View Full Version : Water Hardness
Hiame70
12-05-2002, 8:04 PM
Hi, I posted a ? a little while back, but it was lost in the switchover...?
Anyways, I basically had my ? answered, but..
I am doing water changes every week, using R/O water from the store, but was told tap water was OK. But....
The KH & GH are both at 7 in my tank right now.
The KH is @ 11 & the GH @13 out of the tap.
How are these levels? Too hard in my tank?
Is that too hard from the tap, or still OK to use the tap water for changes?
Richer
12-05-2002, 8:10 PM
Your levels are fine... I believe Tom Barr had a setup with a kh hovering around 11 and his plants did great. My tank currently has a kh of 8 (although one time it soared to 11 for some odd reason), and my plants are fine also.
If you are worried about increasing the hardness of your tank water, you can try mixing your tap water with R/O water. It'll lower the overall hardness of the water you put into your tank, and won't cost as much as 100% R/O water.
HTH
-Richer
wetmanNY
12-05-2002, 8:52 PM
That's the kind of highly-buffered water that benefits from CO2...
Why are you trying to soften the water?
If you are not tring trying for some particular reason, such as breeding blackwater fish. it is really better IMHO & IME to maintain your tanks with tap water. Most fish will adjust to most tap water. Making water modifications for no reason is wasted effort and expense to me, and limits your water changes while increasing your effort and costs.
Hiame70
12-06-2002, 9:40 AM
I was told originally (4 yrs ago) that my water was too hard, that I needed R/O water... now I don't? Arg!
Are the GH & KH levels lower in my tank because of the CO2 that I add?
Richer
12-06-2002, 9:45 AM
No... CO2 does not lower kh nor gh, it affects pH via a small percentage of CO2 associating with water to form carbonic acid.
My best guess at why your kh and gh is lower than your tap water is because either you haven't done enough water changes; you have plants in your tank that can utilize carbonates in your water; or the nitrogen cycle in your tank is lowering your kh and gh.
HTH
-Richer
I'm w/Richer on tank lower than tap on KH, but I'd say all of the above.