What to do about soft acidic well water?

[Jim Miller]

Now that the tank has cycled I'm ready to add CO2 and some dosing to get the plants going and stable.

I had our water tested by an agency and it came out with a ph of 6.4. That agrees with my API tests also.

I also tested both the tap and tank (unadjusted) and the KH and GH are quite low. KH is somewhere between 1-2. GH is somewhere between 2-3. At these levels the API titration is really coarse. I've always known our water is soft due to the lack of calcium rings in the sinks and tubs and the easy of foaming of soaps and shampoos.

These numbers combined with the already low pH make me uncomfortable adding CO2.

I think I should get GH to more like 8+ range and likely boost the KH as well to around 4.

I've got a variety of chemicals from aquariumfertilizer including calcium carbonate (powdered dolomite), Barr's GH booster and of course baking soda.

Recommendations?

Thanks

Jim

[g01ngog]

I ran into this problem since my water is well water and goes through a filtration process which zeros the kh and the gh. And so when I started using CO2 the pH would drop to sub 6 levels.

After a little research I decided to up my kH(baking soda) and gH(seachem equilibrium). The kH would raise my pH but my CO2 would bring down my pH. I don't remember the actual science behind all this.

But now my kH and gH is around 3 and everyone in the tank is feeling great.

So... I guess what you wanted to hear was:
baking soda works for raising kH which raises pH
CO2 lowers pH
seachem equilibrium raises gH

Hope this helps and wasn't all over the place...

[Cristy Keister]

Throw a handful or two of aragonite in a filter bag in your filter. Replenish every 6-12 months.

[Aaron]

This is not a problem. It's a blessing. Most of the fish and plants you will be keeping will LOVE those water parameters. I had well water like that at my old apartment and it was great.

Ghazanfar has super soft tap water too, and well, you've seen his tanks.

[eleontie]

Yes, just enjoy the soft water ...
The grass is just greener on the other side ...

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Soft water is best!

[Jim Miller]

With the ph already at 6.4 and almost no kh won't the ph plummet when 20-30ppm of co2 is added?

I really don't want to kill more fish.

Jim

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Yes it will. I guess you could add a little crushed coral to your filter media. How much will be a trial and error thing. The acidic water should dissolve some of that slowly and raise the KH/GH over time. Eventually you'll reach a balance somewhere, as long as you keep replacing the crushed coral on a regular basis.

[krisw]

As for fish, it also depends what you're keeping. You might have perfect spawning conditions for Apistos and various other amazon fish even if it does plummet.

[Aaron]

With the ph already at 6.4 and almost no kh won't the ph plummet when 20-30ppm of co2 is added?

I really don't want to kill more fish.

Jim

Yes, it will. The catch is that you don't need 20-30 ppm of CO2. You should simply adjust your CO2 such that plants begin to pearl around midday. If they are pearling earlier it is too high. I think you'll find that 10-15 ppm of CO2 is plenty.

CO2 dissolves more readily in soft water. Also, CO2 can never drive the pH below 5.0 unless there are other buffers in place such as peat or something similar.