# Looking to Lower GH



## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Just got done testing my water.

Came up with a KH reading of 53.7ppm
And a GH reading of 161ppm

Wondering what I can do to lower the General Hardness?


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Peat moss but you'll have to do some more frequent water changes and recharge the peat moss fairly often with that GH level.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

RO/DI and then make the water what ever you want.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Water softeners and/or water softening pillows for the filter will decrease your gH. It wont affect kH, therefore your pH will remain stable. I'm not much of a fan of these 2 products due to sodium being the main factor. But they are not expensive. If thinking about using any of these read up on how they may affect plants.


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

What types of plants are you going to be growing? You may not even need to mess with it unless you are trying to grow some of the more difficult or sensitive species. Your water is only about 20ppm from being soft...the plants themselves may lower it that much once they start pulling things from the water column. A little driftwood in the tank will help soften the water a bit as well.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

I have grown everything from moss to super hard plants and never had a problem with my very hard tap water.


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Hmm...
I've been trying to keep anubias nana and have not had any success. I had tried both planting the nanas roots in the gravel and attaching the nanas to rocks. They eventually lose their leaves, roots turn yellow and die. I also had zero success with hornwort.
I'm also keeping crypts (spiralis) which are holding their own but not showing any growth, and a sword plant....that has lost everything (stems and larger leaves) the only thing that remains is the sprouting leaves at the base of the plant....the leaves of the sword make it about 2" and die off with new leaves continously sprouting.

Currently dosing with Flourish, Excel, and Potassium. Using root tabs as well.

I was lighting with the coral life double T5 strip at 18 watts each in a 29 gallon. I ended up recieving as a gift a second fixture that is the same...however, I didn't use it knowing that I had enough lighting for the plants I was trying to grow.

I have very recently broke down the 29 gallon and moved the crpts and sword to my 55 and am using both light fixtures above them. Water parimeters are basically the same.

I'm at a loss, thought the hardness could be my problem. 
Who am I kidding...I'm always at a loss with live plants.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

I didnt know anubias could die. Where you getting them from? Sometimes they are grown emersed, and then when you plant them submerged they will die off and then bounce right back. Something else seems like it is wrong. My gh is 200+, and my kh is about the same as yours.


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## SweetRose (Nov 12, 2005)

maknwar said:


> I didnt know anubias could die. Where you getting them from? Sometimes they are grown emersed, and then when you plant them submerged they will die off and then bounce right back. Something else seems like it is wrong. My gh is 200+, and my kh is about the same as yours.


Yeah I was about to say the same thing. Those were the plants I started off with after I killed all my other plants, and they still did great even though I didnt know what I was doing. I agree with maknar, I think something else must be wrong, I used to have rock hard water in the city I used to live in.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Get a ro unit and use it when you do water changes. Just use part ro water and part tap water at a correct ratio untill you find out how much of each you need untill you get your desired results. Other options are water softing pillow and such, but they need to be replaced fairly often and if you have more then one tank your water is probably to hard on all of them and its probaly not worth it to pay for softeners in all your tanks. A ro unit will be a couple hundred, but you can use it on all your tanks and get the gh you want.

I would also ingrease the lighting with the other light you said you have.


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