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Re: kH question



On Tue, 8 May 2001, Sean Coleman wrote:

> 	My question is how to lower my Kh and what would cause it to rise?

Any form of carbonate dissolving into the water would cause KH to rise.
Other buffers -- those that you might add yourself, like "pH Down" -- will
also cause KH to rise, but it's unlikely that any other buffer will
appear in your tank in any significant amounts without you adding it
yourself.

> 	Out of my tap the kh is about 4-5 deg. Where as in my tank it is
> about 10-11 deg. I am thinking that the pmdd I add is making the Kh rise.
> Instead of using KN03, I could only find CaN03. I have since stop using this
> until I can find an answer. Would this be the cause?

CaNO3 will cause your GH to increase, but it won't do anything to your KH.

Unless you are actually adding some kind of buffering product (Alkaline
Buffer, baking soda, pH Down, etc) there is only one likely source for
that much buffer capacity.  Probably you have some form of carbonate in
your tank.  This could be for instance shells, marble or dolomite chips,
decorative stones or part of the substrate gravel.  All of those sources
of KH will also increase your GH.

You can use strong acids like sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid to lower
the KH in your tank.  I think the methods for that are described at The
Krib.  A better alternative is to find out what makes the KH rise, remove
the cause and then bring the KH down with water changes.


Roger Miller