# Remineralizing a planted tank



## newpain01 (17 Feb 2022)

Hi everyone!

As the topic suggests, I just picked up a RO unit and I am trying to figure out what I need for remineralizing my planted tank with Harlequin Rasbora and Amanos/Cherry Shrimp. 
The tank is 30 gal, heavily planted, I am injecting a lot of CO2 (3-4 bubbles a second, drop checker is light green/almost yellow) and doing daily PPS PRO with K2SO4, KNO3, KH2PO4, MgSO4 and CSM+B (some days also Seachem Excel). I have some GH Booster which I am not currently using. I am doing 50% weekly water changes on this tank.

The question is, considering I am fertilizing daily, which minerals am I missing? When I do my next RO water change, what should I add to the water for remineralizing? Is GH Booser enough or should I add something for boosting the KH as well? (My PH is pretty low I am assuming from the driftwood and CO2, it's off the API Master chart, light yellow, I am assuming under 6)

Appreciate any advice, I am new to this topic.


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## Ria95 (17 Feb 2022)

In my experience  Amano and Cherry shrimp do better in water with some KH so I would suggest getting a "KH booster" as well.  Both types are highly adaptable as long as changes are slow. So if your shrimps are doing well now and don't have any issues molting, test what KH you currently have and adjust the RO water to that KH. Sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3 and potassium bicarbonate  KHCO3 are commonly used and preferred to carbonates as they are highly soluble and don't cause pH spikes. Seachem Alkaline Buffer is  packaged NaHCO3 if you want something specifically marketed for aquarium keeping.

357mg KHCO3 in 10L = 1 °dKH
300mg NaHCO3 in 10L = 1 °dKH

Increasing KH  may also increase your pH, especially if you have very low KH at the moment. Only dose for the volume changed, not the entire aquarium. Premixing with RO in a separate container before the water change is always the preferred (but optional) way to do this.


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## MichaelJ (17 Feb 2022)

newpain01 said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> As the topic suggests, I just picked up a RO unit and I am trying to figure out what I need for remineralizing my planted tank with Harlequin Rasbora and Amanos/Cherry Shrimp.
> The tank is 30 gal, heavily planted, I am injecting a lot of CO2 (3-4 bubbles a second, drop checker is light green/almost yellow) and doing daily PPS PRO with K2SO4, KNO3, KH2PO4, MgSO4 and CSM+B (some days also Seachem Excel). I have some GH Booster which I am not currently using. I am doing 50% weekly water changes on this tank.
> ...


Hello  @newpain01  and Welcome to UKAPS!  Sounds like your familiar with ppm targeting (correct me if I am wrong).... so I am just going to dive right into it... With regards to NPK and traces it sounds like your covered - how many ppm's of NO3, PO4, K and Fe are you targeting? In any event, with regards to remineralization you need Ca and Mg  (GH) and considering your livestock I would target in the neighborhood of 28 ppm of Ca and 9 ppm of Mg, roughly 6 GH - in particular the Amano/cheery shrimps will be covered on their Ca and Mg needs.  As for KH I would target around 1-2 with K2CO3 ( ~1 g (or 930 mg) will raise 10 US gallon 1 KH) and KHCO3 ( 1.35 g will raise 10 US gallon 1 KH) - either way will work, K2CO3 will give you more K per gram but also raise pH more... KHCO3 less K and wont raise pH as much - but either way wont be a problem as your water is quite acidic - I use K2CO3 for my 1.4'ish target - its a tiny amount - so I recommend measuring our the salts on a microgram scale.

If you don't want to roll your own with the individual compounds,  you can do both GH and KH with the  excellent solutions from Nilocg (available in the US.).

Cheers,
Michael


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## newpain01 (17 Feb 2022)

Thanks for the replies, this is very helpful!

