Water hardness?

[bpeitzke]

I tested the water hardness in our 36-gal FOWLR tank the other day, using the KH test in our Tetra kit. The procedure is to add successive drops to the test vial until the color changes from blue to yellow, and the KH value is the drop count. It said 8-10 is the desired range for a SW tank, but I got 13.

Is this a reliable indication that our tank's water is too hard, i.e. contains too much calcium carbonate? If so, would this be due to overuse of the buffer additive? I've been using "Proper pH 8.2", which claims to automatically adjust pH to 8.2 and increase KH while not adding any phosphate.

If too-hard water is a problem, what's the simplest cure? Just use bottled water from market? Or would I need to get RO water from LFS?

Our fish are thriving.

Grateful for any advice.

Bob Peitzke

[K Dub]

It's really best if you are at 12 - 13... It will also keep your PH from dropping.

[bpeitzke]

OK. I won't worry then.

Thanks.

) Bob

[Salttanker]

I would eventually invest in an RO/DI unit. There are some folks here that bought them off of EBAY for a reasonable price. It would be worth it in the long run.

Mike

13 DKH is not something I would strive for but any problem that may arise from it would greatly depend on your Ca level and any invertebrates you may be keeping.

Alkalinity does help maintain/stabalize pH but artificially increasing the levels that high is not really beneficial. The proper pH product your using is what's causing the problem. If your constantly needing a buffer to maintain pH levels above 8.0 during the day, your problem will be with the tank set up/aeration, not chemistry.

Cheers
Steve