Salt

One of the issues that has always stopped me from using Aqua Soil is that I use RO water and remineralize it with calcium carbonate and potassium bicarbonate.

Since Aqua Soil pulls these compounds out of the water column, then it's hard for me to know what levels to remineralize to. For example, if I want the water around GH 100 ppm as CaCO3, and KH 80 ppm as CaCO3, how much more CaCO3/KHCO3 should I have to add to compensate for the Aqua Soil's effect?

Please, don't turn this into a "why would you want to use RO water" debate, I'm looking for people who have experience and/or experimented with this.

ianiwane

The problem is with this is that aquasoil itself does lower the kH and gH but at a slow rate. It does this over a period of a couple weeks. If you were using aquasoil/powersand it will lower the kH and gH a lot quicker. But the effect will be lost over time. The only real way to do it is by a lot of testing. With that being said unless you are fond of testing every couple of days to get the kH at the right level you may want to reconsider your plan.

dennis

The way I see it, if you start with water that is already at "good" levels then the effects of the ADA should not matter. One of the whole points of the Aquasoil/PS is their softening effect. Therefor, logically I would think if you started with reasonable water you would be fine. I would suggest that you reconstitute to moderate levels, say kH of 4-6 and Gh of 6-9 and don't worry about the effects of the AS/PS to much.

On the other hand, your fancy pants CO2 setup my require a consistant kH? If you control by pH, and hence a consistance kH, yo may have to change over to simply injecting CO2 at a steady flow rate, starting low and tinkering with it until you have enough CO2.

Salt

Sounds good... I don't have plans to try it in the immediate future, but eventually I will.

???!!!

If this comment is directed at the fact that I am using a flow controller for CO2 and it's expensive, then I would surmise that you are in the wrong forum, as ADA equipment is itself expensive!

Geez, I can't believe the hostility I get when I share some of the equipment and techniques I use, and said equipment is expensive. It really seem to touch a soft spot with a lot of people. But those same people love ADA? I don't get it.

And your statement makes no sense at all... the controller will insure that the bubble rate NEVER goes higher than what I set the flow rate, thus you can use low KH levels without worry of too much CO2 getting into the system.

ianiwane

I agree, with Dennis. Trying to keep your kH stable at all times with aquasoil is gonna be really hard. Reconstitute to 4 and let the aquasoil do its buffering.

dennis

Salt,

That was not a bash at you or at your setup. In your other thread I mentiond how I felt it was cool and that I wanted to know more about it. I apologize if my comment was taken as harsh. I honestly meant it as a bit of levity but I realize it did not read that way. It certainly was not a jab at you or at the expense of your setup and as I posted before, I would love to learn for your experience. I can't afford it but that does not mean I think ill of you. I would love to control my CO2 as precisely as you do and literally have layed awake nights trying to think of a way within my means. For now, I will settle with regulating vicariously through you.

No hostility intended at all!

As for the controller statement... I assumed two things, obviously both incorrectly. First, I figured that if you had a flow controller like that then you would also be regulating it through a high tech controller or maybe some kind of X10 PC stuff that I know little about. Reading through the link you provided earlier, I surmised that with all the info about output monitering, controller options, readouts, outputs, etc I assumed there was more to the setup than just the flow meter itself. I don't know though and that was what my first question was intended to ask. I guess my question should of been, "can the flow controller function alone or does it need further monitering or controlling and thus, a stable kH?"

I guess it is a stand along device in your case and that the kH is unimportant to it. So, your setup should work fine in that regard.

As for the reconstitution part, why do you want to target such specific levels in the water column? Not why would you want to but a scientific discussion as to your reasons. I am very curious! My impressions with the ADA soil is that its designed for people who know squat about chemistry to grow healthy plants real easy. "Use our soil, add a squirt of this, but we won't say whats in it, and your plants will flourish." That is not an ADA bash but my point is that people way less interested or educated than you have no problems using ADA stuff. It is kind of fool proof in a way. Therefor, I suggested to reconstitute to a moderate kH and Gh and not worry about it. ADA soil seems geared toward plant growth almost entirely from the substrate, initially at least and there for the kH/Gh of the water column should make littl edifference since all the goodies get bound into the substrate anyway.

I am willing to bet you will monitor everything well though and I look forward to reading your observations if you try the Aquasoil. Also, I really look forward to reading about your setup in general.

rbittman

I don't know if this is going to be helpful, but I live in Davis, CA where the tap water is extremely hard, ppm around 800, and pH around 8.5. So, I use R/O water and add some tap to it at a ratio of about 1/4 or 1/5 at water changes. I use Aquasoil and Powersand and the tank is fairly new (up for 2 months now). The pH is 6.0 and the KH about 3-4, which seems fine to me, the fish and the plants so far.

So, diluting tap with R/O seems like a reasonable way to do things (as opposed to reconstituting with Equilibrium or whatever).

Hope this helps.
Roxanne