[FishFinatic]

I've been running a low tech setup for a while now but the plants have never flourished. I've done dry ferts on and off, but could definetly be more conisistent there.

I just got a KH/GH test kit to work on dialing it in better and here are my parameters

KH - 22 (tap and aquarium)
GH - 1 (tap and aquarium)
PH - 8.3 (aquarium)
PH - 8.1 (tap)

As you can see my KH is very high. I've done some reading and realize I need to more heavily does CA and Mg, but what about my KH? Do I need to lower that? Is there a natural way to do this?

Thank You

 

[Roboto]

Typically the best way would be to dilute the water with RO/Distilled.

 

[Edward]

I just got a KH/GH test kit to work on dialing it in better and here are my parameters

KH - 22 (tap and aquarium)
GH - 1 (tap and aquarium)
PH - 8.3 (aquarium)
PH - 8.1 (tap)

Hi
You live in Fort Worth, Texas right? Here is your Water Quality Report.

42.40 – 60.70 ppm Ca = 5.9 – 8.5 Ca dGH
4.64 – 8.30 ppm Mg = 1.1 – 1.9 Mg dGH
Ca dGH + Mg dGH = 7.0 – 10.4 dGH total
128 – 150 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 = 7.2 – 8.4 dKH

Something doesn’t add up here.

 

[FishFinatic]

I just got a KH/GH test kit to work on dialing it in better and here are my parameters

KH - 22 (tap and aquarium)
GH - 1 (tap and aquarium)
PH - 8.3 (aquarium)
PH - 8.1 (tap)

Hi
You live in Fort Worth, Texas right? Here is your Water Quality Report.

42.40 – 60.70 ppm Ca = 5.9 – 8.5 Ca dGH
4.64 – 8.30 ppm Mg = 1.1 – 1.9 Mg dGH
Ca dGH + Mg dGH = 7.0 – 10.4 dGH total
128 – 150 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 = 7.2 – 8.4 dKH

Something doesn’t add up here.

I moved from Fort Worth years ago and have apparently forgotten to update my profile. I live in a small town North of Mckinney and our water is from a coop that uses a stupid amount of chlorine. I have a whole home water filtration system and the parameters listed are what comes out of the sink after going throughthat filtration. The test results speak for themselves. I tested multiple times to ensure accuracy

 

[Edward]

Whole house water filters ...

 

[FishFinatic]

Whole house water filters ...

Mine is just carbon, and micron filters

 

[FishFinatic]

Whole house water filters ...

So if I bypass my home filter, I'll have to deal with the high amount of chlorine. Is is better to just treat that water for Chlorine instead of battling the high kh? Ill do a test on my water before the filter and see what the difference is

 

[Edward]

Mine is just carbon, and micron filters

If your filter is only carbon then 22 dKH and 1 dGH indicates unnatural modification. Some water works add NaOH to protect old pipes from corrosion. Unless your reading of 22 is ppm, not dKH. Too many unknown here.

Carbonate hardness is not changed by carbon or whole house filtration. And chlorine can be removed by Prime from a local fish store or Walmart.

It would be great if you could get a TDS meter, any Home Depot have them.

 

[PlantedRich]

Several points jump out when I look at your readings. One is that the chlorine will be limited by federal and state law/ regs, so it is more likely that you are just feeling it is high due to a change of location. Your local water supplier is required to have the CCR confidence reports posted in some way that depends on the number of customers served, so a look for that would be a first step but I might guess that you are moving from a large metro area where chloramine is almost certain to be used as it has lots of advantages and costs them less but if you are now served by a smaller group, they will quite often still be using chlorine.

That difference can make us think we are getting lots more chlorine than when we were drinking chloramine treated as we suddenly begin to smell the chlorine. The major difference is that the chlorine gasses off much quicker than chloramine, so we smell it more. But the levels of each are closely monitored, so that you are not getting sick. Prime is designed to work well with either, so that is my most often used method.

 

[FishFinatic]

Mine is just carbon, and micron filters

If your filter is only carbon then 22 dKH and 1 dGH indicates unnatural modification. Some water works add NaOH to protect old pipes from corrosion. Unless your reading of 22 is ppm, not dKH. Too many unknown here.

Carbonate hardness is not changed by carbon or whole house filtration. And chlorine can be removed by Prime from a local fish store or Walmart.

It would be great if you could get a TDS meter, any Home Depot have them.

Been using Prime for years but stopped when we built this house and put in the filter.

I'll go find a tds meter. What am I looking for with this measurement?

 

[dfarr67]

I have similar town well water parameters here.