Sorry again for the noob questions.
@Ria95 Do you mean Sodium bicarbonate like baking soda? I only need one of those, right? (Either KHCO3 or NaHCO3)

@MichaelJ I am familiar with ppm and do have a TDS pen to measure the water, I am aiming for around 150ppm in my other shrimp tanks and I think around 200 ppm in this tank with fish/shrimp. 
I am dosing 1ml per 10 gal macros and 0.5ml per 10 gal micros. One dose should add 1ppm NO3, 0.1 ppm PO4, 1.33 ppm K, 0.1 ppm Mg, 0.1 ppm Fe(TE) according to Edward (the person who created PPS). I have no accurate way of measuring this, but I mixed the salts following this ratio (my current nitrate levels are under 15ppm):

*MICROS:*
500ml RO Water

*K2SO4 - 29.3 grams*
*KNO3 - 32.6 grams*
*KH2PO4 - 2.9 grams*
*MgSO4 - 20.2 grams*
*MACROS:*
500ml RO Water

*Plantex CSM+B – 28.6 grams *

Thanks for the GH/KH targets, I wasn't sure what to target there. As for the Ca and Mg, is GH Booster ok or should I get dry salts? (in case of dry salts, which ones? I am currently adding epsom salt MgSO4 with my ferts)
I prefer to mix my own since I am already doing that for the fertilizers. 
Where do you buy dry salts like K2CO3 or KHCO3 in the US? Ebay?

Cheers


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## hypnogogia (17 Feb 2022)

@newpain01  you could always check those dosing values using the excellent UKAPS dosing calculator that many us to mix their own, or the calculators available at rotala butterfly.  Both can be found by using the “calculators” link above.


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## Ria95 (17 Feb 2022)

newpain01 said:


> @Ria95 Do you mean Sodium bicarbonate like baking soda? I only need one of those, right? (Either KHCO3 or NaHCO3)
> 
> Thanks for the GH/KH targets, I wasn't sure what to target there. As for the Ca and Mg, is GH Booster ok or should I get dry salts?
> Where do you buy dry salts like K2CO3 or KHCO3 in the US? Ebay?



My pleasure. Don't worry we all started at the same 0 knowledge point and most of the forum enjoys being helpful.  Yes NaHCO3 as in baking soda. One of them is enough. We can get into high-brow arguments but for aquarium KH targets it will be fine and has been done with only NaHCO3 for a long time by successful aquarium keepers.

GH Booster should be ok, in any case use it up . Might also help the conversation here to know exactly what brand. If it's the NilocG it's basically the salts you will buy ( hydrates of CaSO4 and MgSO4).
Ebay is a good place to start. Food grade chemicals are good enough.


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## dw1305 (17 Feb 2022)

Hi all, 


newpain01 said:


> Do you mean Sodium bicarbonate like baking soda? I only need one of those, right? (Either KHCO3 or NaHCO3)


You do, but you are better off with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3). This is just because potassium (K) is a plant nutrient, but sodium (Na) isn't.

cheers Darrel


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## newpain01 (17 Feb 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> @newpain01  you could always check those dosing values using the excellent UKAPS dosing calculator that many us to mix their own, or the calculators available at rotala butterfly.  Both can be found by using the “calculators” link above.


I saw the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator before I opened this thread, but it looks like it's only Excel and unfortunately I do not have Excel on my Mac. I was using the Rotala Butterfly calculator for calculating EI dosing in the past before I switched to PPS Pro, but I am new to RO systems and didn't know where to start from regarding remineralization.


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## newpain01 (17 Feb 2022)

Ria95 said:


> GH Booster should be ok, in any case use it up . Might also help the conversation here to know exactly what brand. If it's the NilocG it's basically the salts you will buy ( hydrates of CaSO4 and MgSO4).


Yes, I have the NilocG GH Booster. I am having difficulty dissolving it though, maybe I will try with the salts after I run out of this.


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## newpain01 (17 Feb 2022)

Looking at NilocG's website, it looks like the GH booster also contains K2SO4.


> Gh Booster is a 1:3:3 mixture of Magnesium Sulfate ( MgSO4), Potassium Sulfate ( K2so4) and Calcium Sulfate (CaSO4)


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## Hufsa (18 Feb 2022)

Its probably because of the Calcium sulfate. Its not particularly interested in dissolving, but will do it to some degree, especially if you force it a bit. I add my dry GH booster to a bottle, fill it 3/4 up with cold water and then immediately shake it vigorously. I then tip it into my water change barrel. It will cloud for a little while but then dissolve. I get less of it settling on the bottom this way. If just added straight to the water in a dry lump it tends to want to just harden up in lumps on the bottom for me.
I prefer to use Calcium sulfate over Calcium chloride (which is more soluble) because sulfate seems slightly better to have in a planted tank than chloride.


