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TDS/GH/KH Issue

Ryan M

Seedling
Joined
25 Jan 2016
Messages
22
Location
Belfast
I was hoping for some help.

I have recently set up a Dennerle nano 30, its been cycling for about 3-4 weeks now and the Nitrite is still quite high but I know that its nearing the end of the cycle. I want to have this tank as shrimp tank but I have an issue when it comes to water chemistry, I can work the API master kit fine but I have a problem with the GH/KH and TDS readings.

My TDS meter reads..
tap water - 39ppm
tank water 350ppm

Aquarium GH/KH...
KH - 6 drops to turn
GH - 9 drops to turn

the KH/GH is what confuses me, can someone advise on these results?

aquarium PH is 6.4
 
Sorry I maybe didn't explain properly, I know what they are and from what I can tell my water is soft but I can't understand why my tap water is so low but my tank is so high. Which would be the best way to balance out the TDS so that I could keep shrimp in the right conditions for crystal reds.
 
What substrate are u using?
Any rocks?
Media in filters?
Water hardnes? gh kh ..
For crs you need 5-6 gh , 0-1 kh and ph 6.2-6.8 .
You can get those parameters easy if you chose ada or akadama or another soil as substrate.
Get ro , and salty shrimp mineral. to get correct water parameters.
 
I'm running a small hob with mechanical and with a small carbon cartridge, I also have the Dennerle nano filter. Substrate was the one that came with it, the shrimp gravel cap with the Dennerle plant mix under it.

I can't remember the rock but I will try and get a picture now.

I'm just letting the tank run its course with no livestock.
 
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Mind the marsilea, I got some cheap off eBay and some of the leaves have died, I need to trim them lol

After looking into this further, could to much ferts be raise the Tds?
 
Any ferts will raise tds.
Full fertilisation will raise tds substantially
 
I was just using an old bottle of profito that I had. I'm looking to order one tomorrow, which fert would you recommend?

Also is there any thing that I could use to boost my nitrate part of the cycle? Ammonia is at 0
 
I have found dr tims ammonia but it would take ages arrives, what else could I use?
 
Sorry for all the questions, I just seen that I can use the household stuff, I will call to Homebase tomorrow.
 
Sorry for all the questions, I just seen that I can use the household stuff, I will call to Homebase tomorrow.

Home base stuff is good

Or use jeyes kleenoff.
Get one with no additives
 
cheers mate.

I have had tanks before that haven't had an issue cycling.
 
Hi all,
I have had tanks before that haven't had an issue cycling.
I'll be quite honest, I'm not a believer in the concept of a binary division between "cycled" and "non-cycled". It isn't black and white, it is all shades of grey.

There has been a lot of recent research into ammonia oxidising microbial communities, often using DNA, and it has overwhelmingly found that a much greater range of organisms involved, and that the communities you find under conditions of higher ammonia loading are very different from those you find in established aquariums.

A good paper is <"Aquarium Nitrification Revisited: Thaumarchaeota Are the Dominant Ammonia Oxidizers in Freshwater Aquarium Biofilters"> and Stephan Tanner's article on "aquarium biofiltration".

I've done quite a lot of work with polluted water and realistically oxygen supply and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) are the important factors in biological filtration. Ammonia makes a massive contribution to the BOD bioload, but with sufficient oxygenation we can deal with huge bioloads.

cheers Darrel
 
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