[emilio246]

hello, can you use seachem equilibrium on its own to remineralise ro water is it ok for plants etc, or do you need anything else
i don't keep specific fish or shrimp its mainly about the plants for me.
i heard that seachem equilibrium was better for plants then salty shrimp. i see no mention of kh on equilibrium, although using ADA AquaSoil should one even worry about kh?

also can i just switch from salty shrimp to seachem equilibrium with no problems to the plants?

 

[en7jos]

Yes, remineralising with Equilibrium to increase GH (whilst keeping KH at zero) is the way to go. The main difference between Equilibrium and SS GH+ is that Equilibrium has LOTS of potassium in it whereas SS is almost pure GH with just a small amount of trace minerals.

Any KH you add will be absorbed by aquasoil bringing KH back to zero (or thereabouts) and reducing the life of the soil in the process.

Yes you can switch to Equilibrium with no issues, just take into account that you will now be adding lots of potassium with water changes so you may need to tweak your fert dosing accordingly.

 

[pyoinator]

Yes, remineralising with Equilibrium to increase GH (whilst keeping KH at zero) is the way to go. The main difference between Equilibrium and SS GH+ is that Equilibrium has LOTS of potassium in it whereas SS is almost pure GH with just a small amount of trace minerals.

Any KH you add will be absorbed by aquasoil bringing KH back to zero (or thereabouts) and reducing the life of the soil in the process.

Yes you can switch to Equilibrium with no issues, just take into account that you will now be adding lots of potassium with water changes so you may need to tweak your fert dosing accordingly.

That is really good to know. On my tank I remineralize RO water to a gh of 7 using equilibrium, and still dose EI levels of NPK using potassium compounds. Can elevated potassium levels inhibit other nutrient uptake?

 

[emilio246]

Yes, remineralising with Equilibrium to increase GH (whilst keeping KH at zero) is the way to go. The main difference between Equilibrium and SS GH+ is that Equilibrium has LOTS of potassium in it whereas SS is almost pure GH with just a small amount of trace minerals.

Any KH you add will be absorbed by aquasoil bringing KH back to zero (or thereabouts) and reducing the life of the soil in the process.

Yes you can switch to Equilibrium with no issues, just take into account that you will now be adding lots of potassium with water changes so you may need to tweak your fert dosing accordingly.

interesting as i had always thought (having read here) that kh was important and keeping a kh of 0 was bad and could lead to ph crashes
and i dose with brighty k which already over doses on k and of which I'm aware infact raises kh

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

The soil buffers KH to 0, which should keep pH stable at just under 6.0.

 

[emilio246]

what about with co2 injection at 30ppm what affect can this have with 0kh water

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

I use CO2 in some tanks, and use aquasoil in some tanks, but unfortunately as of yet haven't done both. My understanding is that the CO2 is about the same, but more difficult to track via pH drop. @Greggz has a high tech soil tank, perhaps he could chime in.

 

[Greggz]

I use CO2 in some tanks, and use aquasoil in some tanks, but unfortunately as of yet haven't done both. My understanding is that the CO2 is about the same, but more difficult to track via pH drop. @Greggz has a high tech soil tank, perhaps he could chime in.

No problem injecting CO2 into basically zero KH water. I do it every day.

With very low or no KH, tank KH/pH swing during the week is minimal. In fact, I still use my pH controller as my KH/pH remains stable. Right now I am dropping pH down to 4.90 during the lighting period. Degassed is about 6.3 pH.

If KH was higher, soil would deplete that during the week and it would be more difficult to control CO2 injection. As KH goes down, so would pH. So relative pH drop would be difficult to measure properly. If that were the case, better to set a constant CO2 flow rate and not worry so much about where pH is. And yes, that is more difficult to control.

As to GH boosters like Seachem Equilibrium mentioned above, you are much better off just getting some CaSO4 and MgSO4. All GH boosters are basically a mix of Ca, Mg, and K. You don't necessarily want or need the extra K. Too much can interfere with uptake of other nutrients. You can also fine tune the mix of Ca to Mg. I've had more success with higher Mg than most boosters provide.

As to pH crashes due to low KH/pH, pretty much a myth. Here is a great article about it...............

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/is-low-ph-in-tanks-due-to-aquasoils-softwater-a-concern?fbclid=IwAR0rqZ5z-6DSDYqeWRT-QB_2U3qFDt79A0U4oc7o21mUYjYIniT27bZ5CQg

As to Brighty K, it's basically KHCO3 mixed with water. If you knew how much KHCO3 you can buy for the cost of one bottle of Brighty K, you would never buy it again. You are pretty much paying for water in a bottle.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the tank.

