I have a seven stage RO system, and the last stage is a reminerization filter that basically adds back a little hardness.Hey, what means "from remineral"?
Is the leftover from RO?
Here you go the Emerald Rainbow (Glossolepis wanamensis).Very soon I will send you a shipping address for the free lease program!
Where are my Emeralds??? Close ups please!
Ah ok.I have a seven stage RO system, and the last stage is a reminerization filter that basically adds back a little hardness.
Pure RO water actually has no taste and some people don't like it. That last stage adding some minerals actually makes it taste more like bottled water.
So those numbers are basically what I am starting with right out of the RO unit, and then I add more to bring up GH/KH.
Hope that makes sense.
Was this when your bag of KNO3 was mislableled?Thanks for your thoughts. And yes I get the math, and maybe something else IS happening here. Heck, could be something I never ever thought of for all I know.
But here are my thoughts. I take a PO4 reading every week right after a water change (80 gallons). For about 5 weeks prior I noticed it steadily rising. Was my well stocked tank producing more P? Was I feeding a bit more?? I don't know how or why, but it was definitely rising.
Right when I noticed the sudden stunting, I performed three water changes and lowered dosing. Everything perked right back up.
Now could it be something completely different? Yes. I have also been dosing higher micros 7 days a week since the end of Nov., so that is a possibility as well (or any number of other things). But given the rising P I was tracking, it just seemed the likely culprit.
No but that was a good story.Was this when your bag of KNO3 was mislableled?
Well it's not quite that simple, at least for me. First of all I keep my CO2 flow higher than needed to drop quickly to my desired pH. Then with the controller it bounces around that peak all day long. So I am saying my primary measurement is not the flow rate, but rather the pH drop.Could probably use a ph/kh/co2 chart to figure it all out, or better yet, a co2 calculator. Just don’t change your co2 flow. You know your co2 ppm, just lower your high setting on controller when you drop your kh to keep your ppm the same.
I disagree, It could be pretty simple. Tell me what your high point on the controller is set at and your current Kh and I will explain better what I mean. When a person is using a controller, the co2 flow rate is always higher then what is needed. Flow rate is adjusted to how often you want the controller cycling or how fast you want to reach your desired PH drop. The faster the drop, the more the controller will cycle the solenoid.Well it's not quite that simple, at least for me. First of all I keep my CO2 flow higher than needed to drop quickly to my desired pH. Then with the controller it bounces around that peak all day long. So I am saying my primary measurement is not the flow rate, but rather the pH drop.
Your not changing your Kh that much. worse case scenario is your controller will cycle more often and you will have to slightly lower your flow.Second is I have found at different KH levels it takes more/less CO2 to reach a target. That is my flow rate was much higher when KH was higher, and is lower now that KH is lower. At least that is what I have seen in my tank.
.15 ph drop at those levels equates to a large difference in co2ppm. Your situation should be simple, you have a controller, and you reconstitute ro water so you can set kh exactly. The calculator could make this very simple and get you very close.And I am trying to reach a pretty specific drop. In my experience, with fast growing flowery stems, I can see a difference between a 1.2 and 1.35 drop. It's subtle, but it's there. So for me, when I adjust KH, I just need to really stay focused on my degassed pH and KH so that I keep my pH drop consistent.
@jbvamos your thoughts are correct, and are the calculations I will be working on.
The thing is, when you change dosing to change KH, I wouldn't rely on the calculator. I much prefer actual readings, so it's just a little extra effort to make sure it's correct.
And I don't put much faith in the CO2/pH/KH charts. I know plenty of others who inject at similar numbers to mine and have no problems with fish. I also have high surface agitation at all times, so high oxygen as well. Now I am close to upper limit where fish would start showing signs of stress. For me it's at about 1.45 pH drop. Happens quickly.
So whenever I change KH, I am walking a fairly fine line, and like to make sure I am around to observe things more than usual (not out of town like I am now). Fine tuning your CO2, even with a controller, takes a little time and patience. And using calculations is a good starting point, but rarely works out perfectly in the real world.
LOL you don't know me that well..................I like to make everything more complicated than it needs to be, it's in my nature. So you are right about that.I agree with pretty much everything you said. My point is you know your co2 ppm is 118.9. Your tank likes and thrives at 118.9ppm. co2/ph/kh chart is irrelevant on what it means, we are just using the number in the calculations to keep that 118.9ppm co2. This number could be 30ppm or 500pm doesn't matter, we are just recreating that ph/kh relationship to keep the 118.9ppm co2. Now if what you are saying is you can't accurately achieve a desired Kh in your R.O water, then that's a whole different ball game.
I do agree that no one should ever make co2 adjustments without being around to do an immediate water change.
But I also think this route will get you extremely close to where you need to be since you know your exact numbers. This is just how I would go about doing this and I'm in no way implying that you should. It just seems like you think it's more complicated than it needs to be and I am offering a way to make it a little smoother. Good luck!
sounds like a good plan. What it seems like to me in my tanks both past and present is to compensate for a high level of something I need to keep raising other levels till everything is at nose bleed levels. This works, but you end up walking a fine line between balance and imbalance. I add more co2, I need more N then I need more P then I need more K then I need more traces then I need More co2 then I need more N..............On and on till the tank is at 120ppm co2 and 50ppm NO3. I'm going down the road of less is better and more stable and it all starts with CO2 because I like my lighting level where it is at. Less CO2 equals less ferts. I'm shooting for 50ppm CO2 and balance everything off of that.So I am plotting a course now. What I am really interested in is seeing if reducing K & KH via lower K2CO3 dosing leads to less need for other ferts. And maybe I could try some of those very soft species again. Plan is to lower K & KH first, wait a bit, then start lowering others in relative fashion.
I think this situation is good. Your getting a great source of N. I would just balance the tank to the N level your fish produce, because we all know you love your bows and won't be getting rid of any. I'm not so sure your high level of K is a reason you need to add more NO3 on top of your heavy fish load, but thats the current theory and one more thing to eliminate after your experiment. I love things like this, it's great real world knowledge for everyone to learn from. Not some interaction chart from terrestrial plants, knowledge that applies to our tanks.And you know the wild card in all of this is that I keep a pretty heft fish load, which is not too common in planted tanks. So there is always that to consider as well. Might be having effects I haven't even considered.
PS. Looking forward to seeing pics of that Discus tank when you find them!!