Buffering soft water

[MyCatsDrool]

Hola

Today's Question is brought to you by the City of Melbourne Florida Public Works


My water is INCREDIBLY soft. I can't even get it to read a single drop with an AP KH test kit out of the tap.

In my tank, after exposure to Co2, I get a 1 drop reading.

Because of this, my pH sits pretty low...Usually around 6.

Now, what do I want to be getting? And I have aragonite on hand that I can add to the filter. Should I? I do this for my non planted tanks, but I don't know what it will do in a planted one.

 

[Jchillin]

I know exactly how you feel, my water is also soft (if I get 2dkh, I'm lucky). A small bag of crushed coral in your filter can help.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

I have some very weird opposition to anything crushed coral (probably from my SW side). Aragonite ok?

 

[Zezmo]

Calcium Carbonate, or even Sodium Bi-carbonate (baking soda) can be used to buffer soft water on the Kh side of things.

Seachem Equilibrium works well to buffer the Gh side of things.

That said, most of the time there really is no need to buffer the Kh. Is there some specific problem happening related to the soft water? Really soft water is not a bad things for most plants. Usually a little Gh buffering is all that is needed.

 

[Purrbox]

If the problem is that you are having a hard time figuring out your CO2 levels, then you could just make a drop checker using a reference solution as described in one of the stickies. Unless you are experiencing specific problems as a result of the softness of the water, then your best bet is to leave it alone.