Lowering kH

[Wrench]

What's the best way to lower the kH of my tank? Using distilled water seems like it would be expensive to buy 10 gallons every week when I change the water. I'm trying one of the water softening pouches in my filter for now and so far it's come down a little bit but the package says it will take about 48 hrs. to work completely and it's only been about 6.

 

[RTR]

Why do you want to lower the KH?

Are you aware that the water "softening" pillows do reduce the GH by salt exchange, swapping out 2 sodium ions for each calcium or magnesium ion they take up, and thus increase the TDS (total dissolved solids) - exactly the opposite of the effect desired for breeding blackwater fish? But they will not have as much if any effect on the KH.

 

[Wrench]

Part of my ongoing algae saga. Some of the research that I've done has showed that the algae that I'm trying to get rid of thirives on hard water so I'm trying to soften it a little bit to not make the algae feel so at home in my tank. Also it's a little bit too hard for the fish I'm keeping.

So if not the pillow, what will lower the kH?

 

[RTR]

If your plants are growing well, slgae is not an issue. Plants need KH - it is the water's natural buffer also - with low KH and plants instabilty is a big problem. Modifying KH for algae control is not effective. making sure that the plants have light, carbon source (CO2 or Excel), macro- and micronutriets will do the job.

Search through plantbrain/Tom Barr's posts for the simpliest technique.