Loaches Online Forum

So recently I was looking into plant care since I'm gradually upping the number of live plants in my tank... this adventure led me to test the kh and gh of my tank. I have done this with the terta brand test strips and the API test stripes. I have yet to find the liquid chem tests locally but once I do I'll triple check the number.

The API test seems to show about 40 to 80 KH and 30 to 60 GH with a pH between 6.5 and 7
The Tetra strips seem to show about 40 to 80 KH and about 75 GH with a pH between 6.8 and 7.2

However my API master kit shows my pH to be about 7.0 to 7.2

My questions are -

how accurate do you think these strips are?
I have every intention of conferming with liquid chems once I can manage to obtain them.

Should I be concerned about the low readings?
If my electrolites / minerals are low how much will this effect my loaches?

Should my goal be to raise the KH and GH to more generally acceptible paramiters or is this an ok range for clown loaches.

Do they have there own variables I should consider here?

I know the clown loach profile says not to exceed a dh of 12 but what is the bottom range?

According to my research a dH between 4 and 12 is recommended.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I wouldn't rely on test strips one bit to be honest.
If you really try to attempt the very hard task to alter your water parameters, then you need to be sure that what you are measuring is correct, so no test strips should be used as a start off point. But raising those is fairly easy if you don't do water changes and just top offs, of course not without consequences to other parameters Well of course this would raise the Gh and lower the Kh as a result, not both.
Or use some crushed coral in the filter or similar but this would just increase the calcium and magnesium(Gh) not other minerals. However, I wouldn't bother doing anything to alter the water parameters because each leads to another problem.

And just a question, but are the results of the tests you posted in ppm or dh, or what exactly?

My clown loaches are living in a Gh of 12dGh and Kh 8

To raise the carbonate hardness (KH) add carbonates.
To raise the general hardness (GH) add both calcium and magnesium in the right ratio. Aquatic plants seem to use calcium and magnesium in a ratio of about 4 parts Ca to 1 part Mg. The exact ratio is not too important.
There are several ways to do this. Here is how I do it.

1) Fill a can with tap water. (I use a garbage can to prepare water for water changes)
2) Add baking soda for KH and Seachem Equilibrium for GH.
1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda added to 30 American gallons (114 liters) will raise the KH by 2 German degrees of hardness.
Directions for Equilibrium are on the label.
When you are raising the mineral level for the tank you can raise the GH and KH by about 15% each time, and do such water changes twice a week. Some fish will handle larger changes in the mineral level.
3) Do the water change in a way that the net change in mineral level is not too much for the fish. This may mean a smaller water change, or it may mean making an adjustment to the mix in step 2 so you can do a larger water change without changing the mineral level too much at any one water change.
4) Add coral sand, oyster shell grit (sold for caged birds like Budgies), or limestone sand to the filter (I use a nylon stocking as a media bag).

The material added to the filter provides a slow trickle of minerals through the week, between water changes. This keeps the mineral level up. It is not enough to correct a very soft tap water coming in with a water change. The reaction is too slow. Make the new water right before adding it to the tank.

Most aquatic plants are very adaptable to whatever mineral level is in the water. There are a few specialty plants that do demand a very soft water, low pH. Unless you are keeping these plants, I would set the GH to suit the fish, make the KH pretty close to the GH and let the pH do whatever it wants. If you have a TDS meter that can be helpful, too, making sure the water conditions are stable.

I have used all 3 test materials you list, and some others.
The hobby level test kits are not very accurate.
I would say that the pH results are an indication of how accurate they are: Not accurate enough to say that one is right and the others wrong in this case. Your pH is "low 7s" and leave it at that.

These test kits can be used for a comparison:
Is the tank water a little bit harder this week than last week?
Did the water change lower the nitrate enough?
I do not usually look at the actual numbers, but use the tests to compare last week's parameters to this week's, and see if there is a trend going on. Then I act to make the trend go the way I want.

There are ways to calibrate the test kits. Scroll down through this link to a section about calibrating test kits.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... -test.html

Jeez, I tried to save my post but can't find it now...Diana is my water goddess, when I had soft water, low KH & GH, she helped me to get it to a stable point. I used crushed coral in my filter & a bit of baking soda at water changes. This kept my KH from going to 0 & my pH from dropping too. My nitrate level would drop also even though I'd call the tank "medium planted" at most & I had a chronic columnaris issue (not clowns but sids & striatas & only rasboras were affected). Just the crushed coral was enough to keep my lower light/less planted clown loach stable. Stable is of great importance, less so the actual number or "range".

Thank you for your responces. At tje moment I've put this on the back burner as I've run into a bit of fish disease issue and I'm treating for the next few weeks.

Just a compleat and utter side note @ Diana. How do you manage 26 tanks? And where on earth do you keep them all?

I have two running and a 3rd empty in the garage and I am still trying to wrap my mind around where to set up the 3rd. At 26 you might as well be swimming in it.... lol

I used to have all the tanks in the house, several in each room. Regular weekly maintenance with different water each day of the week. Hard water tanks certain days, soft water tanks other days, RO water tanks a different day... and so on.
Then I moved almost all of them to a greenhouse. Unfortunately it is not a great place. The plastic sheeting is not UV stabilized, but that is OK, it is just a test. I have too much wind here to use plastic sheeting as a greenhouse material. Even if I got the UV stabilized material it would get blown apart. Shredded.
So...
a) Bring the tanks back inside.
or
b) Find the money to make a better greenhouse. Lexan or fiberglass roof. This means some actual construction instead of PVC pipe arches, and lumber is pretty pricey around here.

The tanks are OK outside, the plants are doing pretty good with all the light, but the temperature control is non-existent, so no fish in them. Tadpoles of the Sierra Tree Frog are thriving, though! Every tank has a filter and the larger ones have a power head, so there is plenty of water movement. That about uses up the available power out there. (Very old building, and the power feed to that area is not great, mustn't overload!)

Diana's greenhouse set up really cool but, like she said, not too temp stable. What's happening with the panels to heat/cool things? You know I'd help you...either with construction or tank moving, let me know...it's visitor season here...

Nancy, I am overwhelmed with fixing my father's house right now. I have been doing all sorts of repairs to the landscape, and am turning a bath into a bath and shower. Lots more work going on over there, too.

I think I need to save some money and use it for fixing the roof before I do much more. All the temperature control devices are of no use if the roof blows off in the wind. However, it is more important that I save money to buy a smaller truck. I am aiming for better gas mileage, now. Going to give the one ton to my daughter for towing the horse trailer.

It sounds like you're doing a great job monitoring your tank's parameters! Clown loaches generally prefer a GH of 5-12 dGH and a KH of 3-8 dKH, so your readings are in a decent range, but it's good to aim for stability. Once you get your hands on those liquid tests, you'll have a clearer picture. By the way, I recently took a break from fishkeeping and tried the rice purity test; it was an interesting experience!