KatieJ
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2011
- Messages
- 257
I just got done doing a water test, and my KH came out as 21 - I was using the API test kit. It literally took that many drops for the color to change and I've been getting similar results over the last couple of months, regardless of the pH/CO2/etc. With the GH, it took like, a drop before the water started turning green.
Everything else reads out as good - ammo's 0, trites are 0 and trates are below 5. The pH is at around 7.5ish and I just got done with a water change. I'm thinking there's definitely something in the university's water; I heard they've had problems with hard water a lot. Copper levels are about 450 ppb here; could that be the cause?
I suppose I could do a half-and-half of RO/DI water if you guys think it's needed, but it would be difficult (and irritating) to trudge gallons of water home on my bike each week from the lfs. I have had a couple of shrimp deaths here and there, but I don't know if that was from the KH or something else.
So, what should I do about it? Or should I leave it be since I've gotten these results before? (KH was 20 drops last time I checked, and GH was almost 0)
Everything else reads out as good - ammo's 0, trites are 0 and trates are below 5. The pH is at around 7.5ish and I just got done with a water change. I'm thinking there's definitely something in the university's water; I heard they've had problems with hard water a lot. Copper levels are about 450 ppb here; could that be the cause?
I suppose I could do a half-and-half of RO/DI water if you guys think it's needed, but it would be difficult (and irritating) to trudge gallons of water home on my bike each week from the lfs. I have had a couple of shrimp deaths here and there, but I don't know if that was from the KH or something else.
So, what should I do about it? Or should I leave it be since I've gotten these results before? (KH was 20 drops last time I checked, and GH was almost 0)