Tropical Fish Forums

[Angry Andy]

Does anyone here have any solid experience in increasing water hardness (GH) apart from using products like African Cichlid water conditioners, without simultaneously influencing KH or pH values?

[Minsc]

I've used calcium sulphate, aka gypsum, and magnesium sulphate, aka epsom salts to raise the GH before. I found 5/8 tsp calsium sulphate in 10 gallons will add 18 ppm Ca, or 2.5 dGH. 1/2 tsp magnesium sulphate in 10 gallons will add 6.3 ppm Mg, or 1.5 dGH. Gypsum is commonly used in beer brewing, epsom salts can be found at any grocery store.

There is this link:http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php, which slightly disagrees with my numbers, but that can easily happen using volume instead of weight.

Mix the powders, in seperate vessels, with just a very small amount of water, then add the slurry to the tank, or water change water.

It's best to not subject fish to sudden changes. A couple degrees hardness a week is all I would feel comfortable with.

Any specific reasons for adding hardness to your water?

[Angry Andy]