 

[emilio246]

No problem injecting CO2 into basically zero KH water. I do it every day.

With very low or no KH, tank KH/pH swing during the week is minimal. In fact, I still use my pH controller as my KH/pH remains stable. Right now I am dropping pH down to 4.90 during the lighting period. Degassed is about 6.3 pH.

If KH was higher, soil would deplete that during the week and it would be more difficult to control CO2 injection. As KH goes down, so would pH. So relative pH drop would be difficult to measure properly. If that were the case, better to set a constant CO2 flow rate and not worry so much about where pH is. And yes, that is more difficult to control.

As to GH boosters like Seachem Equilibrium mentioned above, you are much better off just getting some CaSO4 and MgSO4. All GH boosters are basically a mix of Ca, Mg, and K. You don't necessarily want or need the extra K. Too much can interfere with uptake of other nutrients. You can also fine tune the mix of Ca to Mg. I've had more success with higher Mg than most boosters provide.

As to pH crashes due to low KH/pH, pretty much a myth. Here is a great article about it...............

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/is-low-ph-in-tanks-due-to-aquasoils-softwater-a-concern?fbclid=IwAR0rqZ5z-6DSDYqeWRT-QB_2U3qFDt79A0U4oc7o21mUYjYIniT27bZ5CQg

As to Brighty K, it's basically KHCO3 mixed with water. If you knew how much KHCO3 you can buy for the cost of one bottle of Brighty K, you would never buy it again. You are pretty much paying for water in a bottle.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the tank.

thank you, very informative.
i use these products because there just simple, I'm to lazy to mix my own salts :grin2:

 

[Greggz]

thank you, very informative.
i use these products because there just simple, I'm to lazy to mix my own salts :grin2:

If you ever did so, you would laugh at yourself for not doing it before when you figured out how easy it is.:grin2:

 

[hlca]

No problem injecting CO2 into basically zero KH water. I do it every day.

With very low or no KH, tank KH/pH swing during the week is minimal. In fact, I still use my pH controller as my KH/pH remains stable. Right now I am dropping pH down to 4.90 during the lighting period. Degassed is about 6.3 pH.

If KH was higher, soil would deplete that during the week and it would be more difficult to control CO2 injection. As KH goes down, so would pH. So relative pH drop would be difficult to measure properly. If that were the case, better to set a constant CO2 flow rate and not worry so much about where pH is. And yes, that is more difficult to control.

As to GH boosters like Seachem Equilibrium mentioned above, you are much better off just getting some CaSO4 and MgSO4. All GH boosters are basically a mix of Ca, Mg, and K. You don't necessarily want or need the extra K. Too much can interfere with uptake of other nutrients. You can also fine tune the mix of Ca to Mg. I've had more success with higher Mg than most boosters provide.

As to pH crashes due to low KH/pH, pretty much a myth. Here is a great article about it...............

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/is-low-ph-in-tanks-due-to-aquasoils-softwater-a-concern?fbclid=IwAR0rqZ5z-6DSDYqeWRT-QB_2U3qFDt79A0U4oc7o21mUYjYIniT27bZ5CQg

As to Brighty K, it's basically KHCO3 mixed with water. If you knew how much KHCO3 you can buy for the cost of one bottle of Brighty K, you would never buy it again. You are pretty much paying for water in a bottle.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the tank.

I asked the Green Aqua guys about this on a YouTube comment and they suggested using RO water, not RODI. They said they never had luck with RODI. Any thoughts or insights as to whether it ever makes sense to not deionize the water to remove KH?

 

[Greggz]

I asked the Green Aqua guys about this on a YouTube comment and they suggested using RO water, not RODI. They said they never had luck with RODI. Any thoughts or insights as to whether it ever makes sense to not deionize the water to remove KH?

Never tried DI but have heard the same thing.

And RO water comes out at zero KH, so no worries there.

Keep in mind planted tanks are different than reefs. We remineralize, and really anything close to RO is fine. Just saying coming out at 10 TDS or so would not be good for reef, but fine for us.

 

[hlca]

Never tried DI but have heard the same thing.

And RO water comes out at zero KH, so no worries there.

Keep in mind planted tanks are different than reefs. We remineralize, and really anything close to RO is fine. Just saying coming out at 10 TDS or so would not be good for reef, but fine for us.

Oh ok -- that makes more sense now. I had it in my head that the DI removed KH. Thanks!

