Boosting Gh Or Not...

[keenonfish]

Hey folks ok I recently found out how to get my water board readings which is great but at the moment not entirely sure what they mean.

I sat down with a bit of paper and had a good browse on the net last night to try to make sense of my General Hardness levels, as I have alwasys suspected my plants to be slightly lacking in this area..

Soo this is what I have got so far.

From report

Average Ca 12.6mg/ltr
Average Mg 2.95mg/ltr

Now I am strugling to find a site that has a concise explanation as to the nature of these figures but I have come to the conclusion from various sources that I have a GH of about 2.32... Calcs were (12.6 x 2.497) + (2.97 x 4.118) = 43.7ppm GH OR 12.6/7.2 + 2.97/5.2 = 2.32GH Have I done this right? To check my calcs I divide 43.7(ppm) by 17.86 (=1d) and this gives me 2.45 which seems fairly close...

ok so if above is ok (and I use that word lightly!) then it would appear my GH is perhaps lacking a bit, especially in the Mg area?

Trouble is not too sure where to go from here and this is why I need help from you good folk . I want to make some poor mans gh booster basically Potassium Sulphate:Calcium Sulphate:Magnesium Sulphate @ 3:3:1 but if I do make this do I need all those ingredients (pot sulphate already got!) in that ratio or could I just, say top up Magnesium, if I am correct in thinking this is the element most lacking?

Also how do I work out quatities required to raise my levels to something the plants will appreciate? I seem to have come to a dead end at the moment!

BTW my plants are not doing too bad at all my Echinodorus bleheri and Vallis have taken off but they took their time lol but the only two real strugglers are my Rotala Macranda and Amazon Frogbit. rotala sent out roots and that was that nothing sinse but I suspect rotting leaves (slight hair algae) my frogbit is really struggling with all sorts of symptoms so it can't harm to boost gh right?

Anyway would appreciate some input from someone who really understands this stuff

 

[Dave Spencer]

In a heavily planted tank with high growth, you should see about 10ppm of Ca removed by your plants per week, and 3-5ppm of Mg. You have similar water to me, but probably not the plant mass and growth rates.

I add a pinch of GH booster at water change, just to cover any possible deficiency, because my plants are probably close to using all the Mg and Ca in the water over the week.

As you say, adding it will do no harm, so it is up to you.

I am not sure as to why you want to add potassium sulphate, though. The K should come from potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate.

Dave.

 

[Colin_T]

Average Ca 12.6mg/ltr
Average Mg 2.95mg/ltr

your water is soft and has about 15.55ppm (less than 1dGH) of GH consisting of the calcium and magnesium you have in it. If there is other stuff in it then the water could be harder.
If your plants are doing fine then you can leave it be, or increase the hardness a bit. Generally harder water will have a more stabile pH. You could add a carbonate hardness buffer to help increase the GH and help prevent pH fluctuations as well.

There is approximately 18.9ppm in 1dGH.

 

[keenonfish]

In a heavily planted tank with high growth, you should see about 10ppm of Ca removed by your plants per week, and 3-5ppm of Mg. You have similar water to me, but probably not the plant mass and growth rates.

I add a pinch of GH booster at water change, just to cover any possible deficiency, because my plants are probably close to using all the Mg and Ca in the water over the week.

As you say, adding it will do no harm, so it is up to you.

I am not sure as to why you want to add potassium sulfate, though. The K should come from potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate.

Dave.

I believe the ingredients above are basically what Seachems GH booster contains and am not sure; if I want to dose to increase GH it is better to increase the lot in 3:3:1 ratio or if I can just add a little bit of Mg / Ca if that is what is lacking. It's also knowing how much!

I also have a very heavily planted tank too so my problems will surely be magnified as a result?

It's annoying because I can't find a decent article on DIY GH boosting for some reason old threads seem to go quiet even the main man himself seems to evade me of that important piece of the puzzle that I need - I am sure there must be some decent discussions somewhere so if anyone knows of a link!

 

[keenonfish]

Also folks MgSO4 is really cheap on ebay although it is sold as MgSO4.7H2O and is apparently 100% pure epsom salts whereas the stuff I was going to get is apparently 10% and much dearer. Is there a difference chemically and if so what is the significance?

 

[Colin_T]

not sure about the chemical differences between Epsom salts and the stuff on ebay, but if you start a new thread in the scientific section, someone there will know the answer.

In the African Rift Lake section of the forum there is an article about making your own rift lake salts from basic ingredients. Rift lake conditioner is primarily calcium and magnesium and is a good way to increase the GH of water. You don't have to use it at full strength but it should give you the ingredients and dose rates you want to increase your hardness.

 

[keenonfish]

not sure about the chemical differences between Epsom salts and the stuff on ebay, but if you start a new thread in the scientific section, someone there will know the answer.

In the African Rift Lake section of the forum there is an article about making your own rift lake salts from basic ingredients. Rift lake conditioner is primarily calcium and magnesium and is a good way to increase the GH of water. You don't have to use it at full strength but it should give you the ingredients and dose rates you want to increase your hardness.

Thanks Colin I will look into that when I have got a minute. I also need to try to understand how I got my figures... Incidently I have already boosted my KH due to my ph dropping too low (<6.5) and getting a small nitrIte spike once things have settled down I will be glad to leave the tank to it's own devices!

Regarding GH I might just buy a bottle of Seachems booster as it will be a short term solution and give me an idea as to whether I am on the right tracks or not!

 

[aaronnorth]

MgSO4.7H2O is Magnesium Sulphate heptahydrate

Usually we buy monohydrate (MGSO4.1H20) but the H20 is not always added on the end.

MgSO4.7H2O(on dry basis): 99.5% min
Ferrous (Fe): 0.001% max
Chloride(Cl): 0.004% max
Heavy metal(Pb): 0.001% max

If you do buy the stronger version, then simply use half dose (or mix half the suggested amount of powder in with water)