72ppm co2 err (does kh change?)

[zin]

10 gal, i have a small piece of driftwood in there , i boilded it for about a day and a half

its been in the tank for almost 5 months now aswell

without co2 the ph is around 8-8.2

 

[djlen]

Okay, the tannins in some wood can/will effect the results when comparing kH/pH for CO2 ppm. I use drift and bog wood in all my tanks and according to my ppm results, all my fish should have been dead years ago. I have experimented with pushing the envelop just a tad at a time to determine when the fish are affected and so I now know what "ppm" is safe for my fish.

Example: my kH is a steady 3.5 and my pH reads a steady 6.3. The chart tells me that that yields a CO2ppm of approx. 50-55.
This figure is made inaccurate due to the tannins in the wood. I have found that the amount or the inaccuracy is dependent on the amount of wood in the tank. In a 10 gal. tank, it wouldn't take much wood to affect your results.

This, of course is much easier to do with pressurized CO2 that remains stable, than with DIY, but it can be done with DIY if you are observant and careful with bottle changes.



Len

 

[happychem]

And that bag of crushed coral you've suggested on several occasions, fantastic!

Our water here is as soft as it gets, added a bag of crushed coral before starting with a conservative diy CO2 system, nice constant KH for the past few days.

Even a little bit of pearling

 

[got_nailed]

I have a medium size peace of South African drift wood and some California Grape vine and my KH have dropped down to 4 from 9. I’m going to do a few more water changes and see what happens. It time for new carbon anyway. The gray tint is back, witch means I should have soaked it longer. I’m starting to think I will be getting it out soon and letting someone else play with it.