Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Water Chemistry

I did all the tests I have, which now include Nitrate and Phosphate, and it almost makes sense:


pHdGH dKH CO2 NO3 PO4
58G 7.6 6.16 7.28 5.5 10 0.25
20G 7.6 5.60 6.16 4.5 5 0.25
Tap 7.6 3.92 5.04 3.8 2 0.25

Tests were done at around 6pm, 1 hour after CO2 was turned off in 58gal and 1-2 days after 50% water change. Looks like the water pH is too high for my pH Low Range (6.0-7.6) test. I need to get a high range test, better yet figure out how to lower the pH. It seems like topping off the tanks with distilled water might be a good idea. For now I decided to bubble CO2 into 58gal 24 hours/day instead of during the "lights on" hours only....

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