Is there a way to bring the KH levels in water down besides R/O units, bottled water, or distilled water??

[Rocky998]

Washington….

Oh trust me, I'm going there in my lifetime.
Move there or at least do a few weeks of vacationing up there...
If I decide to move there I will definitely be having an aquatics store. Or at least hope to. It's a nice dream/goal

 

[Alice B]

I want to move to an area with normal water

Normal is a setting on a dryer.

 

[Rocky998]

Normal is a setting on a dryer.

Ok?

 

[Alice B]

Ok?

something a friend of mine who was a counselor would say. In other words, except for a setting on a dryer, there really isn't a "normal"
Things are what they are, people are who they are, there is no normal. Including water supplies.

 

[Rocky998]

something a friend of mine who was a counselor would say. In other words, except for a setting on a dryer, there really isn't a "normal"
Things are what they are, people are who they are, there is no normal. Including water supplies.

That is VERY true... But what I mean by "normal" water is that my water is just scientifically considered weird
I mean low GH but high PH and KH... Everything I've read goes against that.

 

[Colin_T]

Come live in Western Australia, the backward state. We have r/o water as our drinking water. The government has desalination plants and that's our water.
0 GH, 0 KH, pH around 8.0

 

[Alice B]

That is VERY true... But what I mean by "normal" water is that my water is just scientifically considered weird
I mean low GH but high PH and KH... Everything I've read goes against that.

sounds like Texas water in some rural areas.

 

[Rocky998]

sounds like Texas water in some rural areas.

Straaaange

 

[StevenF]

Come live in Western Australia, the backward state. We have r/o water as our drinking water. The government has desalination plants and that's our water.
0 GH, 0 KH, pH around 8.0

They are adding sorting to the RO water to increase the P. Normally RO water has a PH of of 6 yo 6.5 . I don't what they could be adding.that doesn't change KH as well as PH.

CO2 generator with line in bucket before adding to tank? Rainwater is a whole lot cheaper than sugar, or buying CO2 tanks

CO2 injection does not change KH. CO2 doesn't reduce or destroy KH. Also CO2 is a very week acid. while it can lower the PH of pure water to 6. just added just adding a very small amount of sodium bicarbonate would push the PH to 7 to higher.

You can add a lot of peat to the water and it will use up the KH, but it won't affect GH.

Peat releases organic acids. The reaction between these acids and does reduce KH. But the Peat has a very limited amount of acid which is reduced with each water change. Eventually the peat runs out of organic acids and the KHreducing effect ends.

 

[Colin_T]

CO2 injection does not change KH. CO2 doesn't reduce or destroy KH. Also CO2 is a very week acid. while it can lower the PH of pure water to 6. just added just adding a very small amount of sodium bicarbonate would push the PH to 7 to higher.

I have seen tanks that had CO2 added and the pH dropped to 4. CO2 can drop the pH a lot lower than 6.

 

[itiwhetu]

I have seen tanks that had CO2 added and the pH dropped to 4. CO2 can drop the pH a lot lower than 6.

That is why your pH on a planted tank is lower in the morning than at night.

 

[Alice B]

I have seen tanks that had CO2 added and the pH dropped to 4. CO2 can drop the pH a lot lower than 6.

and when the pH drops it draws from the KH.

 

[StevenF]

I have seen tanks that had CO2 added and the pH dropped to 4. CO2 can drop the pH a lot lower than 6.

Yes you can get below 6 but you need a lot of CO2 to do it. Even with CO2 injection. I tried CO2 diffuser in my tank with pressurized CO2 and couldn't get close to 6. Even in the high tech world it is hard to get to a PH of 6 with CO2 injection.

Many people with high tech tanks are using iron EDTA in there fertilizers but it doesn't last long at a PH above 6.5 so they tend to add a lot more iron than needed.

However I did notice that if I use RO water with CH booster and properly fertilize water with NO KH the PH will start near neutral but will drop every day and can over a couple of weeks get to a PH of 4. Mainly from excess sulfates in the CH booster, Not CO2. In high tech tanks many use calcium and magnesium sulfates because there tap water doesn't have enough or calcium or magnesium and most fertilizers don't have any calcium and insufficient magnesium.

So based on my own experience many a blaming CO2 for their low PH when it is more likely caused by excess sulfates. And most fertilizers alarm loaded with a lot of sulfates even if they don't have calcium and magnesium sulfate.

 

[kiko]

you can grab a tap filter from amazon for around 30 bucks
and make a ceramic filter for around 15-20
the shower filter

can lower minerals/metals/chlorine etc...don't expect RO water because it won't be but it'll lower stuff in your water quite a bit...
my water without this thing comes out whitish and with it it's perfectly clear
now for the 2nd removal stage and also a slow process
ceramic filtration....
you can check out

and see how to do it on the cheapo side of things

now the co2 part...
I use co2 and a ph controller and keeping ph under 7 reduces co2 spent as it stabilizes things a bit more
but as far as kh/ph goes...as soon as you stop using it, it'll just go right back up
also I'd be very careful with co2 without a controller because after it goes under 7 it's just downhill from there...
you can watch all the videos you want and people telling you 1 bubble a second...1 bubble every 2 or 3 or whatever
from experience I can tell you it doesn't matter 1 or 2 or 3 bubbles
it matters how much of it actually gets mixed with the water and it's pretty simple...
the smaller the bubbles coming out of the diffuser the faster it'll change the water...
you can have someone with a co2 setup using an air stone or an amazon diffuser doing 3 bubbles/second
and you doing 1 bubble per second and getting the same results for the same tank size just because you went and spent 25$ bucks on a better diffuser
and now spend 3/4 times less on co2 refills
always make sure you get multi stages regulators so you don't get end of tank dump which can be a bad ending
cheapest co2 builds you can have right now are sodastream bottles..
you can use them straight with the AAA regulator
or the FZONE one with an adapter attached to it...both of them are multi-stage and both cost around 130-140
you can get a cheaper multi-stage with multiple gauges etc....but I can assure you you'll always have leaks even if you don't hear them it's leaking..
basically the less attachments on the regulator the better...
then comes controllers....
you got bluelabs at 500 bucks and up using chemicals through a peristaltic pump
and then digital ph controllers that just turn on the power if ph is outside of desired range (hence the solenoids)
and cost around 100-150....
then arduino/pi boards with expansion modules and being able to do virtually anything you wish...
if you want the arduino board to change the water at 3am everyday or lower the filter voltage at night time
or do water changes based on gh/tds/ph....
or as some fish spawn based on rain....turn on a pump everyday at 11am for 2h with a "shower" type output
or turn on a small light everytime fish cross to the left side of the tank
also there's httpd modules for arduino where you can have your own web server in the board and pretty much have a website on it for commands
like....go on your phone or computer and access the website and click on water change and the board executes it...
I myself don't have access to connect my tank straight to a drain, and drilling on stuff in our condo because of fish wouldn't sit with my Maria
but eventually when we do move into a house...all these crazy stupid ideas of mine of making everything automated will be done....
I hate big water changes as many people know and to me nothing would beat a drip system xD
can you imagine my own fish room?!? the dream!!

 

[Rocky998]

Wow. Thank you guys for all your help! I will have to look into some of those!