Note: This message has been reposted using a different news server,
when it failed to propergate within 24 hours. My appologies in the
unlikely event that this message appears twice.

Well I have now perfected my water softening technique, where just
boiling batches of water in a large saucepan (with the lid on!) for a
few minutes on heavy boil does the trick.

My previous test from multiple boiled kettle water was this...

pH = 7.2
KH = 5
GH = 8
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 50 mg/l

I have improved slightly on that, when my latest test on my fully
processed (and slowly cooling) water now gives me a General Hardness
level of 7.

From my water processing the hardness in my water must be due to
Calcium Carbonate (lime scale), which also explains the large
reduction in the KH (Carbonate Hardness) level.

Heavy boiled water is subject to this mentioned film on the surface, a
whitened power over the emptied saucepan. And to top that off their is
also a white power sediment in the transfer jug.

Since I have seen that it is impossible and wasteful to try and
manually remove this junk, then I have moved on to filtering. And my
filter medium just happens to be coffee machine filter paper, which
has been hanging around here for a few years. Well no one here drinks
coffee much and would now use the instant kind anyway.

This filter paper I am sure is suitable, when there will be none of
those paper bits, where it appears to do a perfect job.

So later today I will do my first 20% to 30% aquarium water change
with this much softened water, where I can only hope that my fish can
slowly adjust to living in this water full time.

I can always mix it in with some regular tap water I guess, but I see
little wrong with this new near perfect water. As it is just a
question of if my fish can live fine in it, when my plants sure can.

It is sure going to use up a lot of energy with boiling all this water
each week or two, but doing so is much better than having my fish and
plants living in this calcium carbonate crap. And well you do not have
to boil the water for too long to draw it out.

So that seems like my water problem solved, without the need for any
expensive equipment either, where I just wish that years ago I knew
that a little water boiling and filtering could give me great aquarium
water.

All thanks to chemistry it seems, which makes me wonder where that KH
drop in the aquarium level comes from. When clearly something in the
tank is eating some of the calcium.

Seems almost like magic to me, when with one wave of my magical
saucepan, then plant killing water suddenly changes into the water of
life.

Not even Harry Potter could have done so well. =8-

Cardman.
http://www.cardman.com
http://www.cardman.co.uk