So, i finally forked out a bunch of dough for a test kit. Figure if
i'm going to really try to keep plants and nice fish, i better have a
clue what my water conditions are.

I knew already that the tapwater here is very basic, something
confirmed by the test kit. For anybody on the Cambridge, MA water
system, here's what the water conditions are like lately:

pH 8.8 (off the scale)
KH 3 dKH
GH 7 dKH

So, basically (no pun intended), this water is horrible. The surprise
was what i measured in my aquarium:

pH 6.6
KH 2 dKH
GH 7 dKH

Wow. I don't know much these differ from typical values when i'm not
treating for Ich and leaving the lights off, but obviously the tank
needs some alkalinity and that pH is alarmingly low. Problem is that
i have more than enough general hardness for plants as it is, and
don't want to take the typical approach to raising alkalinity by
throwing in some shells and such (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3), because
that will also raise the GH.

Has anybody used baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) for this
purpose? I'm hesitant to use commercial buffers, because they
sometimes contain phosphate (which i DON'T want) and probably Mg or Ca
as well. I shudder to think what would happen now if i started a CO2
injection system without increasing alkalinity. Pickled fish. Ugh.

Cheers

Its called out-gassing....let your water sit out for a while, then measure
it....I am in allston, and my water comes out of the tap looking like
milk, theres so much gas dissolved in it.

Flandry wrote:

So, i finally forked out a bunch of dough for a test kit. Figure if
i'm going to really try to keep plants and nice fish, i better have a
clue what my water conditions are.

I knew already that the tapwater here is very basic, something
confirmed by the test kit. For anybody on the Cambridge, MA water
system, here's what the water conditions are like lately:

pH 8.8 (off the scale)
KH 3 dKH
GH 7 dKH

So, basically (no pun intended), this water is horrible. The surprise
was what i measured in my aquarium:

pH 6.6
KH 2 dKH
GH 7 dKH

Wow. I don't know much these differ from typical values when i'm not
treating for Ich and leaving the lights off, but obviously the tank
needs some alkalinity and that pH is alarmingly low. Problem is that
i have more than enough general hardness for plants as it is, and
don't want to take the typical approach to raising alkalinity by
throwing in some shells and such (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3), because
that will also raise the GH.

Has anybody used baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) for this
purpose? I'm hesitant to use commercial buffers, because they
sometimes contain phosphate (which i DON'T want) and probably Mg or Ca
as well. I shudder to think what would happen now if i started a CO2
injection system without increasing alkalinity. Pickled fish. Ugh.

Cheers

tank kh=2 isn't terrible but baking soda is cheap, simple and safe way to
raise it to kh=4 which from most accounts is a good place to be.

jtm

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"Flandry" wrote in message
om...
So, i finally forked out a bunch of dough for a test kit. Figure if
i'm going to really try to keep plants and nice fish, i better have a
clue what my water conditions are.

I knew already that the tapwater here is very basic, something
confirmed by the test kit. For anybody on the Cambridge, MA water
system, here's what the water conditions are like lately:

pH 8.8 (off the scale)
KH 3 dKH
GH 7 dKH

So, basically (no pun intended), this water is horrible. The surprise
was what i measured in my aquarium:

pH 6.6
KH 2 dKH
GH 7 dKH

Wow. I don't know much these differ from typical values when i'm not
treating for Ich and leaving the lights off, but obviously the tank
needs some alkalinity and that pH is alarmingly low. Problem is that
i have more than enough general hardness for plants as it is, and
don't want to take the typical approach to raising alkalinity by
throwing in some shells and such (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3), because
that will also raise the GH.

Has anybody used baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) for this
purpose? I'm hesitant to use commercial buffers, because they
sometimes contain phosphate (which i DON'T want) and probably Mg or Ca
as well. I shudder to think what would happen now if i started a CO2
injection system without increasing alkalinity. Pickled fish. Ugh.

Cheers

Flandry wrote:

Has anybody used baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) for this
purpose? I'm hesitant to use commercial buffers, because they
sometimes contain phosphate (which i DON'T want) and probably Mg or Ca
as well. I shudder to think what would happen now if i started a CO2
injection system without increasing alkalinity. Pickled fish. Ugh.

Many of us use baking soda every week for exactly that purpose. Buy the
good stuff-good old Arm & Hammer costs me under $2 per year.

pH 8.8 (off the scale)
KH 3 dKH
GH 7 dKH

So, basically (no pun intended), this water is horrible.

Why is that horrible?

The pH of tapwater should be measured after the water is aerated for 20
minutes, or allowed to sit in a cup overnight. The water in the pipes may have
extra CO2, or be CO2-deficient. (The water company sometimes adjusts the pH of
the water that way, in order to prevent pipe corrosion.)

The surprise
was what i measured in my aquarium:

pH 6.6
KH 2 dKH
GH 7 dKH

Sounds normal, if you are injecting CO2. The KH probably dropped a little due
to the nitrogen cycle in the tank. It gradually eats up the KH in the tank.
(One reason why regular water changes are important.)

Problem is that
i have more than enough general hardness for plants as it is, and
don't want to take the typical approach to raising alkalinity by
throwing in some shells and such (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3), because
that will also raise the GH.

Don't worry about it. Plants like hard water. I add calcium carbonate
regularly to one of my planted tanks. (It's heavily stocked, so it's hard to
keep the pH up, even with large weekly water changes.) The fish don't mind the
low pH, but the snails do.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

in article , Flandry at
wrote on 2/6/03 1:05 PM:

So, i finally forked out a bunch of dough for a test kit. Figure if
i'm going to really try to keep plants and nice fish, i better have a
clue what my water conditions are.

I knew already that the tapwater here is very basic, something
confirmed by the test kit. For anybody on the Cambridge, MA water
system, here's what the water conditions are like lately:

pH 8.8 (off the scale)
KH 3 dKH
GH 7 dKH

So, basically (no pun intended), this water is horrible. The surprise
was what i measured in my aquarium:

pH 6.6
KH 2 dKH
GH 7 dKH

Wow. I don't know much these differ from typical values when i'm not
treating for Ich and leaving the lights off, but obviously the tank
needs some alkalinity and that pH is alarmingly low. Problem is that
i have more than enough general hardness for plants as it is, and
don't want to take the typical approach to raising alkalinity by
throwing in some shells and such (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3), because
that will also raise the GH.

Has anybody used baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) for this
purpose? I'm hesitant to use commercial buffers, because they
sometimes contain phosphate (which i DON'T want) and probably Mg or Ca
as well. I shudder to think what would happen now if i started a CO2
injection system without increasing alkalinity. Pickled fish. Ugh.

Cheers
I no longer recommend baking soda. I noticed that my java fern tend to
blacken when using baking soda. Also when I suggested baking soda to other
with java fern, they had the same outcome. I now use about a hand full of
dried coral substrate (the stuff you see as the substrate for marine tanks)
placed at the bottom of the canister filter in a filter bag (or panty hose).
This tends to keep my KH around 4 to 5.

big D
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