"linda mar" wrote in message
...
wow. 8.9? that's pretty harsh!!! do you have to treat your tap for pH
before you water change, or do you just have lots of fish that can
tolerate
very high pH? if you do, what do you use to treat your tap for pH?

NaOH, eh? hm... makes sense.. (cheap, available in pellet form..)

linda


I use DO water for my angels (55 gallon)..... occasionally add tap water to
add trace minerals other than what fertilizers add. The other two tanks, my
wife's over populated platy tank (29 gallon) gets the water straight as does
the grandkids (10 gallon) guppy tank. I've never really checked after
letting the water age, but in the platy tank the pH rise during water change
is minor unless one does a major change. Both the platy and guppy tank run
in the 7.6 range. I've never been able to keep ottos in either tank, though
my stripped rubber nosed plecos do well.

Nasty stuff NaOH. I recall you mentioned being a chemist... I'm familiar
with it from the oil fields where it was used for pH control in freshwater
drilling mud....to control bacterial blooms. People were always getting
careless and getting burned.

They also use chloramines, which used to cause all sorts of interesting
nitrite spikes with a major a water change. I haven't checked since I added
lots of plants and CO2 to the tanks.

Bob

"linda mar" wrote in message
...
snip

GH is 6 right now, so I guess that is ok. I guess i'm looking for ways
to
increase KH without increasing pH... do you know of any?

I read that baking soda will raise kH and not gH.

Your municipal supply might include water from wells, which may
experience seasonal changes in hardness during periods of drought,
snowmelt and heavy rainfall.

NetMax

linda
snip

"linda mar" wrote in message
...

GH is 6 right now, so I guess that is ok. I guess i'm looking for ways to
increase KH without increasing pH... do you know of any?



My tap water is KH 1.
I keep a small bag of crushed coral (maybe 4-5 tbsp) in the filter to keep
it up to at least 4.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/aquarium

That sounds like a nice simple solution than dumping powdered chemicals.

how big is your tank?

linda
"Toni" wrote in message
rthlink.net...

"linda mar" wrote in message
...

GH is 6 right now, so I guess that is ok. I guess i'm looking for ways
to
increase KH without increasing pH... do you know of any?



My tap water is KH 1.
I keep a small bag of crushed coral (maybe 4-5 tbsp) in the filter to keep
it up to at least 4.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/aquarium