Loach:
Again, many of our aquaria species, say cichlids, can live in a nat pH environment of 4.x. That was my point. I am not talking about clown loaches can live in the bottom of ANY ocean <most oceans are salt anyway, so we should be talking about clown fish, not clown loaches...> anyway, often pH doesn't matter to aquaria fish. Most, if not all, can tolerate acidic pH as long as you are heavily planted and enough O2 is available to them. pH does not cause fish to stress...CO2 overdose and lack of O2 and water movement stress fish. When referring to a heavily planted tank, much of the regular fishkeeping rules go out of the window.
I mention a KH of 2 or more, because in a pm, someone had thought that 2 was "borderine: which it is not. Again, I am talking about a heavily planted, CO2 injected tank. Currently we have tanks running with an immeasurable KH <i.e.0 by standard hobbyist test kits> and a pH of 5.3. The Apistos are loving it, and spawning, the Rainbows are doing great, as is the schooling fish, corys, otos, Amanos and Cherrys, and the plants are algae-free and in need of pruning weekly.
Again, what brought this whole experiment on, was Amano's nature tanks, ADA Aquasoil and Co2 injection. The KH in those tanks set in right around zero...again, hobbyist test kits are not sensitive or sophisticated enough to detect a KH so for our purposes it is zero, but all water in nature has some buffering capacity. Anyway, back to Amano's tanks. by nature, Aquasoil is clay-based, and with my nat KH of 2.5 out of the tap, the addition of Aquasoil brings it down to zero. I DO NOT add baking soda or coral or any additives. Someone argued that plants don't grow better in softer water....without any experimentation to base that on. I defy you to fine a more uniform carpet of HC, better Tonina, Limnophila, thicker hairgrass...etc than that grown in Aquasoil, and it automatically makes your
water soft. People spread the "pH crash" terror so rapidly, that many were reluctant to even try this experiment becuse they were afraid of the low pH effect on fish. Again, pH doesn't kill fish...CO2 overdose and lack of O2 can kill fish. Solution? Keep your CO2 20-30 ppm. Watch your plants, look for pearling, observe the fish's behavior. With a proper fert schedult, good CO2, good watermovement, and heavy plant load, you will never have to use a test kit again.
twig:
You are talking GH not KH. The two are very different.
GH is a measure of the calcium and magnesium in your water and KH is a measure of the carbonate level. Your GH level is just fine. Don't do anything. I think the majority of this conversation is based on KH/pH relationship with regards to the injection of CO2 in the water column. As long as you have a measurable GH you are fine. 3-5 is fine. The argument here is whether a KH boost is needed to prevent the dreaded "pH crash" which is really something repeated without knowledge of what it really is or how it affects your environment.The answer IME is no.
Ted:
First, I really need to update those pics because MAN it looks completely different now...lol <for the better> That was more like...grow the plants, play with parms, decide how things are affected...etc. No real scape back then. I will do it soon. As for the plants, I will send them to you np, I will pm you my paypal, and wiil get your shipping address from that.
Eco complete is a good substrate, although it takes a few water changes to stabilize. Soilmaster is another good one.. You can't really go wrong with those. As for kitty litter, it does work for many, but I warn you, it is very light, so when you plant, it is a nightmare. If you decide later to change, nothing is worse then digging out bags of wet cat litter from your tank. I would advise against that. As for your present quartz, it will be fine. As long as you some sort of root tab for your swords and such, and get on a real fert schedule, you should have enough nourshment, coupled with the carbon, to maintain a planted tank. One step at a time. I advise that you do the light, CO2 and ferts at the same time to avoid an algal bloom.
Again, many of our aquaria species, say cichlids, can live in a nat pH environment of 4.x. That was my point. I am not talking about clown loaches can live in the bottom of ANY ocean <most oceans are salt anyway, so we should be talking about clown fish, not clown loaches...> anyway, often pH doesn't matter to aquaria fish. Most, if not all, can tolerate acidic pH as long as you are heavily planted and enough O2 is available to them. pH does not cause fish to stress...CO2 overdose and lack of O2 and water movement stress fish. When referring to a heavily planted tank, much of the regular fishkeeping rules go out of the window.
I mention a KH of 2 or more, because in a pm, someone had thought that 2 was "borderine: which it is not. Again, I am talking about a heavily planted, CO2 injected tank. Currently we have tanks running with an immeasurable KH <i.e.0 by standard hobbyist test kits> and a pH of 5.3. The Apistos are loving it, and spawning, the Rainbows are doing great, as is the schooling fish, corys, otos, Amanos and Cherrys, and the plants are algae-free and in need of pruning weekly.
Again, what brought this whole experiment on, was Amano's nature tanks, ADA Aquasoil and Co2 injection. The KH in those tanks set in right around zero...again, hobbyist test kits are not sensitive or sophisticated enough to detect a KH so for our purposes it is zero, but all water in nature has some buffering capacity. Anyway, back to Amano's tanks. by nature, Aquasoil is clay-based, and with my nat KH of 2.5 out of the tap, the addition of Aquasoil brings it down to zero. I DO NOT add baking soda or coral or any additives. Someone argued that plants don't grow better in softer water....without any experimentation to base that on. I defy you to fine a more uniform carpet of HC, better Tonina, Limnophila, thicker hairgrass...etc than that grown in Aquasoil, and it automatically makes your
water soft. People spread the "pH crash" terror so rapidly, that many were reluctant to even try this experiment becuse they were afraid of the low pH effect on fish. Again, pH doesn't kill fish...CO2 overdose and lack of O2 can kill fish. Solution? Keep your CO2 20-30 ppm. Watch your plants, look for pearling, observe the fish's behavior. With a proper fert schedult, good CO2, good watermovement, and heavy plant load, you will never have to use a test kit again.
twig:
You are talking GH not KH. The two are very different.
GH is a measure of the calcium and magnesium in your water and KH is a measure of the carbonate level. Your GH level is just fine. Don't do anything. I think the majority of this conversation is based on KH/pH relationship with regards to the injection of CO2 in the water column. As long as you have a measurable GH you are fine. 3-5 is fine. The argument here is whether a KH boost is needed to prevent the dreaded "pH crash" which is really something repeated without knowledge of what it really is or how it affects your environment.The answer IME is no.
Ted:
First, I really need to update those pics because MAN it looks completely different now...lol <for the better> That was more like...grow the plants, play with parms, decide how things are affected...etc. No real scape back then. I will do it soon. As for the plants, I will send them to you np, I will pm you my paypal, and wiil get your shipping address from that.
Eco complete is a good substrate, although it takes a few water changes to stabilize. Soilmaster is another good one.. You can't really go wrong with those. As for kitty litter, it does work for many, but I warn you, it is very light, so when you plant, it is a nightmare. If you decide later to change, nothing is worse then digging out bags of wet cat litter from your tank. I would advise against that. As for your present quartz, it will be fine. As long as you some sort of root tab for your swords and such, and get on a real fert schedule, you should have enough nourshment, coupled with the carbon, to maintain a planted tank. One step at a time. I advise that you do the light, CO2 and ferts at the same time to avoid an algal bloom.
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