# KH Color Chart



## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

haha, kh kits don't have color charts, read the instructions :icon_idea 
You count the drops....


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

if you are using AP's kit, it is how many drops it takes until the color goes from Blue to Yellow.

if you get a green color, then just add .5 to whatever drop count you are currently at.

# of drops = degrees KH


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

How do you know what your levels are at? The amount of drops you do until it turns to yellow?


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

yep. use 5ml of water for the test.

if it takes 4 drops to turn the water yellow (fyi: it will stay dark blue until it finally changes, so the change is quite ovious) then you have 4 dKH.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Okay, as in blue do you mean the color of the water?


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

yep. the water color after the drop mixes with it.

give it a try and you will see. pretty obvious after seeing/doing it once.

if the water turns yellow right away you have a dKH less than 1. obviously not a good case. if you get that reading and still doubt it, then get some baking soda, put a teaspoon in a gallon pitcher with water in it, then try the testkit. you should get a pretty high reading when testing the dKh of that water. otherwise, the testkit is bad.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

For instance if I had a low hardness of water, what could possibly raise it?


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

baking soda will raise KH

1 teaspoon per 50g's raises dKH by 1.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

Jdinh04 said:


> For instance if I had a low hardness of water, what could possibly raise it?


baking soda will raise the KH- my tap water is 1dkh- for my 55 gal tank - add 1/2tsp of BS and it raises it to 4KH.


To make the test more accurate- use 10mls of water. You divide the number of drops it takes to change the water by 2. So if you count 10 drops, your kh is 5


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

1 teaspoon of baking soda will raise 50 liters of water 4°.

½ teaspoon is not going to raise a 55 gallon tank 4°. I know because I have been there and done that.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

If you are interested in raising your kH, do a search for "crushed coral" for starters. I ended up adding crushed coral to my cannister, and adding a teaspoonful of baking soda with my weekly 50% water change. When doing the water change I add the baking soda to the last bucket of water and add the water over a couple of hours so as not to change the pH very quickly.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Rex, Marc could have different readings of his water. It really depends on how your tap water is.

I will test my tank water tommorow and see what its KH is!


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

Jdinh04 said:


> Rex, Marc could have different readings of his water. It really depends on how your tap water is.
> 
> I will test my tank water tommorow and see what its KH is!


regardless of how hard/soft your water is preliminarily, the formula that Rex and I posted will be consistent for incremental increases in KH. It can actually be derived by utilizing the math that is posted on the back of the Baking Soda box's.

You could test it out by getting a 5g bucket and adding baking soda proportionally to see how much it takes to raise KH by whatever amount. I highly recommend doing this no matter what people post as it isnt worth a silly math mistake killing your fish. I did the same thing with some buffer I ordered and got today (used a 5g bucket first to make sure the pH is what the package says).


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

If I may ask something similiar to the original question...

I bought a KH test kit that didn't come with a color chart. (Yes, I did read the instrcutions roud: )

The thing is, it says to add 1 drop at a time until the water turns from blue red just like the color of the box at the top. 

Well, I bought the Tropic Marin brand for freshwater and the box is not even red anywhere! :icon_conf It's all blue, green, and yellow.

I put one drop in and the 5ml of water is slightly pink. Does anyone out there use this brand? Can someone tell me how red the water should change before I can get an accurate reading. 

Last resort is I'll get rid of this test kit and if anyone can recommend another, I'll take that into consideration. 

Thanks!


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## Spar (Aug 7, 2003)

i have only used 2 different brands of testkits for KH, but with those it was the same principle: When you see any color change (obvious color change like blue to yellow... not just dark blue to light blue for example) then that is when you stop throwing in drops and your current count is the dKH you have.

Similarily, the color you are waiting to see is the color of the actual drop coming out of the testkit. With AP, the drops are yellow, but when they hit the water the water truns blue. You drop until the water turns yellow (color of the drop itself).

I can only assume that is a universal instruction, but cant guarentee it as I have only used 2 brands (AP and Tetra).

Best bet is to go to their website and see their detailed instructions (if different from what you already have), or buy a less confusing brand - i.e. AP. Very inexpensive and lasts quite a while.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

Just to follow up on what Rex said and Spar: My tap is 1dkh. I failed to mention that when I add baking soda- its during a 50% water change. So really 1/2 teaspoon raises about 20-25 gals of water to 4dkh since the water left in the tank is already at 4dkh. I hope that clears some things up.


Spar said:


> regardless of how hard/soft your water is preliminarily, the formula that Rex and I posted will be consistent for incremental increases in KH. It can actually be derived by utilizing the math that is posted on the back of the Baking Soda box's.
> 
> You could test it out by getting a 5g bucket and adding baking soda proportionally to see how much it takes to raise KH by whatever amount. I highly recommend doing this no matter what people post as it isnt worth a silly math mistake killing your fish. I did the same thing with some buffer I ordered and got today (used a 5g bucket first to make sure the pH is what the package says).


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## gnatster (Mar 12, 2004)

> I bought a KH test kit that didn't come with a color chart. (Yes, I did read the instrcutions )
> 
> The thing is, it says to add 1 drop at a time until the water turns from blue red just like the color of the box at the top.
> 
> Well, I bought the Tropic Marin brand for freshwater and the box is not even red anywhere!


Look on the side of the box. With the box laying flat in front of you it's on the left side, both the blue and red. Blue says Start under it Red says Stop.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

I just tested my water this afternoon and here are my readings.

pH: 7.0
kH: 7

I am not sure if the kH is right, how ever this is how I tested it.

I place one drop in 10mL of water, shake it and the water was blue. Then I added drop after drop and about 6-7 drops later, the blue had turned to yellow.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

If you tested in 10ml of water then you have to divide my 2 so you kh is 3-3.5.

If you use 5ml of water then you could the # of drops and that is you kh.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Okay, is my kH in good standings?


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

to avoid a PH crash yes. But I don't know what you target CO2 level is with a PH of 7 and kh of 3-3.5 you have a CO2 of 9-11ppm.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Oh, my brew just diffused today, maybe later on tommorow things will speed up?


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

Thanks Gnatster...I will look for it tonight when I get home.


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