[HD Blazingwolf]

ive learned that my tap water is very low in carbonates. 3 dKH. i believe understand that calcium mixed with c02 creates bicarbbonates thus inncreasing carbonate hardness yes?

what can i do to increase my KH? i know there is marinne carbonate booster.. is it even necessary? id like to understand this process better especially sinnce my sons tank runs off carbonate equilibrium being non c02 injected.

 

[lipadj46]

My tap water is 2 dKH and I usually add baking soda to bring the KH to around 7. As long as you do regular water changes though you are probably fine at 3 dKH

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

of course, i follow EI now, and do my 50% every sunday. previously it was 30% every sunday. never missed a change.
ill have to remember baking soda. is there a formula to calculate how much you need to increase a certain amount?

 

[Hoppy]

What's wrong with 3dKH? Most people try very hard to get it that low.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

im aiming for 5 not that my plants can't survive i've just been reading they are at home in 5

 

[GeToChKn]

Don't change unless you see suffering. Too many people get into a million things removing this, adding this, to get water to what they think is perfect. Only thing I've done is add peat pellets to my filter to get my pH lower so my CRS shrimp will breed better. Lots of reading I have found that can live fine in higher pH but will want to breed in a lower a pH and the babies survive better in pH, but if the peat doesn't work, I'm already setting up another tank with substrate to lower the pH because I'm not going RO water, then adding back to that, or mixing RO and tap and constant monitoring, just seems to much.

What plants are you growing that need a gH of 5 as opposed to 3?

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

i add very little as it is. api water conditioner during my weekly change and ferts.. so if while im adding my gh booster i added say 1/8 tsp of baking soda. i havent done a whole lot. im not a big fan of chemicals. nature has been doing fine for a lonnnnggg time. im just trying to make my plants happy