too hard-or soft?

[gone fishin]

I recently removed my top layer of substrate (sand) because my water was very hard. Its about a week later and now my [acronym:801dacdbca="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:801dacdbca] is 1-2, and my [acronym:801dacdbca="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:801dacdbca] is 9. Is this too soft? I added my usual ferts and [acronym:801dacdbca="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:801dacdbca] is almost up to 50! [acronym:801dacdbca="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:801dacdbca] is still the same (, so this shows basically no [acronym:801dacdbca="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:801dacdbca]. Gotta go- someones at the door-hello mr. algea!

[SnyperP]

I'd stop injecting [acronym:b628208417="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:b628208417] right away. With a [acronym:b628208417="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:b628208417] of 1-2 you're asking for trouble. The buffering capacity is extremely low and the [acronym:b628208417="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:b628208417] can swign drastically. This will lead to the Death of your fish. Either that or raise your [acronym:b628208417="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:b628208417]. Simple way to raising your [acronym:b628208417="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:b628208417] is by using baking soda. How much to add i'm not sure. I haven't really had to adjust it. Or you could go with [acronym:b628208417="Crushed Coral (if substrate) or Counter Current (if referring to a Protien skimmer) or cubic centimeter (if referring to a measure of volume)."]CC[/acronym:b628208417].

Just curious, how "hard" is way hard? =p

[malkore]

Yes, I too would like to know what you mean by "my water was very hard." a [acronym:29b497d87d="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:29b497d87d] of 1-2 is very soft, and you need at least a solid 3dKh before you wanna think about injecting [acronym:29b497d87d="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:29b497d87d]. at that level you might still need to stop injecting at night (my dKh is 8, so I have no experience with 'softwater')

Unless you were using a marine sand, I doubt it added any hardness (even Seachem Onyx sand only adds 1-2 degrees)

[BASSNMAN]

According to a article by George Booth at the Krib, 1 teaspoon of baking soda will raise the KH of 50 liters of water 4 degrees without raising GH.

[gone fishin]

water from my tap is [acronym:36e188edc9="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:36e188edc9] 7, [acronym:36e188edc9="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:36e188edc9] 0-1, [acronym:36e188edc9="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:36e188edc9] 3-4, tank [acronym:36e188edc9="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:36e188edc9] and [acronym:36e188edc9="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:36e188edc9] was at 16-20 and [acronym:36e188edc9="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:36e188edc9] 8. When I did water changes I got a thick white film on the glass at the water line. it came off with the magnet cleaner, but came right back. Looked like water spots all over, had to finally get rid of it with a razor blade. I thought it may be silicates, or hardness, from the sand (playsand). I cant find anything else in my tank that was raising the hardness. I removed 80 percent of the sand, and now the [acronym:36e188edc9="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:36e188edc9] and [acronym:36e188edc9="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:36e188edc9] took a dive. While I am still injecting co2, why hasnt my [acronym:36e188edc9="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:36e188edc9] dropped? The test kits have been replaced recently. What should I be keeping [acronym:36e188edc9="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:36e188edc9] and [acronym:36e188edc9="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:36e188edc9] levels at? I have had a very thin film of algea growing on older plant leaves, I have changed every peram except hardness to get rid of it , it just doesnt go away. I dont want to use any chemicals, I want to keep it "all natural" Water clarity is excellent, plants are growing, just not growing like crazy. co2 comes out of my reactor, and just seems like its not being absorbed, I felt like the high [acronym:36e188edc9="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:36e188edc9] and [acronym:36e188edc9="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:36e188edc9] was somehow buffering the co2 absorbtion.

[malkore]

silica play sand won't add any buffering to the tank whatsoever. If it did, saltwater people would rejoice.

I'm not sure your test kits for [acronym:887fe825ec="General Hardness"]gh[/acronym:887fe825ec] and [acronym:887fe825ec="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:887fe825ec] are any good. I'd have your water tested at the [acronym:887fe825ec="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:887fe825ec].

Oddly, your tap water looks correct. a [acronym:887fe825ec="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:887fe825ec] of 7.0 would have very little carbonate hardness. Are you getting water from a water softner? If so, bypass it so you can get harder water.

If all those tank parameters are correct...I'm not sure what to tell you, other than maybe you have a huge phosphate buffer present. You haven't used anything like pH up or pH down have you?

[gone fishin]

Well you were right it was the test kit ,at least the [acronym:3ed84bdef2="Carbonate Hardness"]kh[/acronym:3ed84bdef2], anyway. So now it is actually 12,but my [acronym:3ed84bdef2="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:3ed84bdef2] is 8.5 , would peat moss raise my [acronym:3ed84bdef2="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:3ed84bdef2]? (its in my substrate) What would cause the white film on the glass, could it be limestone? Will the answers ever stop leading to questions ?

[gone fishin]

Oh yeah, No Chemicals

[TankGirl]

You do have hard water, thus the film on the glass from evaporation. The only way to handle it would be to keep your water level constant and wipe off your hood frequently.

If anything, peat would lower your pH, as the decomposing of organics acidifies the water.