GH a little high?

athlete3344

I did a test of kH and GH today and the results were:
GH - 16
kH - 5

The kH seems decent for treated tap water but for myself to have Zebra Loaches, I need a GH of <12 from what I could find. I haven't looked up Threadfins or Honey Gourami yet.

How can I lower this even though its dissolved calcium and such?

okiemavis

What is your pH? Are you using liquid or test strips?

athlete3344

My pH is at 7.5 currently but I just added in a decent sized piece of driftwood.

Im using liquid test kits.

athlete3344

Would using spring water from a walmart be ok to lower gH instead of using RO/DI water from my LFS?

okiemavis

It depends on the hardness of the spring water you use. If the spring water has a low GH then yes. It's actually a rather strange result.

I wouldn't really worry about the GH at all. It's a lot more of a pain to alter it and the instabilities will probably be worse for your fish than the slightly high gh. Also, there's really no good way to bring down the gh without bringing down the kh, and both of those will result in a less stable pH. I think you'll find that you'll have very healthy fish in your current water conditions.

athlete3344

Sounds good, thanks :).

okiemavis

No prob :D

Also, I keep threadfins and Honey Gourami as well. Both will do well in water similar to your loaches.

athlete3344

Well thats great to hear. Now I cant wait haha, with the loaches, will lava rock be ok since theyre scaleless?