Re: Another KH question

[Dave & Robyn Wilson <rwilson at octa4_net.au>]

Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 11:58:17 -0500
From: neil.anderson at asbury_edu
Subject: Another KH question

Neil Anderson asked:

1)  Why is the KH falling like this?
Plants an other natural acids use up your KH.

2)  Is there anything I can do about it (without eliminating RO entirely,
Tom :-) and not tinker so much with the buffers?

Try this;
I have a soft water bore, I think you call them a well in the US. 
I start with water similar to RO water only it is natural, use 
dolomite lime to raise the GH to 30ppm (about 2 deg) and I use 
potassium bicarb to raise the KH to 50 ppm (about 3 deg).  I figure 
that the K, Mg and Ca in the water won't hurt as the plants use it. 
I then use CO2 to hold the pH at 6.5 to 7.    I test my water each 
morning then add 20 grams of potassium bicarb for each 1000 litres of 
water to raise the KH about 10ppm until the 50ppm is reached.   The 
KH falls continuously in my ponds which are 30,000 litres in volume. 
The GH also drops, only more gradually.

Dolomite   -  Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate  [CaCO3.MgCO3]  21.7% 
Calcium 13.2% Magnesium
Potassium bicarbonate [KHCO3]    pH = 8.2	39% potassium  61% bicarbonate

Neil, if you want more details, email me off list.

Cheers
Dave Wilson
Darwin NT

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