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  • weird readings

    i used mardel 5in1 test strips

    i have real problem with lower my ph ?
    so i used peat and some dritf wood
    made my water all brown now...
    but here the readings

    40 nitrate
    0 nitrite
    0 hardness
    300+ alkalinity/buffering capacity
    8.4 ph
    and my ammo. is 0

    so i can have soft water and high ph???

    but i'm getting a ro unit soon next week from kent .. by then i shold hopefully  have a low ph..

  • #2
    Re: weird readings

    thats kinda off to my way of thinking too but alkalinity is a higher ph modiphier as well i believe so that makes some sense, but houston water with 0 hardness reading, u sure its not mixed up somehow?
    Never fear I is here
    David Abeles
    Vice President
    Greater Houston Aquarium Club

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    • #3
      Re: weird readings

      How long have you been using the peat and driftwood? Have you been measuring the hardness and such since you added them? Also, just to make sure, check the expiration date on the test strips. What's the reading you get when testing just regular tap water with your strips? If you have something to compare the results to, it might be easier to see if there's a problem. But also, yes, you can have soft water with higher pH, as Tiapan pointed out, alkalinity (is that the same as buffering capacity? I still don't know...) helps to keep the pH steady.
      "Millennium hand and shrimp!"

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      • #4
        Re: weird readings

        Here in College Station, we have supersoft water with HIGH pH out of the tap...

        Ellen

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        • #5
          Re: weird readings

          peat and the drift wood has been in for about two weeks
          and my tap water was
          25 hardness
          then i test last night it was 0
          expiration date on the test strips is 2008\05
          so it steal good
          i thought the peat would make my ph go down and the drift wood ?
          am i doing something wrong???

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          • #6
            Re: weird readings

            It's probably what Tiapan was saying about alkalinity. But it's doing something, if your water has softened significantly. I'm sorry, was that the reading for your tap water 2 weeks ago, or your tank? If it was the tap water, then maybe your tank was already softer...?
            "Millennium hand and shrimp!"

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            • #7
              Re: weird readings

              Asianlatinremix the high alkalinity is keeping your ph up. KH or alkalinity is water's ability to neutralize an acid. KH buffers the water to a stable ph. Around here our KH components are mostly carbonates and bicarbonates. These combine with the acids leached by the driftwood and peat, keeping the ph from falling. Here at my house I have a KH 15 and GH 19-23 depending on rainfall amounts up north. I've always been suspicious of the inaccuracy of test strips so I stick to the liquid reagent kits. A gh of 0 and a kh of 300+ ppm from lake houston doesn't sound right.

              You may have to mix some RO with your tapwater to get the ph to lower and stay lowered. One caution: a KH below 3 degrees or 52-54ppm is unstable and can crash easily.

              Mark
              What are the facts? Again and again and again--what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore devine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell", avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history"--what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue.

              Robert Anson Heinlein

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