Plants not happy - please help!

[billiemackers]

Hi all, You can convert the hardness in degrees Clark values (from your water report) into hardness degrees German (dGH).

Your water has about 3dGH, and we can assume that is nearly all from CaCO3, so dKH will also be ~3dKH

The calculation is a bit strange, but details are in <"How do I work out..">.

cheers Darrel

Great, thanks!

 

[billiemackers]

I'm getting pretty bogged down with all of this water chemistry info

Do any commercially available test kits give accurate GH and KH readings? If I do try to up the hardness of my water a little, I'd like to be able to keep a tab on things as I do so. I feel like this is becoming more complicated than it needs to be!

 

[billiemackers]

Taken from aquariumcalculators.com

Whilst trying to figure out how much MgSO4 to add when creating a stock solution, I realised that the ppm reading between the calculators are different. Am I missing something here / doing something wrong?

Using the EI calculator:

Using the stock solution calculator

So, all of the inputs are the same (30l tank, 5ml doses, 500ml stock solution) and assuming that i multiply the "PPM added to your tank" values in the above image by 3 (3 doses per week) I should get the same readouts as with the EI calculator, but this isn't the case.

For example

Potassium: 6.06 x 3 = 18.18ppm, per week.

The first calculator comes out at 36ppm per week - so what's the difference? It should be the same!?

I'm just trying to figure out how much MgSO4 to add to my fertiliser without skewing the other nutrient values!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Do any commercially available test kits give accurate GH and KH readings?

The dKH test is reasonably accurate, with the proviso that it measures alkalinity (all the bases), rather than just carbonate hardness. The dGH "test" just assumes that the carbonate hardness is equivalent to the alkalinity and then that all the alkalinity comes from calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

Whilst trying to figure out how much MgSO4

In use magnesium sulphate will always be "Epsom Salts" (MgSO4.7H2O), this means that is is only ~10% Mg.

cheers Darrel

 

[billiemackers]

Hi all, The dKH test is reasonably accurate, with the proviso that it measures alkalinity (all the bases), rather than just carbonate hardness. The dGH "test" just assumes that the carbonate hardness is equivalent to the alkalinity and then that all the alkalinity comes from calcium carbonate (CaCO3). In use magnesium sulphate will always be "Epsom Salts" (MgSO4.7H2O), this means that is is only ~10% Mg.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrel,

I'd like to make a GH booster to add at weekly water change for increase GH to around 5 or 6. In my case would making up a solution of just MgSO4 and adding the desired amount work or would this bump up the sulphur levels too much?

For example, for +1dGH (from rotalabutterfly)

Or is it more favourable to have a solution which contains more Ca for example?