What the heck do I do with KH 12 water?

Starry

Starry

Occasionally sighted.
May 15, 2002
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Brampton, Ont
I hate Waterloo!!!!!!!!! The water comes out of the tap at KH 12. After about a week and a half without a water change, it goes to about 9 or 10. pH around 7.6-8.0, depending on whether I'm having a good day, and depending on what colour my eyes are seeing. So, I made up my trusty Jell-O CO2, with 1/2 tsp yeast. It's going nuts, little steam of bubbles, as if I had a bubble wand in there. This would normally cause me to increase the surface agitation to increase the pH a bit, but now I'm not even budging below 7.6.

Anyone have any suggestions? Normally I keep CO2 around 25 ppm, but now I'm barely at 10. The algae is really having a blast, and the plants are not. I jsut added a new diffuser actually, a bell-type contraption with a sponge top, but I doubt it if will work well. The CO2 just collects in a huge pocket.

In the Big Al's catalogue I saw some peat plates. Can I just bury these under the flourite and have the plants root in them? Kind of like a portable foreground. Would they disintegrate? I actually only need temporary softening, for, say, four months. Then I'm back in Brampton. (for the record, moving sucks!)

I'm using a sponge filter, so I can't think of a way to add peat to that. Anything else I can do? I'm desperate.
 
What about adding a tea bag to your filter. Just make sure to get something without additives like a plain greentea tea bag. That would help make the water a bit more acidic and would be a cheap alternative until you get a better water source. Plus the tannins help the plants as a bonus. Well mine like it anyway.
 
Amazing what a reactor will do for absorption isn't it??!!
BTW, I would stay away from peat IN the tank. Gets messy when you try to move planted plants, cause it breaks down over time, into little, teeny pieces. Not to mention the tea like hue that your tank will take on til you get rid of the tannins. Back in the day I used it to condition water for Discus, but I would put it into a nylon bag and put it into a HOB filter. Worked great, but alas the damn tannins would darken it up.
And Starry, I figured out why you REALLY move so much......it's harder to hit a moving target, eh??!!!???!!!!
:rolleyes:
Len
 
Starry, crappy water?
Stouffvilles water, out of the tap: KH - 15, GH - 17, pH - 8.2
Not bad if your raising cichlids, pretty hard for raising plants. Oh well, one more week and your home :)
 
Originally posted by Matak
Starry, crappy water?
Stouffvilles water, out of the tap: KH - 15, GH - 17, pH - 8.2
Not bad if your raising cichlids, pretty hard for raising plants. Oh well, one more week and your home :)
Click to expand...

The only real problem with hard water is getting enough CO2 to dissolve in it.
 
Originally posted by Matak
Starry, crappy water?
Stouffvilles water, out of the tap: KH - 15, GH - 17, pH - 8.2
Not bad if your raising cichlids, pretty hard for raising plants. Oh well, one more week and your home :)
Click to expand...

Try again. I've been here two weeks, not moving back till august. Just one of the perks of being in a co-op program, I get to study all through summer :)
So what do you do about CO2?
 
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