[d3snoopy]

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to move to RO water, but I'd just like to confirm.

I currently use straight tap water in my tanks. I age it before introducing it to the tanks, and after aging the parameters reliably look like this:

PH 8.2
KH 8-10deg
GH 10-12deg

My understanding is that isn't super[\i] hard, but it's on the hard end of the scale. What I don't understand is why the water is so alkaline all the time. I understand that higher hardness means higher PH, but I didn't think I had enough hardness to drive the PH that high. Maybe my understanding of "hard" and "soft" is skewed. Isn't it possible to have hard water that's in the high 7's instead of the low 8's? If so, what's the best to buffer the ph down without winding up with rebound or fluctuating conditions?

**I'm also going to post in the shrimp forum about maybe trying to leverage the hard water to breed the amano....**

 

[happi]

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to move to RO water, but I'd just like to confirm.

I currently use straight tap water in my tanks. I age it before introducing it to the tanks, and after aging the parameters reliably look like this:

PH 8.2
KH 8-10deg
GH 10-12deg

My understanding is that isn't super[\i] hard, but it's on the hard end of the scale. What I don't understand is why the water is so alkaline all the time. I understand that higher hardness means higher PH, but I didn't think I had enough hardness to drive the PH that high. Maybe my understanding of "hard" and "soft" is skewed. Isn't it possible to have hard water that's in the high 7's instead of the low 8's? If so, what's the best to buffer the ph down without winding up with rebound or fluctuating conditions?

**I'm also going to post in the shrimp forum about maybe trying to leverage the hard water to breed the amano....**

your GH isn't that bad but KH is bit higher, high KH mean high PH. but what is your main goal in your tank?

you can do 50/50 ro/tap to get very good results for plants and fish if that is what you are looking for. other than that there are many methods beside RO but they all are hassle and does not work so well, like peat moss, PH down etc is waste of time IMO.

 

[ray-the-pilot]

The hardness of your water (meaning GH) has nothing to do with pH. It is a function of the amount of Ca and Mg dissolved in your water. The best way to reduce GH is to dilute your tap water with RO water. A 50% reduction with RO should reduce your GH by about 50%.

KH is related to the alkalinity of the water. Yes as KH increases pH will increase! Any acid substance you add to your tank should permanently decrease both pH and kH unless there is some source of alkalinity available in your substrate or decorations.