KH and GH

[TaraBarnes]

Hello! I have just started using live plants in my aquariums. I have put quite a few in most of my tanks. I have a questions that I am hopeing someone can help me with. In my tap water I have really high KH (179ppm or 10 degrees) I have 0 GH though, when I test the GH with the API drops, it doesn't even go the ogrange color, it just turns green when I put the first drop in. This must be a rare problem to have becasue finding answers online has been super hard! I need to know if it is nessisary to my plants and fish to raise my GH and if so how can I raise that without raising my KH? I have a few betta (in seperate tanks) and bristlenose Plecos and a bunch of different low light plants. My PH is 8-8.2 (if that matters) and I never see any swing in it really. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @TaraBarnes

I'm guessing you have a water softener on the system?  Or possibly if you are in an apartment there is one for the building water supply? -Roy

Edited February 2, 2021 by Seattle_Aquarist

[TaraBarnes]

Hi @Seattle_Aquarist

Yes, I do have a water softener. I live in Utah where we have really hard water so water softeners are a staple in most homes to help protect pipes. 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by TaraBarnes

[RockMongler]

So, your water softener is probably pulling out ALL of your Ca+ and Mg+ from the water.  That's kind of the point of a water softener. 

If you have a way to skip the water softener, that would probably help give you far more 'regular' water for your tank.  And to some degree, your plants will want things like calcium and magnesium.  Beyond just skipping your water softener, you could also look at dosing with other supplements.  I know the coop and the surrounding region tends to have very very soft water out of the tap, and they often use products like wonder shells, but those may also bump up your KH as well as your GH. 

You could also go even further and get a RO system, and then re-mineralize the water yourself to match whatever you want/need for the things you are raising.

Easiest option would probably be to skip the water softener specifically for your tank water, though.

 

[TaraBarnes]

Thank you @RockMongler! I really apprecaite the info. I was hopeing there was a way to bump GH without bumping KH, but it seems like that is not a thing, so I will have to figure out a way to bypass the softener at lease for my tanks. I have considered going the RO route before so I will look into that some more also. Thanks again! 

[Wes L.]

Actually you have it made. You have the best of both worlds. I live just down the street from you in Nevada and we also have hard water and water softeners in our houses. The cool thing is we can have any degree of water hardness that we want....and just from our taps. Your water softener most likely only softens the water inside your house, so not your faucets outside in the yard. You should test your water from an outdoor faucet to see what the degree of hardness is. Then mix your outside water with your inside water and you can get any degree of hardness that you'd like achieve. I mix 1/2 my outdoor tap water, which for us is 15dGH, with 1/2 indoor tap water, and I get 7dGH, which I use for my softer water tank. Plants most do better with softer water, as well as some fish...depending on the species. You don't really need to worry about a high KH, it doesn't really affect fish or plants, it will just keep your PH from fluctuating, which is ideal.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

1 hour ago, TaraBarnes said:

Hi @Seattle_Aquarist

Yes, I do have a water softener. I live in Utah where we have really hard water so water softeners are a staple in most homes to help protect pipes. 

 

+1 for @RockMonglercomments that you have little to no calcium or magnesium in your water.  What's more, depending upon what it being used to recharge the resin in the water softener (sodium chloride or potassium chloride) you either have large amounts of sodium or potassium in the water.  I don't know how 'hard' your 'hard water' is but I would test the water at your outdoor water hose spigot with your test kit and see if maybe it is 'normal' water (in most cases water used for outdoor watering does not go through a water softener).  Please let us know the results of your hose spigot water tests, then we may be able to offer some further suggestions.  -Roy

[TaraBarnes]

Thanks @Wes L. and @Seattle_Aquarist! I really appreciate all the help! It looks like what is used in our water softener is Sodium Chloride. When I test the outside spigot water its 11 dGH and 9 dKH so it must be bypassing the water softener. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by TaraBarnes

[Seattle_Aquarist]

11 hours ago, TaraBarnes said:

Thanks @Wes L. and @Seattle_Aquarist! I really appreciate all the help! It looks like what is used in our water softener is Sodium Chloride. When I test the outside spigot water its 11 dGH and 9 dKH so it must be bypassing the water softener.

Hi @TaraBarnes, In that case I would use 2/3 spigot water and 1/3 tap water.  That should give you a dGH of about 6.0 which is fine for most plants and fish.  The dKH will likely stay the same go up from your dKH@10 reading but that can be reduced by using Muriatic Acid (it takes very, very, very little).  Hope this helps! -Roy

PS  Obviously you are not the first individual I have run across with 'high' dKH and "0" dGH.  You may have to play with your 'mix' a little but that is where I would start.

[TaraBarnes]

@Seattle_Aquarist I will try that! Thank you!