RE: [APD] RE: Acidity and nutrient uptake

["Laith Arif" <laith at swissonline_ch>]

When one says for example that a certain fish likes softer water, they're
usually talking about GH.  

Optimum levels I don't know.  More and more people are saying that plants do
better in harder (i.e. higher GH) water.  That's probably because at higher
GH levels you are less likely to run into Calcium and/or Magnesium
deficiencies (main components of GH). I keep my KH at around 5 and my GH up
at about 10.

Baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) raises only KH.  To raise GH you need to
add Calcium and Magnesium in about a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio (3 or 4 Ca to 1 Mg).
I do this using Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) and Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4).
These will raise only GH and not touch the KH.

Hope this helps.

Laith


-----Original Message-----
From: Shireen Gonzaga [mailto:whimbrel at comcast_net] 
Sent: 13 February 2005 02:50
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Cc: Shireen Gonzaga
Subject: Re: [APD] RE: Acidity and nutrient uptake


 > various pH levels and hardness levels.  Basically, all plants prefer 
high
 > levels of hardness, but a maximum pH of around 8 - I know she did
 > something with low pH as well, but since my water comes out of the 
tap at
 > pH 8.6, that wasn't relevant for me.


This sounds interesting, tho' quite technical for the 
chemistry-challenged among us, myself included. So let me dumb this 
thread down a bit ...

My tapwater pH=7, gH=7, kH=2.5-3.
- If plants do better at a higher levels of hardness, how do you
   define hardness (gH and/or kH)?
- what are the optimum levels of gH and kH for plant growth?
- what kinds of additives do you recommend for people with soft
   tapwater for increasing hardness? I use baking soda to increase
   kH (enough to maintain pH=7 in a CO2-injected tank). Should
   I be dosing a additive to increase gH as well?

thanks,
   shireen


-------------------------
Shireen Gonzaga
Baltimore, MD



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