@jaypeecee You are right to the extent that my experiment didn't completely represent the chemical markup of the tank setup. However:Hi @MichaelJ
That may not have been entirely representative of a tank setup. For example, 'prepped' RO water may be neither acidic nor basic, i.e. its pH may have been very close to 7.0. So, there may not have been any reaction between the 'prepped' RO water and the Eco Complete.
Just my two penn'orth.
JPC
Hi @Marcus_F
It seems that Caribsea Eco Complete is as unpredictable as the British weather! Please take a look at this recent thread:
Perplexed about extreme TDS readings
This is my first post here (Hi!).. and hope I am posting to the right thread. My TDS in both my heavily planted 40g tanks are in the 1500 ppm range, and I do not understand why it is so high. My general readings for both tanks: KH 6-7 GH 8-9 Ph 6.8 - 7.0 Nitrate levels around 20 ppm. Nitrite...www.ukaps.org
JPC
Magnesium Sulphate will increase your GH. If you want to have Mg for plant growth and lower the GH use less tapwater and more 'pure' water.I also mix in Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) into my new water and I'll add that my GH reading of 11 drops was before I mixed this in.
Yes that sounds like a swim bladder infection. Possibly a neurological condition, but that seems unlikely across many fish of different species.It has all the hallmarks of swimmer bladder disorder but then could that be caused by the hard water, I'm not sure.
Hi @Marcus_FIf the test kit is whack and not giving a true reading, it will give the same whack for both tests in theory so the important takeaway is that the difference is 10GH. So even bad test kits can be useful.
@jaypeecee No worries. My mistake not making it clear in my original post how I conducted the experiment (i.e. my use of the Acid Buffer, that I was using at the time, to match tank PH etc.)!