Low Alkalinity

[gpgscott]

Greetings,

I have had several tanks over a 25 year period with varying degrees of success and failure. At present I have a very nice bow front around 50 gallons in capacity. I have just invested in one of the Magnum on tank filters with a bio wheel, an upgrade from a simple powerfilter. My main question concerns alkalinity. My water source is shallow well and almost as pure as distilled with no disolved minerals. Should I be placing something in this tank (crushed oyster shell?) ??? to give the water some buffering capacity or should I use baking soda. What I am most confused about is how to determine how much is adequate can I rely simply on a ph test to determine this.

Thanks, Scott

 

[mlawson]

I would buffer the water in some way, with no hardness it is difficult to maintain
a steady pH. As far as I know baking soda would not be something I would add
in order to buffer your water, but we can see others views on the matter.
Oyster shells would be a better option, though I am not certain that these
will have an efficient amount of buffering capacity in order to meet your needs.

You could invest in a water buffering solution designed for RO water and the like.
It will be good to see other views on this matter.

 

[xoedusk]

Have you measured your alkalinity with a KH test?

Many use baking soda in tanks to raise KH, and therefor raise alkalinity.

There are proportions online that tell you how much a certain level of baking soda raises your KH. Try using those to get at how much you can be adding.

 

[gpgscott]

Have you measured your alkalinity with a KH test?

Many use baking soda in tanks to raise KH, and therefor raise alkalinity.

There are proportions online that tell you how much a certain level of baking soda raises your KH. Try using those to get at how much you can be adding.

Thanks for the reply and adivice. We operate a wholesale greenhouse and have complete water analysis done each year by our state extension service the ph as the water comes out of the ground is in the range of 5.4 and total disolved solids is virtually non existent. I am not familiar with a KH test. The thing a am concerned about with the baking soda is stability of ph as there is no mineral content in the water. I should point out that I have not been attempting to address this issue and I'm not sure if it is a problem or not. I have a semi aggressive community with large Silver Dollars, a large Blood Parrot and various Tetras, the only time I loose large numbers of fish is on occasion when I bring in new ones and all of a sudden I'll loose 6 who have been established for months or in some cases even years. I have not been following a quarantine protocol but I have just purchased a five gallon tank to begin doing so.

I would buffer the water in some way, with no hardness it is difficult to maintain
a steady pH. As far as I know baking soda would not be something I would add
in order to buffer your water, but we can see others views on the matter.
Oyster shells would be a better option, though I am not certain that these
will have an efficient amount of buffering capacity in order to meet your needs.

You could invest in a water buffering solution designed for RO water and the like.
It will be good to see other views on this matter.

I would buffer the water in some way, with no hardness it is difficult to maintain
a steady pH. As far as I know baking soda would not be something I would add
in order to buffer your water, but we can see others views on the matter.
Oyster shells would be a better option, though I am not certain that these
will have an efficient amount of buffering capacity in order to meet your needs.

You could invest in a water buffering solution designed for RO water and the like.
It will be good to see other views on this matter.

 

[thegnu]

hi,
you're lucky to have such soft natural water. iv'e got an ro unit to get my water soft, then i remineralize it with kent ro right, or just use it neat but always with it filtered through peat. haven't you ever thought about keeping discus