# Raising kh



## paul236313 (Jul 23, 2004)

What is the best way to raise the kh,i'm using the kh up by kent but it seems that the test results are the same all the time


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

New York water is very soft. KH seems to be minimal, unmeasurable in Brooklyn Heights. New York Water comes from three sources or major resevoirs, so I believe. I'm not sure if your water is exactly the same as ours in Brooklyn.

It's occured to me on occasion that we have 'special case' water in the world of aquaria. The 'general case' seems to be much higher KH. I was hoping to put together some sort of reference resource to help people interested in maintaining planted tanks in ultra soft water such as ours.

I suspect that a good way of raising KH would be to use a small amount of fragmented oyster shell (say) or fragmented dried coral. With a little experiment, testing, one could control KH farely well and possibly in a better long-term way than provided by weekly dosing of bought product.

Andrew Cribb


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Put some crushed coral in a filter bag and set it into your filter and it will slowly raise kH. It is not fast acting, and may take a week or so before you see a change. Also, for faster rise, baking soda will work, but must be dosed weekly to hold kH, whereas the coral will hold it indefinitely for you.

Len


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

Baking soda is the easiest method of raising KH. It does not raise GH.

It would behoove you to consider that if KH needs to be raised, then most likely you'll need to raise the GH as well, especially if your water is as soft as Andrew noted. While shells & corals will raise your KH AND GH, they are not easily controlled. Shells/corals will continue to increase KH/GH until spent, a process accelerated by the addition of CO2, that can raise KH/GH much higher than you would expect/desire. There are a plethora of alternatives such as CaCO3 powder & MgSO4.7H2O (Epsom Salt) but for some reason, finding these compounds is difficult for many folks. Good news is that Greg Watson now carries CaMg(CO3)2 powder (dolomite), even though it is labeled as "Calcium Carbonate".

But if you only want to raise KH, then as Len suggested, baking soda would be your best and easiest solution.


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## paul236313 (Jul 23, 2004)

i have a whole box of coral in my atic from my salt water tanks around 30 pieces if i use one of the small pieces and crush it up should i put it the eheim i have room where i put ehisubstrate its a 75 can u give me a idea on how much crushed coral i should put in there and should i put it in a nylon bag
thanks pinenapple i didnt know why my kh was so low compared to everyone else in here when i tested trying using kent kh up i got it too 3degrees


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

I have a ton of pure dolomite. You are welcome to soem if you pay shipping and a very small amout extra. PM me if interested.


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

3 degrees is quite something here... 

I'm cautious about putting things in my cannisters partly because making changes requires opening the machine up and I like to do that only once a year, perhaps twice. I add a limited amount of carbonate material to the substrate usually in a place I can get it out if necessary.

Our water chemistry seems to be very sensitive to additions. If you read the Tropica Master Grow label it says use half the amount prescribed for very soft water. I can attest that it is better to use half with our water.

Andrew Cribb


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## paul236313 (Jul 23, 2004)

Hi pineapple right now i'm using flourish,TMG i will be getting shortly.Does this include my flourish dosing it says 1-2ml for 50gallons.I'm dosing around 2 ml twice a week should i cut back to 2ml a week :?:


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## paul236313 (Jul 23, 2004)

Hello Dennis what is '' pure dolomite'' :?: i'm not familiar with it.I would pay the shipping thanks for the offer.If you can explain to me what it is, and how i should use the pure dolomite would be very helpful..


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

More then you care to know about Dolomite

It will dissolve slowly and raise the kH and gH. Many ways to use it depending on your setup. A layer of it in a canisiter filter, in a porous bag laid in a sump, in same bag in a HOB filter, or even in a Calcium reactor if you really want to burn some money.


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Let's talk solubility for a minute. 
I was thinking about buying some of Greg's Calcium Carbonate. It's in a powder form. I'm thinking, from what I'm reading here, that it would take considerable time for this to dissolve.
Is this correct?

Len


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

Greg Watson's "Calcium Carbonate" is actually calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg(CO3)2 (dolomite). While dolomite is indeed not very soluble, there are things you can do to increase its solubility several folds. If the following precautions are taken, then the cloudiness will dissipate within a couple of hours and all the dolomite grains should dissolve within 24 hours.

(1) Use dolomite in powder form. This increases the surface area for the acids in our tanks to work on.

(2) Premix the dolomite powder in a cup with a LITTLE water. Adding it dry to a tank will result in the dolomite powder sticking together and forming a fine layer of snow on all your plants that will take literally days to completely dissolve.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is just as finicky as dolomite so treat it the same way. CaCl2 is MUCH easier to dissolve. You'll have to add a magnesium source if you're going to use either CaCO3 or CaCl2.

---

It's the price one pays for soft water. :mrgreen:


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks for the feedback.
I do add MgSO4 at this time, and was going to go with CaCl2, but am having a tough time finding it at this time. That's why the interest in the Calcium Carbonate.
I think it's in my best interest to continue the hunt for CaCl2.

Len


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

djlen said:


> I think it's in my best interest to continue the hunt for CaCl2.
> 
> Len


Drug Store can order CaCl2 for you.