- 23 gallon water change at a time in a 135 gal tank
- 10 gal RO water, rest is raw water pre softener
- 1 tsp acid buffer
- 2.5 tsp equilibrium

Brings me to around:
- 7.6ph
- 8 deg gh
- 11 deg kh

Other than that- I keep to minimums and ph lands wherever.

 

[Edward]

Been using Prime for years but stopped when we built this house and put in the filter.

Did you test the produced water for water change for chlorine?

I'll go find a tds meter. What am I looking for with this measurement?

Too many combinations to mention, but if you post it we will know. For example, if you say 22 dKH, 1 dGH and 600 ppm TDS, we know you have a whole house NaCl filter. But when you say 22 dKH, 1 dGH and 60 ppm TDS, we know you have very soft water with NaOH addition by local water works.

Hi dfarr67
Why are you destroying the RO water by mixing the tap into it? Once you have RO you can have any water parameters you want.

 

[cl3537]

I have similar town well water parameters here.

- 23 gallon water change at a time in a 135 gal tank
- 10 gal RO water, rest is raw water pre softener
- 1 tsp acid buffer
- 2.5 tsp equilibrium

Brings me to around:
- 11 deg kh

Your pH with 11dkh should be 8+ not sure what kind of acid buffer you are adding but its a strange equilibrium to have ph 7.6 and still a kH that high.

 

[dfarr67]

KH starts at 25 ish
Seachem acid buffer

 

[FishFinatic]

Several points jump out when I look at your readings. One is that the chlorine will be limited by federal and state law/ regs, so it is more likely that you are just feeling it is high due to a change of location. Your local water supplier is required to have the CCR confidence reports posted in some way that depends on the number of customers served, so a look for that would be a first step but I might guess that you are moving from a large metro area where chloramine is almost certain to be used as it has lots of advantages and costs them less but if you are now served by a smaller group, they will quite often still be using chlorine.

That difference can make us think we are getting lots more chlorine than when we were drinking chloramine treated as we suddenly begin to smell the chlorine. The major difference is that the chlorine gasses off much quicker than chloramine, so we smell it more. But the levels of each are closely monitored, so that you are not getting sick. Prime is designed to work well with either, so that is my most often used method.

Thank you very much. I understand the chlorine situation, just trying to work out what to do with KH.

 

[FishFinatic]

Been using Prime for years but stopped when we built this house and put in the filter.

Did you test the produced water for water change for chlorine?

I'll go find a tds meter. What am I looking for with this measurement?

Too many combinations to mention, but if you post it we will know. For example, if you say 22 dKH, 1 dGH and 600 ppm TDS, we know you have a whole house NaCl filter. But when you say 22 dKH, 1 dGH and 60 ppm TDS, we know you have very soft water with NaOH addition by local water works.

I tested the water before it goes through the house filter and the parameters are very similar to the water. Here they are

KH - 22
GH - 1
PH - 8.0

Still need to get the TDS tested. With what we know so far do you have any advice? Would a good next step be to start dosing Ca and Mg dry ferts to get the GH up?

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!

 

[FishFinatic]

Also here is a screen shot from the water quality report fro 2019

 

[PlantedRich]

I can't get the image to click open to get a view to read but I think I do see the water treated with chlorine and being between 1.? and 1. ? with a max allowed level of 4, so moving from a chloramine treated supply to this will often make one smell it far more, even when well below the allowed levels.

In the written portion of the report, is there mention of treating to reduce pipe corrosion? That might tell what might be used?

What I might suggest is happening (without info to back the idea) is that the natural water would be very hard and very alkaline, so they will often be treating the water for a number of different things with one being to reduce the alkalinity to help save the pipes!

With a GH of 1 and KH of 22,I would guess there is something like that going on. I have not had that water situation but I think adding baking soda may be the answer. But do some looking for solutions of that and do not take my "random" thoughts as a real way to go!!

Holiday weekends tend to be slow, so waiting for some of the group to get back to normal may be a good idea as I am certainly NOT the chemistry expert of the group!

 

[Edward]

Hi
Your water report says nothing about Ca, Mg, pH, KH, TDS. Also you said, you stopped using Prime because you have house filter. I was asking if you tested the filtered water for chlorine. You want to start adding Ca and Mg, but what if your GH measurement is wrong? What if you call your Water Works and verify the levels?

 

[FishFinatic]

Hi
Your water report says nothing about Ca, Mg, pH, KH, TDS. Also you said, you stopped using Prime because you have house filter. I was asking if you tested the filtered water for chlorine. You want to start adding Ca and Mg, but what if your GH measurement is wrong? What if you call your Water Works and verify the levels?

I dont get any detectable amounts of chlorine after the house filter. As far as the water report goes, that's what they have on their website. Here is a link.

https://southgraysonwater.org/water-quality-report