Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hey all i am wondering if there is anything out there that i can use to raise my KH other than wat the fish shopd sell as its bloody expensive.

My KH is currently 20ppm

This may help you-


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbonate

Agricultural lime should cost much less than the aquarium stuff.

Also-



quoted from this site-

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/alkalinity.html#0

I agree with the above quote for the same reasons explained on the site.

Hope this helps you or someone out.

Why do you think you need to alter your "kH".....carbonate hardness.... what's your pH?

Most people don't even have to worry about their "kH"....... they just address the pH... and if the kH is high due to the inclusion of a carbonate buffer...like calcium carbonate... then it will become self-modulating within the AP process

Then there's gH.... genral hardness.... again not usually a problem....

You'd really have to understand your pH and the relationship between them all....

In AP I don't think anybody really ever worries about kH... not as such

In pond aquaculture it can a problem that requires attention... usually to moderate pH swings resulting from algae bloom

Monitored more closely in grow-out systems with prawns, yabbies... crustaceans ... particularly when moulting

As JD says... should probably filed in the darkest corners of the museum of antiquated and mis-understood terms...

There's a section on the forum somewhere that discussed it.... maybe a lot of the older stuff hasn't been archived back yet.

FYI ... http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/waterchemistry.htm

I could be wrong but raising KH could be done by adding just about any source of calcium carbonate right?

Steve has written a post in useful information about alkalinity and hardness and pH which could be useful for you.

Quickly, some inexpensive sources of calcium carbonate include;
shell grit (get from a feed store often used for chickens)
Oyster shells
Shells
Egg shells
limestone

Many people put a mesh bag of shell grit or oyster shells in their sump tank. I've actually used a mix of washed shells and river rock as my grow bed media. This is actually buffering my pH to 7.6 which is a little high for iron uptake but is good for the Nitrogen cycle.

Ahh, thanks TCL.... here they are.... and there's lots more throught other threads...

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=586

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2852

my ph is around 7-7.2

perfect

so 20ppm KH is fine

i thought it had to be around 60-100ppm to stop ph from cashing or is that a myth??

ph is perfect.

never was too worried about KH, just add crushed shells to your system. Ph will ever drop below 7.2 to 7.4. may not show a big increase in KH as they are fairly insoluble.

tried and true for the lazy AP'er

cheers

wat shells do i look for n where do i get em??

if you can get to a produce shop or stock feed shop, they should sell shell grit for poultry. Get some of that and dump it in your sump or top up drum

or go for long walks on the beach

thanx Jaymie



beach is a little too far from me unless i wait till next week so the salmon are running

Mods, the two links in Rupert's postdon't work, because it says ../phpbb/.. instead of ../forum/.. in the address.
(This must have happened when we changed temporarily to another 'forum' when the current one crashed once.)

If you correct the broken links, please delete this post too.
Thanks in advance selfless mods!