Lowering Gh/KH

[Chef]

I've been filtering my water with peat moss and I have noticed the tannins and a drop in ph but I have also noticed that my water still stay above the 150ppm TDS range. I have a huge bag of peat stuffed inside an eheim 2260 for a 150 gallon tank. What else can I do to lower the overall Gh/KH without trying to produce 50+ gallons of RO from my painfully slow system? Are there any additive that anyone here has tried?

[Sea-agg09]

Have you actually tested the gh and kh? Tds is different from hardness. Adding dechlor will actually raise your Tds. Ro is by far the easiest way. Adding vinegar will lower the kh, but will also drop the ph.

[Chef]

Have you actually tested the gh and kh? Tds is different from hardness. Adding dechlor will actually raise your Tds. Ro is by far the easiest way. Adding vinegar will lower the kh, but will also drop the ph.

I am testing more frequently now since I'm adding pieces of driftwood...that too should help soften the water but peat alone doesn't seem to affect a whole lot

[wesleydnunder]

RO or DI or both are the best ways to lower KH and GH. Softeners which use salt will lower GH and KH but the ionic exchange is at 2 : 1 so the end result is, while your water is "softer", you've actually raised the TDS by 2x.

Mark

[Chef]

Good point to consider. I will just try a permeate pump on the RO. Let's see if I'm able to produce enough RO in the few hours that I have.

[Chef]

Have you actually tested the gh and kh? Tds is different from hardness. Adding dechlor will actually raise your Tds. Ro is by far the easiest way. Adding vinegar will lower the kh, but will also drop the ph.

What type of vinegar and how much would one add let's say to lower a 150g tank from 7.0 to 6.5?

[wesleydnunder]

Keep in mind...

KH is the water's alkalinity, its ability to neutralize an acid. Adding an acid like vinegar to the water will lower KH and ph but if the KH is sufficiently high, the ph will jump right back up. i.e. it's still buffered. This is called ph bounce. It happenes generally when folks try to acidify their water with over-the-counter lfs acids. Concentrated acids are not good for your fish or plants. Rapid ph swings can cause problems; ammonia gets less toxic as ph drops, then gets more toxic as ph rebounds. Beneficial bacteria can suffer from sudden acidity. I'd shy away from the chemistry lab if it were me.

Mark

[Chef]

Why does ph bounce? Because of oxygenation?