KH adjustment needed

[Garhan]

I have a question on adjusting KH. But there is a catch. In our city the tap water usually runs at a 7-9 KH depending on the season. We get our water supply from the local river that is Glacier and runoff fed from the Rocky Mountains. So for the most part our water is very hard to hard all year long. Without using R/O water is there a good and reasonable way of adjust the KH to a 4 or 5 degree for my planted tanks? This would also need to be relatively problem free in the tank so as to not create compound issues in the tank....i.e algae, etc...

[Anti-Pjerrot]

I would be happy to have 7-9kH in my tab. I got 15-16 dkH and 20dGH.

Peat in the filter could lower kH a bit.

[Nabobmob]

I filter through peat and it lowers the Kh very well IMO. Peat Pellets are easiest to work with, however can be quite pricey.


The best prices I've found is buying the Laugana Pond peat.
Pond Chemical Filtration Media & Water Softening: Laguna Peat Granules

It's 4.4 lbs for $15 vs the Fluval Keta or tetra boxes that are 10-20$ for 14-25oz containers.

Put it in a Filter saver bag or nylon stocking and put in your filter where you would put the activated carbon. I even open the Whisper filter bags and add some to those in my nano tanks.

Good luck

Last minute note: it will stain your water brown

[Garhan]

Thanks folks.

[Dave66]

With the liquid concrete that comes out of my tap, I use an RO/DI unit to make it suitable for the plants and fish I keep. I mix RO/DI 70 percent to 30 percent tap, giving me pH 6.8, gh 4 to six, depending on the time of the year. I use straight RO/DI for top off.

Dave