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## newpain01 (19 Feb 2022)

Ordered some Potassium Bicarbonate, should be ready to prepare my water next week.
One related question, since I also have other shrimp only tanks and I am planning to use RO water for them as well, does it mean I can use the same dry salts to remineralize those as well or do they need some additional minerals? 
I have some Salty Shrimp GH+ and also GH/KH+ that I can use in the meantime, (not much, got it from a friend along with the RO), but it doesn't say what the ingredients are.


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## Djoko Sauza (19 Feb 2022)

newpain01 said:


> I saw the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator before I opened this thread, but it looks like it's only Excel and unfortunately I do not have Excel on my Mac.


You can open it with Microsoft OneDrive from your browser.


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## Hufsa (19 Feb 2022)

Djoko Sauza said:


> You can open it with Microsoft OneDrive from your browser.


How exactly?


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## Djoko Sauza (19 Feb 2022)

Hufsa said:


> How exactly?


Microsoft has a cloud storage service (similar to iCloud or Google Drive) called OneDrive. You need a microsoft account to access it, outlook or hotmail accounts are also microsoft accounts so you may have one already.
Download the IFC file and upload it to OneDrive. There you can open and use it in your browser.

You can also open the file on Google Drive but it won't work properly, it probably gets converted to a different file type there.
With OneDrive it works fine though. You can also use it to open any other Microsoft Office files, which is quite handy if you're on a Mac.
Let me know if you managed.


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## newpain01 (19 Feb 2022)

Thanks @Djoko Sauza, that's very useful, I will try it.


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## Kelvin12 (20 Feb 2022)

Can someone suggest a remineralizer salt that doesn't  increase KH.   I need zero KH.   I am thinking DIY here not the commercial remineralizers.  

Dirk


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## hypnogogia (20 Feb 2022)

Kelvin12 said:


> Can someone suggest a remineralizer salt that doesn't  increase KH.   I need zero KH.   I am thinking DIY here not the commercial remineralizers.
> 
> Dirk


SaltyShrimp Bee mineral gH+


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## plantnoobdude (20 Feb 2022)

Kelvin12 said:


> Can someone suggest a remineralizer salt that doesn't  increase KH.   I need zero KH.   I am thinking DIY here not the commercial remineralizers.
> 
> Dirk


calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate. 2g of each in 20l will raise ca/mg to ei levels.


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## newpain01 (21 Feb 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> SaltyShrimp Bee mineral gH+


Well, that's not really DIY, is it?


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## hypnogogia (21 Feb 2022)

newpain01 said:


> Well, that's not really DIY, is it?


I didn’t have my reading glasses on 😉


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## newpain01 (21 Feb 2022)

Kelvin12 said:


> Can someone suggest a remineralizer salt that doesn't increase KH. I need zero KH


GH Booster will not increase KH, you can see the ingredients in one of my previous posts:


> Gh Booster is a 1:3:3 mixture of Magnesium Sulfate ( MgSO4), Potassium Sulfate ( K2so4) and Calcium Sulfate (CaSO4)


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## newpain01 (21 Feb 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> I didn’t have my reading glasses on 😉


It's all good 
I am also using the Salty Shrimp stuff, but that thing is expensive, will switch to dry salts after I run out.


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## Kelvin12 (21 Feb 2022)

No chance calcium chloride or magnesium sulphate would raise the KH.  
Things on the net seem to have an each way bet some say it will others saying it won't.    

Dirk


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## hypnogogia (21 Feb 2022)

Kelvin12 said:


> No chance calcium chloride or magnesium sulphate would raise the KH.
> Things on the net seem to have an each way bet some say it will others saying it won't.
> 
> Dirk


KH is carbonate hardness, so it would be magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate that raise KH, I think.


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## Epiphyte (25 Feb 2022)

Sorry to hijack a thread but no point asking a nearly identical question in a new thread.

I'm incredibly lazy with my water chemistry, as in, I just want to buy a product that works. Are there any products I can add to my RO on water change to achieve the required KH/GH without having to go full chemist on my tank? I don't mind working out dosing, I'm just not one for using "raw ingredients".

