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Re: Water conditioning
Dave writes:
> The tap water coming into my house is ringing in at a pH of 10 or a
> little under and a KH that varies between 3 and 4. What do you think
> would be the best way of going about conditioning this water for the
> purpose of getting a planted tank with some Angel fish going?
> (Preferably 6.5- 7.0 pH, little change in KH if at all possible, yes?)
> I'm working on getting a CO2 rig together, but won't have it complete
> for some time. I have had some recommendations on the Seachem Acid
> Buffer, but I'm concerned about the low KH being a liability there.
It sounds like you have one of those really unique water suppies. Such a low
KH usually is not accompanied by that high of a pH. If I had such a water
sourse, I would buy some muriatic acid at the local hardware store, for about
$3/quart, and very, very carefully add it to three quarts of distilled water
from the grocery store. Then I would have a gallon of really cheap, really
effective "pHDown", with nothing it it but H2O and about 7% hydrochloric acid
(that's what muriatic is). Then I would set up a gallon of this weird tap
water, and add some amount, say ten drops, of my dilute acid. The next day I
would test it to see what effect ten drops/gal has on the water. From there,
it would be easy to bring down the pH to where I want it, and use that same
approach for every water change.
Seachem Acid Buffer has stuff in it that I don't know what it is. I like to
have control of what goes into my tanks. Once folks travel down the path of
commercial additives with unknown ingredients, they often find themselves
adding chemical product "A" to get one effect, then countering some side
effect with chemical product "B", getting a new side effect which calls for
chemical product "C", and before you know it, you've got fish swimming around
in water with more chemicals than a toxic waste site.
Bob Dixon