Ph/Kh/Gh HELP

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zoomum

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May 20, 2004
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I recently installed a water filtration system at my house and now the Ph and Kh have crashed in my tanks after my regular partial water changes.

I always had very hard water (above 400ppm) but as Ph was stable, no one in the tanks was stressed out and everything was fine. Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites all at 0.

Now my Ph has dropped below 6.0 (lowest on my test scale) and Kh is 0ppm. I have been adding electrolytes and Ph buffers for 3 days now and see no change in either Kh or Ph (Gh is still over 400ppm).

Now, the only resident that is unhappy with this is my mystery snail - which will stay in it's shell. This is waht first alerted me to a tank problem as normall "speedy" lives up to his name.

I'm looking for help/advise here as I seem to have tried all the usual solutions, but am getting now results. I don't to kill off speedy, or all of my biologials. What should I do next?
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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Is it reverse osmosis or water softening?

RO water pulls out almost all the minerals, so the buffering will be gone. You can either use a product like "RO Right" or take stuff from the outside taps, which aren't connected to the system.

If it's softening, it's usually worse, because it pulls out calcium, replacing it with sodium. In that case, I would definitely take it from a tap that is not connected with the softener.
 

zoomum

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May 20, 2004
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It's R/O not NA softner.

I've been using something similar to "RO Right" - a solution which says that it will replace the electrolytes in R/O water and also a Ph Adjuster.... with no visible results after 3 days. Does it need more doses every day until the right balance is found, or should one dose have been enough? It does not give multiple dose directions on the bottle... but I tried anyway!
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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I've not used it, but my understanding is that you add it to the water before you put it in the tank, as a one-shot deal.

I just use the unfiltered stuff for my FW tanks, and only use RO for SW. There are others who use it for FW (I think 125gJoe, e.g.), so somebody will chime in.
 

happychem

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Dec 9, 2003
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Why did you get an RO unit? Are you planning on keeping discus?

Electrolytes aren't the issue, alkalinity is.

Although it does surprise me, it appears that you've removed your carbonate buffer. The GH of 400 is surprising as well. With an RO unit I would have expected the carbonate species to sneak through by turning into CO2, then returning the equilibrium after passing through. Actually, this has no effect on KH, but it will increase pH until equilibrium is re-established.

But the GH alarming. I would have expected Ca and Mg to be removed entirely, that is after all the point of an RO unit.
 
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