Water Hardness

[Aqua Tom]

i recemtly got my first set of double zeros on my fishless cycle & then this morning my GH-KH kit arrived so I thought i would test the water in my tank.

Bear in mind that the tank water has been dosed with bicarb on numerous occasions to keep the ph up so this test was realy just to get me used to the kit.

PH 7.6+
High PH 8.2
KH 11 ---- 179
GH 12+ ---- 214.8+ (this took 17 drops to change colour so I am hopeing when I do the massive water change it will be a lot different).


As you may summise I come from a very hard water area.

 

[Uriel]

If your having to add bi-carb to your water to maintain a high PH chances are you are in a soft water area. Bi-carb acts like minerals in hard water areas and buffers the water so probably wouldn;t be needed in hard water area. or at least this is my understanding of it.

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, that's correct Uriel. A much more telling test for Tom would be some tap water tests, straight out of the tap and then a jar of tap perhaps 24 and then 48 hours later (just for fun, or is that only fun for water geeks, lol?)

One of the fundamentals of the beginner section is that you should never let yourself be influenced (either negatively or positively) by the chemistry of your fishless cycling tank. Nearly every parameter can have a different value and/or time pattern after your tank becomes a fishkeeping tank!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Aqua Tom]

Yup, that's correct Uriel. A much more telling test for Tom would be some tap water tests, straight out of the tap and then a jar of tap perhaps 24 and then 48 hours later (just for fun, or is that only fun for water geeks, lol?)

One of the fundamentals of the beginner section is that you should never let yourself be influenced (either negatively or positively) by the chemistry of your fishless cycling tank. Nearly every parameter can have a different value and/or time pattern after your tank becomes a fishkeeping tank!

~~waterdrop~~

I have my jar of tapwater sitting in the cupbouard for a 24 hour test tomorow (along with a straight from the tap test).

Will keep you informed.