Alkaline water that is soft?

[Hilde]

My tap water is on the alkaline side, 8.2, gh 1 and Kh is 4. Read that occurs when phosphates are used to treat the water.

Has anybody kept appistos in water similar to this?

 

[electric eel]

i'm suprised you've got no answers Hilde.i would'nt think it would take much to lower your ph as soft as your water is.i bet some new driftwood or indian almond leaves would bring it down.if you think there are phosphates you could always filter it thru some phosban.where do you live in the netherlands?i lived in the oudwest in amsterdam for almost a year(near the corner of da costastrat and the kinkerstrat by the cooking school)i sure miss it.it broke my heart to have to come back to america.

 

[ed seeley]

Have you tested the water after it has sat overnight and seen what the pH is. It can change quite a bit after that sometimes.

I'm not familiar with what phosphate compound they add to the water to treat it but it seems you either have two options. First I'd check the level of phosphates in the water and you can either leave them where they are (I add phosphate - among other ferts - to my tanks to feed the plants in there as they need phosphates to grow) or use a filter media to remove them.

Personally if the test isn't very high I'd leave them. They don't cause algae in of themselves and they won't harm your fish.

 

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

my pH isnt quite as high as that (comes out at 7 and stays at 7)

however I have a GH of 9ppm and a KH 5ppm.

 

[Hilde]

i bet some new driftwood or indian almond leaves would bring it down.

What about bog wood? I found a nice piece and it is in the 10 gallon incubation tank. I used 3 bottles of spring water with old tank water and added Seachem equilibrium still the ph is 8.2 in the incubation tank.

 

[bigbird]

Gday,

Just so you are aware, the driftwood ,almond or oak leaves and elder cones take some time to adjust your water PH. It does not happen overnight, but slowly. What gravel and rocks are you using. This also has an influence on you long term water quality. Cheers jk