How to raise TDS without raising kH

[amgarbes]

I have a water issue I am trying to fix.  My water is naturally hard.  When I test out of the tap I get 9 kH and 8 gH and a TDS of approx 160 ish depending on the amount of rain we get.  So I mix RO water with my well water to try to balance that out.  But now I have the problem that it makes my TDS way too low for the shrimp so when I added more well water it made my kH and gH go up.  So I thought I would test a bottle of local spring water that has a TDS close to 200 and thought I could mix that with my RO water.  I did a test and gH was 1 or less but the kH was sky high. So that idea will not work since I don't want to drop my gH any more than what it is.  I just want my kH to go down.  So if I was to do something with the RO water to bring down the kH and gH from my well by  mixing them, what can I add to keep my TDS over 100.  

Or do you guys have a better suggestion?  I'm open to better ideas!

[jayc]

What you need is RO remineralising product that uses sulphates instead of carbonates.

See my RO diy mix formula in Water Paramerters section.

Alternatively, you can buy Salty Shrimp GH+. That will maintain TDS and GH, but will not change KH.

 

 

[amgarbes]

Thanks that is what I came to as well.  I placed an order to bring some in.  There is nothing here locally for things like this.  So it will take a few days to get here.  

Should I do a small water change and put in more RO?  I'm worried my gH and TDS will get too low.  Or can they handle a kH that is up around 8 for a few more days.

[Kaylenna]

14 hours ago, amgarbes said:

Thanks that is what I came to as well.  I placed an order to bring some in.  There is nothing here locally for things like this.  So it will take a few days to get here.  

Should I do a small water change and put in more RO?  I'm worried my gH and TDS will get too low.  Or can they handle a kH that is up around 8 for a few more days.

I suspect they'll be fine at that KH for a bit.  I've seen plenty of sources that say those numbers are on the high end, but still within an acceptable range for Cherry shrimps at least (not sure about what you have).  I think the biggest issue with high KH is that you'd have a very tough time adjusting the pH, should you need to.

[amgarbes]

Thank you  :)  I feel a bit more at ease now.  I have carbon rili and caridina longirostris.  I lost 1 carbon and 3 of the others in my first week.  But since the last 1 died a few days ago, the rest seem better adjusted.  

[ageofaquariums]

gh is the amount of magnesium and calcium ions in the water

kh is the amount of carbonate ions in the water

follow me on this

adding calcium chloride will raise gh but not kh

adding sodium bicarbonate will raise kh but not gh

adding sodium chloride will raise neither.

Adding magnesium sulphate will raise gh.

Kh provides ph buffering