My son has a small freshwater tank with a few fish and live plants. Hes got a few zebra danios, a molly and a small white suckerfish. Whats the alkalinity got to be with Saliferts alkalinity test? 7 dkh?
Freshwater alkalinity?
- Thread starter Cory
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I've been meaning to get around to more freshwater research but haven't quite gotten there, so I apologize if this isn't the best answer. From what I've read, though, the general consensus for the average tropical freshwater tank seems to be a dgH (General Hardness) of 10-25, and a dkH (Carbonate Hardness) of 4-8. These numbers vary somewhat depending on the tank's inhabitant's though (some fish prefer harder water, some softer). As far as I know, these would be good for the Danios and Molly, but I'm not sure about the Sucker or the unspecified plants.
So, a dkH of 7 should (to my admittedly limited knowledge) be fine.
So, a dkH of 7 should (to my admittedly limited knowledge) be fine.
Malcontent
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Plants won't appreciate the sodium so maybe potassium carbonate or bicarbonate.
Yeah, found this on The Planted Tank site from 2019 (posted by the user “Quagulator”):
“CaSO4 for Ca - target 20-30ppm into your incoming RO water.
MgSO4 for Mg - target 5-15ppm into your incoming RO water.
KHCO3 for kH - Target 0.5 - 1.0 degrees of kH
Target a full 1.0 drop in pH from using CO2. You can likely get up to a 1.2 drop - 1.4 drop in pH from CO2, but keep a careful eye on live stock.”
KHCO3 being Potassium Bicarbonate. People do use Baking Soda, but there is some concern about long term usage or heavy doses.
Sorry, just adding some more info I found for dosage (again, The Planted Tank, this user is “WaterLife”):
“3.6g Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO3) in 100 litres (26.417 US Gallons) of water will raise the dKH by 1
2.4g Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3) in 100 litres (26.417 US Gallons) of water will raise the dKH by 1
Either would work. Would depend on what prices you could get either for as to which would be more cost effective. For me, on eBay, I could get Potassium Carbonate for the same price as Potassium Bicarbonate, so I just get Potassium Carbonate, which would treat more gallons/raise more KH, by weight.
Though, maybe some might prefer the smaller KH increments that would be easier to measure out with Potassium Bicarbonate?
Cheers”
