[gardeners] OT (sort of) Carbonate Hardness in water?
Terry King (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 5 Aug 2001 10:05:58 -0700
Is anyone on the list familiar with the implications of KH (carbonate
hardness) of water? Last week I decided to setup a whiskey barrel pond and
include some goldfish. I have the fish in an aquarium until the pond is
ready. I've been having a h*** of a time balancing the pH. I've finally
figured out that the problem is the carbonate hardness of our water. The KH
is so high (9 dKH or 161.1 ppm) that pH wants to stay around 8.0 and I want
it to be 7.0 (which it is, right out of the tap but becomes more alkaline as
it loses CO2) Even adding a 7.0 buffer is not helping much. Does anyone
know of any tricks besides using deionized water?
Now, I'm also wondering about the implications of carbonate hardness on my
garden soil and plants? It might explain a few things.
Terry (off to boil some water for a partial aquarium water change wondering
how my simple whisky barrel pond became so complicated :-/)
E. WA. zone 4