Boiled Water

"Douglas Barber" wrote in message
...
I read somewhere that you can soften water by boiling it, and decided
to
do this as an experiment with my well water here in Crisfield, MD
(about
1/2 mile from the Chesapeake Bay).

I'm not sure if the effect is on the gH or the kH, but I've read the same
thing. It's not practical as a routine, but it makes an interesting
experiment.

Before boiling, my water was 10 degrees (not ppm) general hardness,
with
a pH of 7.8. After boiling for about 2 hours and cooling, it was 4.5
degrees general hardness and (this is the part that mystifies me) over
8.8 pH.

I don't have a test kit to measure carbonate hardness.

Well, your gH dropped (indication of less calcium, magnesium etc). Your
pH will probably return to normal with aeration, and if it does, then I
think that you could assume your kH was unchanged, but it would be
interesting to measure the kH to be sure.

Any ideas what's going on here? If I add this water to my aquarium,
which is about 50/50 unboiled well water/distilled water with a net 5
degrees general hardness and pH pretty stable at about 7.8, is it going
to raise the pH of the aquarium by as much as I would intuitively think
it would?

My guess is that it would not effect your pH or kH, but the gH would
average out, but it's just a guess ) Try it with an equal sample of
tank water.

I don't know the mechanism at work when water is softened by boiling, so
the effect may not be permanent, or perhaps it changes state so it does
not register with the test kit and perhaps the fish (?).

NetMax