I posted a while ago that my 29g tank had a high pH and a low GH and KH. The pH is at 8.0 and the GH and KH are both at 40mg/l.
I would really like to get this pH down somewhere closer to 7.0 or even 7.5 but I'm terrified of messing with it since the KH is so low. I haven't even put driftwood in there for the clown pleco because I'm worried the tannins in the wood would drop the pH and the low KH would allow a crash.
RTR suggested that maybe I had too much surface agitiation and that, coupled with a lot of plants, was causing these numbers. I had a Fluval 204 and a Penguin 125 on the tank. The penguin was removed a week and a half ago and as of last night (4 days since last water change) the readings were the same.
Water from the tap tests the same for KH. I didn't check it for pH but my new 10g puffer tank (set up for a week and a half) yields the same test results as the 29g across the board.
There is no driftwood, crushed coral, or other buffering material in the tanks. Both tanks are heavily planted. In fact, even dosing 5ml of Flourish twice a week, the 29g still showed 0 nitrates last night.
I'm a big believer in adding as little as possible to the water to affect the chemistry but I fear the low buffer of this water. I know I could add peat moss or even a piece of driftwood to lower the pH but I am definitely fearful of making to drastic a move and crashing the tank. I've thought about adding crushed coral to the filter but then I'm worried about the pH rising even higher.
Any thought on how to get this buffer up and pH down would be appreciated. I'm not so great at this chemistry stuff.
Readings:
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 0
pH: 8.0 (hard to read with teh test kit so that could actually be 8.2!)
GH: 40mg/l
KH: 40mg/l
The readings are the same for both the 10 and 29g tanks.
Tom
I would really like to get this pH down somewhere closer to 7.0 or even 7.5 but I'm terrified of messing with it since the KH is so low. I haven't even put driftwood in there for the clown pleco because I'm worried the tannins in the wood would drop the pH and the low KH would allow a crash.
RTR suggested that maybe I had too much surface agitiation and that, coupled with a lot of plants, was causing these numbers. I had a Fluval 204 and a Penguin 125 on the tank. The penguin was removed a week and a half ago and as of last night (4 days since last water change) the readings were the same.
Water from the tap tests the same for KH. I didn't check it for pH but my new 10g puffer tank (set up for a week and a half) yields the same test results as the 29g across the board.
There is no driftwood, crushed coral, or other buffering material in the tanks. Both tanks are heavily planted. In fact, even dosing 5ml of Flourish twice a week, the 29g still showed 0 nitrates last night.
I'm a big believer in adding as little as possible to the water to affect the chemistry but I fear the low buffer of this water. I know I could add peat moss or even a piece of driftwood to lower the pH but I am definitely fearful of making to drastic a move and crashing the tank. I've thought about adding crushed coral to the filter but then I'm worried about the pH rising even higher.
Any thought on how to get this buffer up and pH down would be appreciated. I'm not so great at this chemistry stuff.
Readings:
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 0
pH: 8.0 (hard to read with teh test kit so that could actually be 8.2!)
GH: 40mg/l
KH: 40mg/l
The readings are the same for both the 10 and 29g tanks.
Tom