GH+KH+ mineral

Performance & sizing

Core numbers for matching this unit to your tank and electrical plan.

Power

—

Flow rate

—

Noise

—

Dimensions

—

Price range

—

Tank fit (L)

—

Consumables & maintenance

Follow the manufacturer schedule for seals, impellers, media, and other consumables.

Description

This row makes two promises and only one of them has a reference behind it, so take them separately. The KH half is well documented. The Merck Veterinary Manual gives a working floor for total alkalinity: at or below 50 mg of calcium carbonate per litre, normal biofilter function is inhibited, and the manual says to buffer up to at least 100. That is not an aesthetic target. It is the carbonate the nitrifying bacteria spend while they convert ammonia, and Merck's account of old tank syndrome is what running out looks like from the fish's side. The biofilter consumes bicarbonate, alkalinity falls, and pH slides down gradually enough that nothing looks wrong until it stops being gradual. A tank filled with reverse osmosis water or very soft tap water starts below that floor on day one, which is the case for adding carbonate deliberately rather than hoping. The GH half is where this page stops. Products in this category also promise calcium and magnesium, usually aimed at shrimp keepers, and this catalog has now gone looking for a published mineral requirement for ornamental dwarf shrimp on three separate passes without finding one. There is no calcium figure, no calcium to magnesium ratio and no dosing rate available to cite, so none appears here. Anyone who quotes you a number for it is quoting a manufacturer. What that leaves is a method rather than a target. Buy a remineraliser that publishes its composition, add it to a measured volume, and read the result with a test kit instead of trusting the scoop. Merck's alkalinity floor gives you one figure that is genuinely defensible to stay above, and for general hardness the honest answer is to match the water the animals you keep were bred in.

Source

• merckvetmanual.com — https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/aquarium-fish/management-of-aquarium-fish

Figures on this page were read off these pages. Manufacturers and databases do change or retire pages; if a link is dead, tell us with the correction link below.