCo3 .
I'm in a constant struggle , trying to clean the decor and my filter materials from the nasty Caco3 deposits.
Aging helps to lower it down , but its still very high value for aquarium use .
I wish there was a device that can strip Caco3 right off the tap , without having to wait it out like in case with RO units .

A water softening unit will.

Secondly do you get hit with calcium pebbles when you shower? That is damn hard water.

Lastly, where in CA do you live that isn't municipal water? Not very many places in CA.

[Filip]

A water softening unit will.

Secondly do you get hit with calcium pebbles when you shower? That is damn hard water.

Lastly, where in CA do you live that isn't municipal water? Not very many places in CA.

Sorry for my delayed response here Casey .
Im not from the States , i live in Macedonia - that's a southern part of Europe bordering with Greece and yes my municipal water is unfortunately perfect for Malavi Cichlids as opposed to my passion for discus

I don't get hit with sand during my showers , but I do regularly had to decalcify my shower head cause it gets clogged quite frequently .

Please share some suggestions or links from water softeners and if you have any experience with them .
I'm interested in start using one for my discus tank if its not too complicated to deal with or too expensive to recharge on the long run .