You can change pH by adding acid (lower) or by adding KH (higher). Tannins and HCl are both examples of adding acids. so Ph goes lower. Alkalinity will be reduced, because you lowered pH by adding acid and it consumed some KH.
There are various ways - the water company adds something that raises ph to protect pipes but it gasses off - that's why if you set the water out in a cup for a day or two the ph changes. There are other additives but not sure of long term effects - of course you can add various acids to your water but if the kh is high not sure if it has much effect. I'm not an expert here on the impact of kh on ions which determine the acidic nature of the water or at least the stability of the acidic nature. I've had it explained a few times and it sort of floats in and back out. Also I'm not sure what the water company adds to raise the ph and why it dissipate over time.
bit of both - i will presume it has enough micro that i can just add a little more micro but not a whole lot.
You really should try to be more specific than this line of thinking. We've given you the tools to properly determine what you need to add, how to measure it, etc... I wouldnt start going backwards by estimating things.
The jar sez it contains mircomix with the FE.
Because when i look at the scales et all - it seems very difficult to make and dose a correct amount of micro to around 1100 gallons of water on a weekly basis - i think can get pretty close to macro by using tbs and putting labels on the tuffleware; but to mix my own micro would require (unless i missed something); a whole new can of worms of constant micro mixing with a gram scale. When i looked at the label for gla fe it seems like it contained most of the micro in a premix can - how they make sure you get even distribution i'm not sure though i can speculate.
This is exactly the issue with pre-mixes... they don't.
But i am doing that; the fe sold on gla includes the micro mix so i will dose around what they recommend. If the plants go south i will evaluate and re-think. Part of the issue is i think the reason my plants do well is because of the frequent water change and the hardness of my tap water (gh 7/tds 120) as i currently dose around 1/4 of what most people on this forum recommend but don't have any obvious issues; naturally things will get tricker after i move as not only will the tanks be larger but i will be making hte water 30 to 60 percent softer via diluting tap with ro water. Also for the two large aquariums i will be using a drip system (approx 1.5 gallons per hour or 250 gallons a week).
I was referring to the comment you made above:
The reason i was going to buy gla fe micro mix was because it is a solid and per dosage a lot cheaper than buying a liquid. The issue is i'm currently dosing ~170 gallons (120,40,29,29); I don't think it is economically substainable to dose the much larger aquariums with the liquid i buy - that was why i created this thread. My understand is gla fe is essentally the micro mixed in solid form.
Is the same stuff you linked earlier:
greenleafaquariums.com
Is the same stuff you linked earlier:
GLA Micros II - Micromix: DTPA & EDTA Chelated Micronutrient Blend (Copper-Free) - 0.5lb Jar
Green Leaf Aquariums Micros II is a copper-free DTPA & EDTA micromix formulated for shrimp tanks. Provides essential trace elements for planted aquariums.
(if you read the jar inaddition to iron it includes mn,zn, cu, boron, mo); to be honest i'm not even sure if i need iron since none of my plants have yellow disease. My only complaint is have two plants that should be more red than they are (mermaid weed and Blyxa novo which should be a solid orange but is instead a decent green; but these might be light issue rather than nutrient issue.
