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I have a 90g planted tank here are details
2 65w power compacts - 1 40w flouresent = 1.88wpg
100% flourite substrate
Co2 canister injection w/ ph control
2 magnum 350's for filtration
I use only Ro water and add seachem alkaline buffer to raise hardness, i also add seachem flourish at 5mL every other day. water changes are done weekly, 25-30 gal or about 30%.
here are water conditions atm
Ph - 7.0
nitrate < 10
ammonia/nitrite - 0
KH - 95ppm
GH - 60ppm
Iron < 0.1
Co2 - 24-30ppm

My target is 80Kh and 80Gh which at a Ph of 7.0 but im cant seem to ven it out.. i know that GH is made up of important nutrients like calcium and magnesium, and that Kh is basicly a measurement of buffering action.. but what i would like to know is how to raise Gh without effecting the Kh.. ive been told epsom salt can do this but im afraid to try it. im not sure if it is the buffer im using itself? i will have to test that and reply to see if thats the problem..
Could it be that my plants are using up the Ca and Mg and lowering the Gh..
THe reason i ask is i have a large anubais that is showing some yellowing in some of the younger leaves.. since all other nutriunts *seem* to be in abundance i was thinking that the faster growing plants may be outcompeting this slow grower for these two nutriunt.. which i seem to lack for some reason(in the form of GH)

Thnks for any help..
Sorry if this should be in water qual forum.. but i figured since my consern is the nutriunt for plants that i would post it here.

If i left anything out let me know.
-CJ

I'm not sure the seachem buffer has any calcium/magnesium in it that would add to your gh. I know the main ingrediant is calcium bicarbonate(baking soda). Seachem on their site also reccommends another product if you are using their buffer with ro/di water. If it is only for raising your kh/ph then there will be nothing in it that would raise gh. http://seachem.com/products/product_pages/AlkalineBuffer.html

They have this in the planted tank section for gh: [link=http://seachem.com/products/product_pages/Equilbrium.html ]http://seachem.com/products/product_pages/Equilbrium.html [/link]

Last edited by sham at 16-Feb-2005 21:32

Wompa,

What are the water parameters for your tap water? You may want to blend your RO and tap water to provide an "ideal" or target mix. Generally you can use crushed shells in your filter to raise GH.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

In Phoenix, Az here.. we have very bad tap.. cant beleive i ever drank that stuff from a garden house as a kid , it is very hard, i havent tested it for a long time so i cant rember how hard, but i think its even to hard for african cichlids. i have thought about using a mixture of tap.. but havent bothered to figure out how much tap vs. Ro i would need. Also, i was hoping to be as controlled as possible with everything i put in the tank, and teaspoons of powder seem a bit more managable then figuring out how much tap to add. I didnt realize their was a seperate seachem product to raise the Gh.. i may check that out or try the crushed sea shells.
Tnks for the advise!!!
-CJ