Water Changed

It's Sunday, so it must be water changing day... I removed 3.5 gallons and added back almost 4.0 gallons, as always, I performed some cleaning/removing of dead leafs. For the replacement water, I used a *new* recipe:

• 4.0 gallons of tap water
  
  
• 0.25 teaspoon of SeaChem Acid Buffer
  
  
• 0.5 teaspoon of SeaChem Equilibrium
  
  
• 1.0 ml of SeaChem Flourish
  
  
• 2.0 ml of SeaChem Flourish Excel
  
  
• 0.4 ml of SeaChem Prime
  
  

I collected two samples of water - the replacement water and the existing water before the change. After I finished with the water change and cleaned up the room, I tested the two samples:

Replacement Water Sample

Test	Results
NH3 (ammonia)	0 mg/L
NO2 (nitrite)	0 mg/L
NO3 (nitrate)	0-5 mg/L
CA (calcium)	3 drops = 3*20 = 60 mg/L
PO4 (phosphate)	0 mg/L
FE #1 (toxic iron)	0 mg/L
FE #2 (chelated iron)	0.1-0.25 mg/L
GH (general hardness)	8 drops = 8*20 = 160 ppm = 8.96 dH
KH (carbonate hardness)	6 drops = 6*10 = 60 ppm = 3.36 dCH
pH (low test)	7.0 pH

Yes, that pH is low as compared to what the water in the aquarium will test, but I think that it will be buffered fairly quickly back up to the tank normal. However, I am also hoping that the lower pH will help to drop the overall pH in the aquarium

Pre-Water Change Sample

Test	Results
NH3 (ammonia)	0 mg/L
NO2 (nitrite)	0 mg/L
NO3 (nitrate)	5 mg/L
CA (calcium)	3 drops = 3*20 = 60 mg/L
PO4 (phosphate)	0 mg/L
FE #1 (toxic iron)	0 mg/L
FE #2 (chelated iron)	0 mg/L
GH (general hardness)	7 drops = 7*20 = 140 ppm = 7.84 dH
KH (carbonate hardness)	9 drops = 9*10 = 90 ppm = 5.04 dCH
pH (high test)	8.0 pH

Yep, the pH in the aquarium is as I thought - still high...