# GH/KH for Angelfish



## Austin (Feb 1, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I ordered some test kits (my tetra one was getting old), and the GH/KH test kit came (the master test kit didn't come yet; these are all API). Anyways, I tested the water and the KH was about 10-11 dKH (179-197 ppm), and the GH was 17-18 dGH (306-324 ppm). This was higher than I thought it was because with the tetra test kit my GH was 14-15 dGH a few months ago. Anyways, I'm wondering if this is too hard for my angelfish. I've had them for about 4 months and they seem okay. They are little piggies and rush up when I feed them which makes me think they may be fine. Although sometimes they just seem to sit around occasionally near the top and a lot of their fins grew in bent. My plants also aren't exactly thriving. Anyways, I guess my question is if anyone has a good knowledge of GH/KH and angelfish, what is your opinion? Should I just keep it the way it is? I was considering mixing in some RO water into the tap water at water changes to possibly reduce the hardness. I know it's not really good to change the water parameters but I'm more concerned for their long term health. I think too hard of water can affect their internal organs. Oh, and I also have neon tetras that have been doing fine.

Thanks! 
Austin


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

On less they an altum angel thn they will be fine. Because LFS angels have been captive bred for so long that they r able to tolerate a wide range of water parameters. They would like it a little lower, u could do wt I do 4 my discus and angles and use peat moss by Sera. Or u could get some driftwood or black water extract by Tetra. The reason ur plants r not doing well is because MOST(anubis or any other African plant likes hard) like soft water cus it is easier 4 them to take nutrients from the water I know that from experience. RO water is not tht gd 4 plants either cus it is very low in nutrients.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Austin (Feb 1, 2010)

tankman12 said:


> On less they an altum angel thn they will be fine. Because LFS angels have been captive bred for so long that they r able to tolerate a wide range of water parameters. They would like it a little lower, u could do wt I do 4 my discus and angles and use peat moss by Sera. Or u could get some driftwood or black water extract by Tetra. The reason ur plants r not doing well is because MOST(anubis or any other African plant likes hard) like soft water cus it is easier 4 them to take nutrients from the water I know that from experience. RO water is not tht gd 4 plants either cus it is very low in nutrients.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Thanks for the reply. 

Well in regards to RO water I was thinking about 1 gallon RO water mixed into 4 gallons of tap water maybe to reduce the hardness a little. Maybe I could mess around with it and test to see the parameters. 

I just bought a nice large piece of malaysian driftwood last night. I was soaking it to get the tannins out but maybe I should just put it in. Although, wouldn't that change the pH/soften the water, and then when I do a weekly 50% water change and add my wonderful rock-hard water they will get shocked? 

Interestingly my anubias and java ferns are not doing very well. :/ Which is sad. The best growing plants are my jungle val, water lily, and crypts (although they recently decided to all partially melt.....). 

Anyways, back to the fish. They are from a breeder who uses slightly acidic (maybe pH 6.8) water. She said they would do fine in my water but they aren't the store bought ones that were maybe bred in hard water (and therefore hard-water tolerating fish were selected for, maybe).


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## Tolak (Nov 13, 2012)

They'll do fine in that water, you'll probably have a difficult time getting spawns to hatch out if you plan on breeding.


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## Austin (Feb 1, 2010)

okay good! I guess I just like to worry. I heard that hard water can be handful to the organs of soft-water fish, and my water was harder than I expected. But I guess these are so far from wild-caught that that doesn't even apply much?


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