Help with water chemistry

[JBolinger]

I am just getting back into the hobby after a 8 year break. Most of my previous experieince has been with small community tanks (fresh) and large wet/dry marine reef systems. I've decided to do a planted "Apisto" tank and have been researching and gathering items to setup the tank.

Have purchased a 180 gallon and an on the last stages of assembling equipment. Need to complete installation of compact flourescents in hood and then I will be ready to start the setup process.

I got around to testing my local tap water last night and found the following:

KH - 25-30 ppm
GH - around 300 ppm
pH - 7.3

I was wondering what people would suggest in order to correct my water quality for a planted tank and apistos. Not worried about pH since CO2 injection should correct but the GH is extremely high for fish and plants and KH appears low.

Suggestions? RO unit to blend? Peat? Baking soda? Would appreciate any comments and also pros/cons or suggestions?

The tank will be for display only. Not intending on breeding.

Thanks in advance - Jim

 

[Neil]

Jim,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

That is one huge apisto tank! You should have fun with it. Since you tank is so large, I would definitely recommend an RO unit. If you "cut" the tap with RO, you should take care of your problem. Depending on the species that you decide to get, you should have no problem mainaining the values that you need for hubandry. You can definitely consider peat, but baking soda won't be necessary and would be counter productive.
It is a little strange that your KH is so low with the GH so high. Are you sure of your test kit?


Neil

 

[JBolinger]

Neil,

I'll check again today and will also stop by the LFS and ask what numbers they see.

With the RO unit I can blend the GH down but it would almost eliminate the KH. This is not good for plants from what I read. How could I increase this?

Jim

 

[farm41]

That's when the baking soda comes into play.

 

[aspen]

jim, check an aerated sample. kh and ph will change with aeration.

rick

 

[JBolinger]

OK, here's the update.

I left a sample of the water sit overnight. Purchased another test kit and visited the LFS to see what results they were obtaining.

RESULTS: pH - still 7.3 range
GH - 250 to 300 ppm range
KH - 20 - 30 ppm range

So it looks like the RO unit might be the way to go to blend down the hardness. Started looking into RO units and an confused as to what I exactly need? I just want to reduce the TDS level and not necessary to remove other items. Also any recommendations of suppliers/manufactures would be appreciated.

At this point what will I need to do to increase the KH levels to those more acceptable to plants? If I use baking soda it will make the water more alkaline. Can the Co2 injection change it back to the 6.5 range I'd like to run?

Lastly, any thughts on fish to stock the tank? Also numbers of each?

Appreciate the thoughts and comments - Jim