# Kh low



## john arnold (8 Jul 2019)

hi
Has anyone had rocks that lower the kh as I found some lovely rocks in Scotland and did iwagumi layout and kh is 3 gh 8..and all montecarlo and rotala  melted in a week gonna use seachem alkalinity buffer to raise it a little


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## alto (8 Jul 2019)

john arnold said:


> all montecarlo and rotala melted in a week


I suspect this is product or shipping related rather than low KH

My tap is very soft, KH 0-1, GH 1-2 (pH 6 - 6.5) - MC and various Rotala species do fine


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## john arnold (8 Jul 2019)

I put some of rock in a bowl for few days and it measures kh 1 so rock defo lowered kh...so what  do you think happened I have pressurised Co2 tropica  soil plenty of flow and ei  dosing and plants were 123 grow from aquarium gardens


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## dw1305 (8 Jul 2019)

Hi all, 





john arnold said:


> I put some of rock in a bowl for few days and it measures kh 1 so rock defo lowered kh


It won't have done. If there was a rock, that you could add to the tank, that would reduce dKH a lot of people would be very happy. 

Something like a Sphagnum peat or Clay, could reduce dKH <"via ion exchange">, but a rock won't have any CEC.

If it is an inert rock (very likely in Scotland) it won't have any effect on dKH.





john arnold said:


> use seachem alkalinity buffer to raise it a little


If you want to raise dKH, just add a bit of tap water.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (8 Jul 2019)

Remember that KH measures “temporary” hardness (Seachem alkaline buffer is also “temporary” as is bicarbonate based) 

Have you spoken with the AG team re melt?

IME, tIssue culture plants seem to be more prone to inexplicable “melt” than potted plant (there really isn’t much plant material there and it’s usually quite delicate stem/leaf structure that’s easily damaged by poor travel conditions or physical bruising during handling)
If you’re convinced it’s not tank related, I’d email Tropica directly and see what explanations they might offer


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## john arnold (9 Jul 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, It won't have done. If there was a rock, that you could add to the tank, that would reduce dKH a lot of people would be very happy.
> 
> Something like a Sphagnum peat or Clay, could reduce dKH <"via ion exchange">, but a rock won't have any CEC.
> 
> ...


Hello

I respect your comments as in past you have helped me a lot but haha the rock has decreased the kh as the water was measured before and after the rock was added and it decreased unless there is something on rock that is doing it I did scrub them so I dunno...


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## john arnold (9 Jul 2019)

alto said:


> Remember that KH measures “temporary” hardness (Seachem alkaline buffer is also “temporary” as is bicarbonate based)
> 
> Have you spoken with the AG team re melt?
> 
> ...



I did ring AG and he said he had no idea and just increase Co2 .. I thought in past the 123 cultures came in a gel all of these were just liquid I don’t know if that points to a problem but yeah I thought about contacting tropica


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## Edvet (9 Jul 2019)

john arnold said:


> the rock has decreased the kh as the water was measured before and after the rock was added


Realy would like to know which rock, because i can't see that happening either.


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## dw1305 (9 Jul 2019)

Hi all,





john arnold said:


> I respect your comments as in past you have helped me a lot but haha the rock has decreased the kh as the water was measured before and after the rock was added and it decreased unless there is something on rock that is doing it I did scrub them so I dunno...





Edvet said:


> Really would like to know which rock, because i can't see that happening either.


That is the great thing about science. 

All you have to do is ask "_is there_ _a chemical mechanism by which the rock could lower carbonate hardness?" _as soon as you find out that there isn't one, it tells you that you can discount the rock, so that just leaves the test kit.

Because the test kit measures alkalinity, rather than dKH, you could have a rock which potentially reduces pH, if it contained a lot of <"iron pyrites "Fool's Gold"">.

cheers Darrel


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## john arnold (9 Jul 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,That is the great thing about science.
> 
> All you have to do is ask "_is there_ _a chemical mechanism by which the rock could lower carbonate hardness?" _as soon as you find out that there isn't one, it tells you that you can discount the rock, so that just leaves the test kit.
> 
> ...




Ok ok I’ve been told haha.. so that leaves me with a puzzle still.. there is a little crushed quartz I picked up from Bodmin moor as a sandy type path but I thought I tested that in separate bowl too so then that leaves me with bad plants from tropica ......


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## Edvet (9 Jul 2019)

Sadly melting plants can have far more causes than just bad plants.


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