Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

just for those of you that may have the same questions
according to Dr Nate of Uptsart University, the lower safety values of Ca without doing any mess are from 40 ppm to 75 ppm. the hi values on the danger side are from 120 to 150 ppm
that means you can have Ca from 40 ppm to 120 ppm and be safe
under 40 ppm you can have Ca deficiency and after 120 ppm there is a chance of nutrient lock
so my 75 ppm of Ca are ok!!

regarding K and Mg, is hard to find solid information. all i have found is the general rule of maintaining K, Ca and Mg from 40 to 70 and K from 40 to 100

But if I want to run a 3-2-1 ..
should I shoot to
K - 110 to 120?
Ca- 70-75?
Mg - 30 - 40?

why I am concerned, my PH still getting low to 6.0 or lower every week
If I dose with CaCo3 and K2Co3, I am back to a PH of 6.4 to 6.6
but, if I continue supplementing with carbonates to raise PH, is there a chance to get Ca and K to the hi dangerous side?
what is the hi dangerous side of K? I need to now to avoid K toxicity
On the other hand, I have read of people commenting they read in other place about commercial aquaponics running K at 200 to 400ppm!!! because of the continues use of K2Co3 to raise PH
If that is true, then, there is nothing to worry about

I think I am going to still supplementing CaCo3, K2Co3 and MgS more or less the way I am doing it using hydroboddy to supplement less than 10 ppms of each at a the same time watching out to keep more or less these values in the system water.
K-100 to 150
Ca - 70 to 80
Mg - 30 to 40


new question, do water softeners may have something to do with the low PH?