Re: [APD] kh problems

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

"James Hogan" <spree_rider at hotmail_com> wrote:
> i have a 28gal planted aquarium, Gh 100ppm, ph 6.5, ammonia 0 nitrate0 
> phosphate is off the scale and always has been. 

High or low? It makes a huge difference! ;-)

> the tank has been up and 
> running for over a year.  my problem is my Kh is always decreasing, every 
> water change i add 1tbls of baking soda to the water to be added... my 
> tapwater is 0kg 10ppm gh and ph 7.  

How did your tank get a GH of 100 ppm when your tap water has almost 
none? [That's remarkably poor tap water, and is probably your biggest 
problem.]

> by the end of the week the kh in my tank 
> is down to 0 which is causing my ph to decrease suddenly usually at the end 
> of the week about a day before i do a waterchange.  i keep piranha in this 
> tank so they are very hardy but are getting stressed out from the rapid 
> shift.
> does anyone know why this is happening?

My guess is that they are being stressed by your bad tap water, which is 
far too soft to sustain normal blood chemistry. [The plants are then 
eating the carbonate out of your tiny added buffer, which just makes the 
situation worse, but is probably not the cause.]

Any sodium (as from salt in food) becomes very toxic when not enough Ca 
and Mg are present for proper cell metabolism. Are you comfortable that 
the 100 ppm GH measurement was correct?

[I had an old RO unit that put out almost that much GH, BTW. :-)]

> and what i can do to correct this problem?

Add a good supplement like Seachem's "Equilibrium" with each water 
change to be sure the essential elements are there. Once you are sure 
the KH is high enough and somewhat stable, add some CO2 and the KH will 
not drop again, I bet.

Wright

--
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net
                    760 872-3995

        Eschew obfuscation and bloviation!


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