kh

[dismatt]

hi everyne can someone to me about kh in the tank and how to get it to the right level for discus planted tank cheers matt :D

[Phlipper]

I'll try to answer that ???

Really speaking Discus would prefer a very low KH reading as that indicates the water is nice and soft, and actually plants prefer to have a higher KH reading to grow well, Discus in their wild state dont live in well planted rivers and streams, their natural waterways are quite barren except for logs, branches etc.

So, ideally well planted tanks are not well suited to Discus it seems, but most will tolerate it quite well, mine do ? A good KH level I think is around the 2 to 3 points mark, using a Sera test kit to measure it.......I never bother anymore......I guess it ? The main downside of Discus in a well planted tank is the copious amounts of water changes to keep Discus healthy, and adding more plant fertiliser with each change, it gets expensive !!!

[sharn]

kh needs to be at least 3 for a basic tank, but at least 5 im told if you want to use co2. kh is what buffers your ph so you dont get big crashes or swings. a slightly higher ph and kh (kh normally increases the the ph as it rises) is going to make your discus happier than a tank that swings and crashes all the time. it seems my tank hits the right spot at 4dkh and a ph of 7.4, this is with the use of shell grit (the stuff birds eat) in my filters