carbonate hardness

[skipperdz]

how do you raise carbonate hardness. my test kit tells me how to lower it if its high but not how to raise it if its low

[wiszmaster]

Ways to increase kH:
· Adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). One teaspoon of baking soda added to 50 liters of water can raise the kH of the water by approx 4 OdH without a major affect on pH.
· Adding an air stone to increase surface turbulence driving off carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Adding commercially available products to increase buffering capacity

Ways to lower kH
· Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Use reverse osmosis (RO) water. You can mix tap water with reverse osmosis water to achieve the desired kH.
· Adding commercially available products to decrease the buffering capacity.

-> http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

[Hobster]

Here ya go. Anything, everything and maybe more than you ever need to research Chemistry questions. From RC's very own Dr Randy of the Chemistry Forum. While some of the chemistry is the same, Randys articles are geared more towards Marine and Reef.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

:)

[coralfarmer84]

All you need is some buffer (Kent Pro Buffer DKH or other products) you can get them fairly inexpensive at any LFS or you can try the other ways if your a Do it yourselfer. Its not hard to raise KH