back with good news and bad news

ok finaly my tank is sorted
amonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=10ppm
ph=7.2

ok the question is:
due to stupidity on my half the instrucctions for kh and gh have been thrown out,
and im lost on how to use them.
please help

If it's the API test kit then the method is the same, BG. Add 5ml of water to the testtube. Add one drop at a time from either the KH and GH bottles. You then count how many of drops it takes to turn the KH testtube from blue to yellow - that gives you your KH; for the GH, I think it's orange to green or vice versa. If you let me know the number of drops, I'll let you know the result re: hardness standards.

it is the api test kit
10 drops of kh and 7 of gh

Well those readings are fine. The GH is a measure of the General Hardness and it never changes. At 7, you have moderately soft water so can stock just about anything apart from some of the more specialized hard water species such as Malawi Cichlids. The KH is linked to the pH and the level of nitrates in the tank. It needs to be above 4 to keep the pH stable so at 10, you're rocking!

can these readings ever be too high Mary? I have never tested my tank for all this stuff, but I guess I need to start keeping an eye on stuff a bit more.

Fishfan wrote:

can these readings ever be too high Mary?

Well initially they're dependant on the actual chemistry of your tapwater and after that, the KH depends on the level of nitrates in the tank which obviously changes over time. It's no harm to test them every now and then because sometimes mysterious unknown deaths can be due to a pH crash...