ro water help

[Sammyrod]

i use ro water i use only seachem products equilibrium 12g per 20 litre ,acid buffer 1.2g per 20 litre ,alkaline 2.6g per 20 litre with that i get a 7ph carbonate hardness 4dkh and general hardness of 0 i am looking to get a dgh of 8-12 what do i need to do

 

[hamfist]

Adding Calcium sulphate and Magnesium sulphate ( in around a 4:1 ratio weight wise should do the job) to increase GH providing both Ca and Mg. As for amounts, the simplest way is to make a mix of the 2 chemicals and just add enough to the tank until you reach the GH you are aiming for. You can buy ready made mixes but they will much more expensive. If you are already adding plenty of Magnesium then you can just use Ca SO4.
Personally I don't quite understand why you use all those buffers, why can't you just add enough Equillibrium to reach 8dGH ?? It would seem the simplest thing to do. A pH of exactly 7.0 is not particularly beneficial for most plants or livestock. Most have a large range in which they are happy, probably from pH 6.5-7.5 at the very least.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

i use ro water i use only seachem products equilibrium 12g per 20 litre ,acid buffer 1.2g per 20 litre ,alkaline 2.6g per 20 litre

I'm not trying to be funny, but the problem is actually the <"Seachem products">. I'll add in @MichaelJ, but that is a huge amounts of added salts.

i am looking to get a dgh of 8-12 what do i need to do

Use calcium chloride (CaCl2.6H2O), or calcium sulphate (CaSO4.2H20), and "Epsom Salts" - magnesium sulphate (MgSO4.7H2O). If you want to add some alkalinity as well? You can use potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3). You can buy all of these for a tiny fraction of the cost of the Seachem products. <"Oyster shell chick grit"> (CaCO3) is another mechanism for adding dKH and dGH and literally costs chicken feed.

Have a look at <"Plant melting">, but as a back of the envelope calculation 2g of MgSO4.7H2O will add: 10 ppm Mg and 2 1/4 dGH
and
2g of CaCl2.6H2O will add: 20 ppm Ca and 3 dGH.

equilibrium 12g per 20 litre

We have a thread about Seachem Equilibrium thread <"Seachem method of potassium dosing">

acid buffer 1.2g per 20 litre ,alkaline 2.6g per 20 litre with that i get a 7ph

<"So basically"> you are taking away <"with the acid buffer">, what you've added with <"the alkaline buffer">.

cheers Darrel

 

[X3NiTH]

I have been in contact with OP via DM and the consideration to be made is the remineralisation of RO water for the benefit of livebearing fish species (Guppies), I have derived a recipe bringing the GH and KH to 8° closer simulating Karst water using the following compounds -

Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)
Magnesium Carbonate (MgCO3)
Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4.7H2O)
Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO3)

Because this is a Calcium Carbonate rich mixture the stored remineralised water requires a few days for the water to clear.

🙂