So heres the deal:
All tested with a TetraTest master test kit, the vials and agents and drops and tubes kinda thing.
I get all my water from the local reservoir, it comes out of there with 7.1ish ph(slightly higher then 7.0 says the kit) 0kh and 0dh (way below .5 says the kit).
My 10g planted tank has been in operation for 6-7 weeks, has only had this water in it, no meds or drops or anything elses. It has had water changes every week or so, ranging from 10% to 25%, depending on how much water i have on hand, all using this same water.
The water out of the 10g tank reads 7.1ph, 3gh, 4kh. nitrogens read 0/0/0.(yes, zero nitrate too)
What i'd like to know is where the gh and kh are coming from, i find this rather odd personally.
I have a substrate of 1-1.5 inches of classic small (2-4mm) aquarium gravel, the mostly brownish kind sold country wide.
2.5 bundles worth of Anacharis (growing like the weed it is, i bought two, it's grown enough to make most of another bundle), and one handful(4-5" ball) of java moss.
The filter is a penguin 200 bio wheel type, no extra media in it, just the (origional) charcoal/blue-fiber filter and the bio wheel. I have a sponge filter insert cut up to form an intake filter (don't want snails getting into the impellor), but i can't see a plastic sponge doing it.
I had a nice Diatom bloom, which snails have now eaten almost entirely into submission.
There are a few chunks of shell in the gravel, maybe one chunk per five hundred rock bits.
Could those few little tiny shell bits be the whole deal?
It's not really a problem, the fish don't care in the slightest(though it means i'll have to acclimate longer when they go into the 29g with no hardness at whatsoever, bah) but it's weird, and i can't explain it to my satisfaction, which annoys me.
Any ideas?
(note: yes the tank is cycled, it had an insta cycle stemming from a variety of things, none of which has anything to do with this question)
All tested with a TetraTest master test kit, the vials and agents and drops and tubes kinda thing.
I get all my water from the local reservoir, it comes out of there with 7.1ish ph(slightly higher then 7.0 says the kit) 0kh and 0dh (way below .5 says the kit).
My 10g planted tank has been in operation for 6-7 weeks, has only had this water in it, no meds or drops or anything elses. It has had water changes every week or so, ranging from 10% to 25%, depending on how much water i have on hand, all using this same water.
The water out of the 10g tank reads 7.1ph, 3gh, 4kh. nitrogens read 0/0/0.(yes, zero nitrate too)
What i'd like to know is where the gh and kh are coming from, i find this rather odd personally.
I have a substrate of 1-1.5 inches of classic small (2-4mm) aquarium gravel, the mostly brownish kind sold country wide.
2.5 bundles worth of Anacharis (growing like the weed it is, i bought two, it's grown enough to make most of another bundle), and one handful(4-5" ball) of java moss.
The filter is a penguin 200 bio wheel type, no extra media in it, just the (origional) charcoal/blue-fiber filter and the bio wheel. I have a sponge filter insert cut up to form an intake filter (don't want snails getting into the impellor), but i can't see a plastic sponge doing it.
I had a nice Diatom bloom, which snails have now eaten almost entirely into submission.
There are a few chunks of shell in the gravel, maybe one chunk per five hundred rock bits.
Could those few little tiny shell bits be the whole deal?
It's not really a problem, the fish don't care in the slightest(though it means i'll have to acclimate longer when they go into the 29g with no hardness at whatsoever, bah) but it's weird, and i can't explain it to my satisfaction, which annoys me.
Any ideas?
(note: yes the tank is cycled, it had an insta cycle stemming from a variety of things, none of which has anything to do with this question)
