# Water analysis



## Potatis (17 Jan 2013)

Hi, this is my first post here, though I have been here each day for a couple of months, behind your backs or perhaps right under your noses, learning as much as I can about keeping a healthy planted tank. I've been religiously following as many of Clive's commandments as possible. A big thank you has to go to Clive, as I have a very healthy 2 month old planted aquarium after steadfastly following his various advice and completely ignoring "The Matrix". This hasn't been easy, because I have been keeping fish for almost 10 years, and had to shed an entire belief system. I can't believe the amount of crap that I thought was "The Truth", however through this forum I've managed to achieve some enlightenment.

Anyway, I do EI dosing, but so far have never dosed MgSO4 and have been wondering whether I need to. The plants look fine to me, so I merely assumed that there might be enough Mg in my water. Assumtions can be dangerous, so I thought I'd check out my local water analysis, and found it here: http://www.sydneywater.com.au/WaterQuality/TypicalDrinkingwaterAnalysis/WaterAnalysis_Ryde_2011.pdf#Page=1

The problem is, although I see the numbers, they don't mean much to me. Is this water any good? The plants seem to be doing well, so it can't be too bad. Could my tank do with some MgSO4, or don't bother? I have a bag of it here. My tank PH isn't 7.8 - 8.0 like in the water report, with the CO2 it's around 6.4. That's the only test kit I have, so I don't know how hard my water is. In 10 years, I've never cared, but I feel curious now that I am putting a lot of time into this planted aquarium, and starting to grow a few pricey plants that are supposedly difficult to grow.

Also, does anyone see any parameter that is on the high or low side that needs my attention to deal with?

Thanks very much for your time.


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## Ady34 (17 Jan 2013)

Hi potatis and welcome to the forum.
Great to hear you've been reading and learning from the experts!
I havnt even read your water report (it would be gobbledygook to me too), but you said that your plants are all doing well so that's enough to assume you don't need the added expense of dosing mgso4. I wouldn't bother if all is good 
Cheerio
Ady


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## Potatis (17 Jan 2013)

Thanks Ady, my reasoning has been that if the plants look fine, then things are fine. However, the plants I have had are pretty easy to grow anyway, they are good beginner plants that don't demand much. I recently acquired more demanding plants, they've only been in the tank a couple of days, and so far so good. I've just been getting doubts that my previous success could be false because my plants were easy to grow, even without CO2 or EI dosing, and the new ones might die. I'm just trying to keep the faith, make sure the flow is good, lots of CO2, and keep the nutrients up. I was wondering if my tap water might not be good for the so called "difficult" plants.

I was also wondering what to do with this MgSO4 I have. Put it in the tank, or have a silky smooth bath with it?


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## GHNelson (17 Jan 2013)

Hi 
I would dose it as per EI instructions till it has run out....then see if there is any adverse effects a few later when stopping the MgS04.
Cheers
hoggie


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## Potatis (17 Jan 2013)

That's a good idea, hoggie, no harm in trying it, at least there can't be a deficiency, and at worst an overdose which is probably harmless. I won't worry about the water parameters, I'll let the plants show me what they think.
Thanks,
Doug


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## LondonDragon (17 Jan 2013)

Potatis said:


> and at worst an overdose which is probably harmless


Try it for a month or so and then stop for a couple of weeks and see if you notice any differences.


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## Potatis (17 Jan 2013)

Ok, Paulo, I'll do just that!


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## dw1305 (17 Jan 2013)

Hi all,
You can interpret the results fairly easily, 18ppm of CaCO3 equivalent is 1dKH and ppm is the same unit as mg/L.
"_1 dH is "One degree German" and defined as 10 milligrams of calcium oxide (CaO) per litre of water. This is equivalent to 17.85 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre of water, or 17.85 ppm._"

So you've got about 3 - 4dKH/dGH, and 2:1 Ca:Mg. The pH and alkalinity are probably higher than they would be naturally because your water company have added NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to the water supply which would naturally be soft and slightly acidic.

Magnesium is required because it is the central atom of the chlorophyll molecule, plants don't require a huge amount of it, so you may have enough. If you do add some "Epsom Salts" (MgSO4.7H2O), it won't do any harm, and you can buy it at the chemists etc for very little money.

cheers Darrel


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## Arana (17 Jan 2013)

Ignoring "The Matrix" now that's what i like to hear, Clive will be proud! welcome to UKAPS


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## ceg4048 (17 Jan 2013)

Unfortunately, no one can be told what The Matrix is....you have to see it for yourself.

In any case, I'm guessing that "Ryde" is the area you live in Australia, near Sydney? Sorry, I skipped that geography lesson that day, way back when.

So there are two columns, ADWG Health which appears to be the maximum permissible value for health reasons, and ADWG Aesthetic which is just that, the maximum permissible value for the waters appearances sake.  Probably there were many readings taken, not just one. So the Ryde column looks to be the range of readings taken in that zone, because the entry reads something like:
Calcium 11.6ppm to 15.7ppm.
Your value, at your particular house, is probably somewhere between those two values. It may even be outside of that range.

So just look at the Magnesium row on page 2. The range of Magnesium concentration values was recorded as 4.7ppm to 6ppm.

Both the Calcium and the Magnesium values are more than enough for planted tanks, with the caveat, as always, that these values may not reflect exactly what is coming out of your particular tap, but they should be close.

The NPK values are almost non-existent, and even if they had more robust values I wouldn't trust them anyway because NPK are 1000X more important than Ca and Mg. So you need to dose per EI standard procedure, which is probably what you are doing anyway.

As others mention, it's always worth trying MgSO4 for a few weeks, just to see if it has any effect. If no discernible effects are noted then you can simplify your life by deleting it's addition. One less powder to worry about in the dosing program.

Cheers,


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## Potatis (18 Jan 2013)

Arana said:


> Ignoring "The Matrix" now that's what i like to hear, Clive will be proud! welcome to UKAPS


 
Just imagine that I can change more than 20-25% of my water without removing far too much bacteria and risk killing all of my fish! I'm still coming across this and many other myths each day as I read through various sites. My plants even seem to be happier with 2 T5 bulbs instead of 3. Oh the stuff I used to believe.



dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> You can interpret the results fairly easily, 18ppm of CaCO3 equivalent is 1dKH and ppm is the same unit as mg/L.
> "_1 dH is "One degree German" and defined as 10 milligrams of calcium oxide (CaO) per litre of water. This is equivalent to 17.85 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre of water, or 17.85 ppm._"
> 
> ...


 
This is awesome, thanks for the information. The water seems pretty good, and should have enough buffering to prevent the mythical PH crash, because of course I used to wait for the day that would happen, and it hasn't in 10 years. Must be the water parameters. 


I don't live in Ryde (a suburb of Sydney), but the Ryde water treatment plant supplies water to all of the suburbs on the Lower North Shore of Sydney where I do live. Thanks Clive for letting me know the Calcium and Magnesium values should be fine. I'll try the dosing of MgSO4 for a few weeks, as I said to Paulo, and see if my plants look even better. Otherwise I'll ditch it.

I just had an "Aha!" moment, since I am new to understanding water chemistry, I looked at the dosage calculator to see how many ppm I should be aiming for when dosing MgSO4 and see I should be dosing to reach 5ppm. The tap water is 4.7ppm to 6ppm, I should have been able to work this out for myself. I didn't think to look at the dosage calculator to see what ppm I needed. I thought these magical values were something the guru experts were born with. Ok, lesson learned.

Thanks for everyone's time spent replying to this thread, you've been very helpful.


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