Edward


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Thank you Edward.
I will look into that.

Len


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Well, I went to a bunch of pharmacies and not one of them could/would order the stuff for me, especially when I asked for it in power form.
I'm going to wait for the 'Prestone Driveway Heat' to become available in Home Depot. 

Len


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

I am not familiar with NJ's weather patterns, but around here, winter is not due for a couple of months. YAY!!! \/

Why not give dolomite a chance until the Prestone Driveway Heat becomes available? I use dolomite as well as CaCO3, and it's not that big a deal as long as you don't add them dry. Who knows, you may be won over as well. Hehehe.

Seachem Equilibrium is another alternative you may want to look into.


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Yeah, I've got to order some stuff from Greg anyway, so for a buck a lb. 
I'll give it a shot.
I tried SeaChem's EQ and hated the stuff. Seemed like no matter how much I stirred it, it wouldn't dissolve completely. Also, very expensive to dose that way.
The winter here doesn't really start until Nov., but they'll probably start stocking it on the shelves in Sept. or Oct.
But if I like the CaCO3, I may just by-pass it and stick with that.
I want to apologize to Paul for Hi-jacking his thread.

Len


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

CaCL2 can be bought at pool stores, aquaticeco.com etc.
It's also used for air dryers.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

I'll check it out Tom.

Len


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Taste great on sauteed Discus in butter also.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

Tom, I'm going to have to talk to you about your humor.  
You're going to aggravate the Discus keepers in the crowd.

Now I must get back to my little ten gallon where my buddy the Ancistrus has torn up all the newly planted Star Grass that I so diligently planted this morning. And to think, I just recommended them as a great glass cleaner in a planted tank. If he's not careful, I'm going to sauté him and have him as an Hors Devour.

Len


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## TPIRman (Apr 28, 2004)

Now that this is the CaCl2 thread, I thought I'd mention that Kent's "Turbo Calcium" is anhydrous calcium chloride. Rather than begging drugstores, you could just drop by your LFS. It might not be as cheap as the other sources, but it has three advantages IMO:

- Easy to acquire
- No guessing what variety of CaCl2 it is (anhydrous, dihydrous, or hexahydrous)
- High purity (cheaper CaCl2 may be less pure -- copper and phosphates are common impurities)

I like to hunt around for DIY ingredients to keep costs down, but when I began hunting for CaCl2, the easy solution was the most appealing in this case. I wasn't eager to dose driveway de-icer in my tank, and the price wasn't exorbitant anyway.

E.S.V. also makes a calcium chloride supplement for reefers. I'm sure there are others, as Tom said, at aquaticeco.com and the like. Turbo-Calcium was just readily available at my LFS.

Plus, I think Prestone Driveway Heat has been discontinued. Not 100% sure, but a Froogle search turned up this, and there's no trace of the product on Prestone's website.


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

And I went to Aquatic Eco Systems, and found that the smallest quantity I could buy was a 4lb. tub. The price is not bad, but there's enough there for me to hand down to future heirs.  
Also, I'm not sure how fine it is. I'm going to call them and find out.
Meanwhile, I will check out the Kent product and try to determine how viable that is, price-wise.
BTW, the driveway heat has been discontinued on the Prestone site, and anyway, the product is chunk-like in consistency and would have to be ground down for use.
Thanks, for tall the replies on this. I didn't know so many folks would have any interest in this element.

Len


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## cichlidz (Aug 16, 2004)

I work for Zep (chemical company) and we have a product called Super D Ice. It is pellet form Calcium Chloride. I talked to one of our Chemists today and it is pure Calcium Chloride, and will disolve rapidly in water.

I keep it for my driveway year round in the 5 gallon pail size. You guys might want to get ahold of Zep and order some from a local rep or branch.
877-428-9937 will conect you to your local branch. Pobably run ya about $35-$40 for a pail, but you can use it for your walkway this year too!


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

My LFS also carries Kent Liquid Concentrated Calcium, which would be easier to dose, I would think.
Anyone have any experience/comments on this product?

Len


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## TPIRman (Apr 28, 2004)

Kent Liquid Calcium is a stock solution of CaCl2, but Kent refuses to tell hobbyists what the concentration is, for whatever reason. The question has come up on other boards and e-mails/phone calls have been no use. Tough to understand the company's policy in this case.

Anyway, the Turbo Calcium is a better deal for your money, and I'd rather be able to make a stock solution with a known concentration than have to guess at Kent's solution. HTH.


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## Corigan (Mar 15, 2004)

As mentioned by Tom, Aquaticeco, 4 lbs of Calcium Chloride for $9.85+S&H.

Matt


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## djlen (Jun 22, 2004)

That is a good deal, and I may end up going that way, but I was looking at the directions on the Kent Turbo, and unless I mis-read them, you only need a tiny amount to achieve the desired content in a fresh water tank.
Something like 1/8 tsp., I think. 
Do you know how long a 4lb. tub will last at that rate. My great grand children will be handing it down to their children.
I'm really thinking the Turbo is the way to go for me.
Comments?

Len


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