# How to find out GH and TDS



## Andrew Perkins (3 Mar 2018)

Hi .  I've jump the gun and bought 4 Amano shrimp last Thursday, I thought I had lost two for nearly a week but found a third today, so could still have 4 , they look happy grazing away and have moulted.  Anyway before I bought them I didn't know my GH & KH,  I've never done one of these tests in 12 years and never heard of TDS. I've order a GH & KH test kits but it won't be here till next week. I been looking on the website for my water supply and got some reading for my area.,  I wondering if anybody can make more sense of them. 

Soft water 
Hardness clarke - 1.82 

I don't know how to convert the Hardness clarke 1.82 in to GH unless it already converted = GH 1.82 ?

I think I've mange to convert the it into TDS using  a calculator to  26ppm is that right ? Not suitable for shrimp ?

It say I have soft water but I have a PH around 7.5 - 7.6 in my tank and similar out of the tap, I am getting conflicting views reading on the internet. It say I should have Hard water with a PH over 7 and soft water will have a acidic reading, should I take no notice of this. 

Thanks for any advice Andrew


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## zozo (3 Mar 2018)

1 Degree Deutsche General Hardness - 1 dGH = 10mg/L  CaO (calcium oxide) = 17.848ppm

1 Degree Clark is defined as a 1 Grain = 64.8mg CaO per imperial Gallon = 4.55 litre = 14.254ppm

64.8mg/4.55l= 14.24mg/l

Roughly 1 Clark = 1,5 dGH

1.82 Clark = 64.8mg x 1.82 = 117.936mg/gallon

118/4.55 = 25,92mg/l

Roughly 25.92mg/l = 2,5 dGH = 1.82 Clark

Now it's getting distracting but it is what it is, sorry... PPM is the USA standard.
10mg/l Calcium Oxide (CaO) = 17,848mg/l Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)
1mg/l Calcium Carbonate = 1ppm

TDS is Total Dissolved Solids, thus it also measures other solids than Calcium Oxide only.. Converting it to ppm doesn't realy say anything specific how much ppm of what.

Anyway it's something to a certain degree  to go completely bonkers over if all that calculating it is not your thing.

Regarding shrimp suitability? You have to wait for someone else experienced in this i can not answer this question.. But if literature on shrimps says 2,5 dGH is to soft it probably is.


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## Parablennius (3 Mar 2018)

Pretty sure United Utilities put something in the water to make it alkaline, Sodium Hydroxide or something like that, to protect the system from corrosion. I think that's why it reads over 7. Mine does too and has almost no GH or KH at the tap and TDS is about 45ppm.


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## dw1305 (3 Mar 2018)

Hi all,





Parablennius said:


> Pretty sure United Utilities put something in the water to make it alkaline, Sodium Hydroxide or something like that, to protect the system from corrosion. I think that's why it reads over 7. Mine does too and has almost no GH or KH at the tap and TDS is about 45ppm





zozo said:


> Roughly 25.92mg/l = 2,5 dGH = 1.82 Clark


That's it, a base is added (usually sodium hydroxide (NaOH)) to raise pH and 1.24 degrees English ("Clark") is equivalent to 1 dGH, via Marcel's calculation. 

Lenntech have a <"calculator for hardness">. 

Because your water is very soft it will have a low TDS value as well. I haven't kept Amano shrimp, but Red Cherry Shrimp definitely struggle in soft water. 

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (3 Mar 2018)

I'm about 6.28 dGH - soft regarding the water company repport and my GH fluid test says 9 full color, but indeed against the light with spectacles i see i faint color change at 6. So darker days i have harder water.. . I got both Cherry and Amano shrimps. At 6 they still party hard, no issues, cherries breed like rabbits and the Amano's are over 2 years old..  In my area 0-4gh is extreem soft, 4-8gh is soft.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (3 Mar 2018)

Parablennius said:


> Pretty sure United Utilities put something in the water to make it alkaline, Sodium Hydroxide or something like that, to protect the system from corrosion. I think that's why it reads over 7. Mine does too and has almost no GH or KH at the tap and TDS is about 45ppm.



You sound like you are in the same boat as me and probably getting the same water out the tap as I do in Cumbria. There was a discussion about it here. I've been using potassium bicarbonate to try and increase KH a little without raising the PH much combined with Epsom salts. Maybe there is an all in one product you could use that adds minerals at the correct ratio, do shrimp shops not have a mineral mix? I'm sure I've seen them somewhere before. I'm keeping Amano shrimp in my water without an issue but like you my water has no KH I can measure with a standard test kit. I think my GH was at 4 last time I checked but my TDS hovers between 180 start of week and 220 at the end before I change some water. What this TDS is made up of is anybody's guess.


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## Andrew Perkins (4 Mar 2018)

Thanks I will have to wait and see what GH my water in the aquarium is before taking anymore action or if any.

I remember now one of the neighbours telling me who worked on the water board say they added something to the water to make it more alkaline, I think he said cause the water runs off peat bogs.


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## Andrew Perkins (7 Mar 2018)

Hello,  I've tested my water in the aquarium and the results are GH - 7 and KH - 6. How do I find out the TDS results if I need them. According to the APi test results GH 7 = 125.3ppm and KH - 6 = 107.4ppm. Do I add both ppm together to get a final result are just use the GH reading ? What would GH - 7 be classed moderately soft ?


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## tam (7 Mar 2018)

You need a TDS pen to test the TDS, but you don't necessarily need to. Is there a reason you wanted to know it? TDS is everything in the water so not just GH - not sure if you can add them to get a minimum - someone else will know!?

That's on the soft side, but not super soft. Should be fine for shrimp. Low GH is an issue for moulting, so it's they've successfully done that, it's probably not the issue. How are they doing now? Might just have been the water they came from was too different.


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## Andrew Perkins (7 Mar 2018)

I just thought I needed to know for keeping amano shrimp in case I need to add any trace minerals but if my reading are fine with GH & KH I am ok with that. I haven't seen any today they are very elusive, I was hoping to get some more amano shrimp or any that will suit my water conditions better.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (7 Mar 2018)

The tds is the total of everything in there except the water not just kh and gh. If you were to boil and evaporate all the water away the tds would be the solids that were left over after all the water was gone.
TDS are a handy little device to have in your arsenal and very cheap, they give you a good idea of pollution levels over time, the higher your tds rises the more "something" is in there and maybe more / bigger water changes will help reduce it.

Regarding shrimp, they live and thrive in many differing conditions. I think the general census of opinion is that stability is better than actual levels. Amano are quite hardy, from what I understand it's the more fancy varieties like crystals etc prefer softer water although a lot of people keep them in harder water but keep it stable. 

Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk


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