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

I use RO/DI because I bought my unit when I was into reef tanks. I've never heard not to use DI and am very curious as to any reason in the world they might have. I could see it being problematic if people were using it straight, but after remineralizing, I can't fathom there being much difference between two samples. But if there is science (or even compelling anecdotal evidence) I'd be happy to see if I could bypass my DI part of the unit. Just fewer cartridges to buy.

 

[BOTIA]

hello, can you use seachem equilibrium on its own to remineralise ro water is it ok for plants etc, or do you need anything else
i don't keep specific fish or shrimp its mainly about the plants for me.
i heard that seachem equilibrium was better for plants then salty shrimp. i see no mention of kh on equilibrium, although using ADA AquaSoil should one even worry about kh?

also can i just switch from salty shrimp to seachem equilibrium with no problems to the plants?

Salty shrimp gh/kh+ is excellent for planted tanks. I use it in all my nano tanks and my plants grow faster than I can give them away. I use tropica specialized Fert in conjunction , perfect match.

Bump:

what about with co2 injection at 30ppm what affect can this have with 0kh water

0kh plus co2 is bad news. IF soil is going to eat your buffer down to zero you need more kh.

 

[BOTIA]

Here is some diy water stuff for you.

Diy Remineralizers
I use these for my non shrimp planted tanks as this is way cheaper than salty shrimp and works perfectly.


diy kh booster
1.12 grams baking soda
10 gallon tank by 1dkh
1tsp =4.5 grams
1 tsp raises 10G by 4.5 dkh

diy gh booster
This maintains the golden 3/1 mag/calcium ratio.
CaCl 6 grams
MgSo4 7 grams
1 gram of this mix raises gh of 10G water by 1dGH.


You will Need need a 0 to 200 g scale.
You can get Calcium chloride from marine aquarium stores
Magnesium sulfate (plain unscented epsom salts) from any pharmacy.
I bought a cheap coffee mill for grinding it up fine to dissolve easy for 10$.

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

0kh plus co2 is bad news. IF soil is going to eat your buffer down to zero you need more kh.

I think that has been disproven at this point, with all the gorgeous tanks high tech using soils. @Greggz rainbow tank is getting better results with soil than when he was running some KH. His tank journal is really informative about switching over, and the plants are downright ridiculous.

 

[Greggz]

I think that has been disproven at this point, with all the gorgeous tanks high tech using soils. @Greggz rainbow tank is getting better results with soil than when he was running some KH. His tank journal is really informative about switching over, and the plants are downright ridiculous.

Yep problems with zero KH is pretty much an old wives tale at this point. As are pH crashes.

Excellent article about it here on Dennis Wong's site..........................https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/ph-kh-gh-tds/is-low-ph-in-tanks-due-to-aquasoils-softwater-a-concern?fbclid=IwAR0rqZ5z-6DSDYqeWRT-QB_2U3qFDt79A0U4oc7o21mUYjYIniT27bZ5CQg

 

[Edward]

I use RO/DI because I bought my unit when I was into reef tanks. I've never heard not to use DI and am very curious as to any reason in the world they might have. I could see it being problematic if people were using it straight, but after remineralizing, I can't fathom there being much difference between two samples. But if there is science (or even compelling anecdotal evidence) I'd be happy to see if I could bypass my DI part of the unit. Just fewer cartridges to buy.

Using DI for planted aquariums is unnecessary. Organic impurities are removed by RO carbon pre-filter and minerals are 90 – 95% removed by the RO membrane. The remaining 5 – 10% of minerals is insignificant. However, when DI is used then these remaining minerals are exchanged with acids and bases, buffering each other to 7 pH when the DI cartridge is in perfect condition. But when it is not then it can shift pH to either side and that is not good at almost zero KH.

Aside from that, I’ve been promoting growing plants in zero KH water since year 2000. It wasn’t easy to accept for most because people were horrified and scared of “pH crash”. Today, after 20 years of explaining it, it slowly gains in popularity.

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

Using DI for planted aquariums is unnecessary. Organic impurities are removed by RO carbon pre-filter and minerals are 90 – 95% removed by the RO membrane. The remaining 5 – 10% of minerals is insignificant.

I realize it's not necessary, my curiosity is more to know if there's any evidence of it making in any way inferior water to plain RO (for our purposes).

However, when DI is used then these remaining minerals are exchanged with acids and bases, buffering each other to 7 pH when the DI cartridge is in perfect condition. But when it is not then it can shift pH to either side and that is not good at almost zero KH.

Even after remineralizing? Just trying to wrap my head around this.