Water Hardness

[Smells a bit fishy]

Right, I'm sure someone will come along and make me look like a fool lol, however the difference between dGH and dKH?

dGH measures the amount of measures the amount of calcium (Ca2) and magnesium (Mg2).

Now dKH measures how much carbonates (CaCo3).

Where I'm getting confused is, obviously these go hand in hand to find out your overall water hardness, why can't we just test for dKH as this also tells us how much calcium is in the water, but not magnesium, then do a separate test for magnesium.

I havn't tested my water yet, but my water supplier says my CaCo3 is 137ppm which calculates at 7.67 degrees german. Is that the measurements we use when testing water?

So can someone tell me why dGH is so important?

Sorry I'm just a little confused, maybe it might take a chemist to answer my question lol

 

[StandbySetting]

The KH test isn't testing for Magnesium or Calcium, you could have both Magnesium carbonate or Calcium carbonate but it is only the carbonate that the KH test kit is registering, KH kits test for both carbonate (CO[sub]3[/sub][sup]2-[/sup]) and bicarbonate (HCO[sub]3[/sub][sup]-[/sup]) anions.

GH on the other hand is testing for Magnesium and Calcium cations (Mg[sup]2+[/sup] and Ca[sup]2+[/sup]) respectively, you could have a solution made up of water with Magnesium carbonate and Calcium carbonate dissolved into it, the KH test kit would register the carbonate anions and not the metal cations, where as the GH would test for the metal cations and not for the carbonate anions.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oh ok, yeh it does make sense, thanks. So I have a rough idea what dKH my water is from my water company, but dGH I don't as it doesn't say anywhere how much magnesium is in my water.

Thank you