Water Hardness

[time2botanize]

Does anyone know of a commercial, easy to acquire material for increasing water's general hardness? My tank's water hardness right now is 70 mg/L.

 

[inkozana]

Oh, that's not a good number! Luckily increasing water hardness is easier than decreasing.
http://www.e-aquarium.com.au/buy/water/hardness Aquarium does products over the net that will increase your water hardness. I'm not good at directing you to a store in your area because we live in different countries. Limestone is an easy thing to accquire over here and can help to get your water hardness at an acceptable level, coral substrates are also good but may not be good for your axolotl.. I'm not sure if anyone has tested that.

The best idea I have found for you would be to put crushed coral, or dolomite (which was suggested to someone with a similar problem) into your filter, so that when the water is passed through its hardness will increase. You MAY have to buy a new filter it depends on the type you have now.

 

[Kal El]

I wouldn't worry too much about the general hardness (GH) of the tank. I used to stress out about it heaps, however, as long as you're not keeping your axolotl in pure distilled water, which will have zero electrolytes in the water, you will be fine.

Most pet stores sell kits to test the GH; eBay is also a good resource:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/API-GH-KH-Test-kit_W0QQitemZ130268620227QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130268620227&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A2%7C240%3A1318

This test kit (vide supra) also comes with a carbonate hardness test kit, which also useful, but not necessary.

The best idea I have found for you would be to put crushed coral

I agree. However, there is no need to purchase a new filter. You can always place some crushed coral into women's stocking and immerse this into the water. Take caution with this method though, because there will be an increase in pH. The amount of crushed coral you add will depend on the size of your tank. For example, adding adding 2 teaspoons to a 38L (10 gal) tank has the ability to increase the GH from 50ppm to 75ppm.

Jay.

 

[inkozana]

I wish someone had told me that before I went out and bought a new filter Jay, haha!

 

[time2botanize]

Thanks, I've got the water hardness up to a medium-hard level, I think that's about as high as I can get without raising the pH (it's at 7.8).