I have been using Seachem Replenish for a while, aiming for TDS of 120, but I hear the replenish won't give me everything I need to buffer the water correctly.


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## hypnogogia (26 Feb 2022)

Epiphyte said:


> Sorry to hijack a thread but no point asking a nearly identical question in a new thread.
> 
> I'm incredibly lazy with my water chemistry, as in, I just want to buy a product that works. Are there any products I can add to my RO on water change to achieve the required KH/GH without having to go full chemist on my tank? I don't mind working out dosing, I'm just not one for using "raw ingredients".
> 
> I have been using Seachem Replenish for a while, aiming for TDS of 120, but I hear the replenish won't give me everything I need to buffer the water correctly.


Yes, Saltyshrimp is one such product.  Another would be Re-mineral by Tropic Marin.  The latter even do one that gets it right for Discus, and one for general community tank.


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## Epiphyte (27 Feb 2022)

Great, thanks. A quick google of Saltyshrimp says GH+ should be adequate? I'd like to keep my water a little soft if possible for my Rotala Wallichi in my main tank, so I gather raising KH isn't so necessary? My ADA45f only has a pea puffer in it but I also feel the mosses which name escapes me would probably appreciate the softer water too.

My tank with shrimp in it has only a MC carpet and some Montevidensis, so I could raise KH in there if it helps?

I'm completely baffled by this whole GH/KH thing, but after measuring my tap water at TDS >480 I decided to make the swap as I really wanted that Wallichi stem backdrop  I know Green Aqua aim for a TDS of 120, which I've achieved using RO/Replenish over the last few weeks, but I gather this doesn't change KH so I am risking pH swings? I assume you can't raise KH to have more stable water, yet maintain a pH of 7?


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## dw1305 (27 Feb 2022)

Hi all,


Epiphyte said:


> I know Green Aqua aim for a TDS of 120, which I've achieved using RO/Replenish over the last few weeks, but I gather this doesn't change KH so I am risking pH swings? I assume you can't raise KH to have more stable water, yet maintain a pH of 7?


You have to remember the fertilisers you add will also contribute to the TDS reading.

You are right, it is the <"dKH that stabilises pH">, and as your water gets softer pH becomes both more variable and less meaningful. Once you've added more than about 2dKH your water will equilibriate at ~pH7.8 due to the <"CO2 ~ dHCO3- relationship">.   I'd just ignore pH, it isn't that it isn't important, it is just it isn't a straightforward measurement.


Epiphyte said:


> I'm completely baffled by this whole GH/KH thing, but after measuring my tap water at TDS >480 I decided to make the swap as I really wanted that Wallichi stem backdrop


Just add the plant nutrients to the RO water, <"don't add any remineralising salts">. If you want to add a minimal amount of <"calcium (Ca) and dGH / dKH">? Add a <"dash of tap water">.  You are going to be adding magnesium (Mg) with your fertilisers.

Ignore trying to get a <"perfect" calcium : magnesium ratio"> etc. Find a conductivity range and nutrient range where _Rotala wallichii_ is happy and stick with that.

cheers Darrel


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## hypnogogia (27 Feb 2022)

dw1305 said:


> Just add the plant nutrients to the RO water, don't add any remineralising salts. If you want to add a minimal amount of <"calcium (Ca) and dGH / dKH">? Add a <"dash of tap water">. You are going to be adding magnesium (Mg) with your fertilisers.


Out of interest, will this approach be OK if keeping shrimps?


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## dw1305 (27 Feb 2022)

Hi all,


hypnogogia said:


> Out of interest, will this approach be OK if keeping shrimps?


l'd guess it will depend on the shrimp. Cherry shrimps don't like very soft water, and I' ve not kept Amano or Crystal Red shrimp.
Personally if I go back to keeping Cherry shrimp, I'd keep them in our tap water (~ 17 dGH, dKH) with <"some hard water snails">.

Cheers Darrel


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## Kelvin12 (28 Feb 2022)

There is a very good article on this site about keeping crystal reds.  I am flat out at the moment but if you do a search on crystal reds it should pop up or some good soul will link it for you. 

Dirk.


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