Alkalinity problems?

Just curious if anyone has ever had a problem with high alkalinity? My
tester only reads up to 240ppm, and it's way past that, which accounts for
my high pH, but besides high pH, has anyone ever had any other problems?
I've heard of problems with plants and some fish, most was directed toward
the pH levels involved, but that was about it.

Cheers

I have. I bought an RO unit so I could manage my environments better.
Since getting into RO and after buying a conductivity meter I focus a
lot less on pH and a lot more on the conductivity.

At sears in the water treatment department, they sell a Hanna TDS meter
for about $20. Its says TDS, but really its conductivity. That meter
will be a good investment.

For a while I bought RO water from the grocery store for a 20 gallon
long Apisto tank. I paid about $180 for a 80 gallon per day RO unit.
It produces about 60 gpd at my city waters temp. For me, it was a great
thing, but I have a basement with plenty of room for all the gear and
storage containers.

Once you understand your water conditions you can decide if it meets
your needs or if you need to alter your choice of fish types.



"D&M" wrote in message
...
Just curious if anyone has ever had a problem with high alkalinity? My
tester only reads up to 240ppm, and it's way past that, which accounts
for
my high pH, but besides high pH, has anyone ever had any other
problems?
I've heard of problems with plants and some fish, most was directed
toward
the pH levels involved, but that was about it.

Cheers

"D&M" wrote in message
...
Just curious if anyone has ever had a problem with high alkalinity? My
tester only reads up to 240ppm, and it's way past that, which accounts
for
my high pH, but besides high pH, has anyone ever had any other
problems?
I've heard of problems with plants and some fish, most was directed
toward
the pH levels involved, but that was about it.

Cheers

kH is usually equal or lower than gH, so knowing your gH could be more
important. You can offset your tester's threshold by diluting your
mixture. Cut your water sample in half using RO (or distilled water) and
repeat the test, or switch to a titration test. A concentration of
240ppm is only 13dkH, which is not terribly high, but typical for many
wells.

I've often read that kH does not affect fish (I'm not entirely
convinced). There have been discussions on whether certain fishes might
be kH susceptible (like Neons and Otos which exhibit a fragility which is
difficult to explain sometimes). I've never seen anything conclusive.
The biggest legitimate concerns are if the kH is lower than 4 or 5dkH
(making the water more prone to pH instability) and if the kH is high
(making the water difficult to acidify). Other than that, our attention
is usually on the pH & gH.

NetMax