Controlling pH with DIY CO2?
- Thread starter spunjin
- Start date
with diy its tough luck.. either accept a ph drop or dont run the setup. Something i learned and kinda stopped caring about after a while. With diy the ph drop isnt drastic and from what people told me its different than say adding tannic acid and having it drop that way.
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
Fish will adapt to the ph change, if it is slow enough and not extremely off. (Between 6 and 8 is fine) So I wouldn't worry about it. 
Fish will adapt to the ph change, if it is slow enough and not extremely off. (Between 6 and 8 is fine) So I wouldn't worry about it.
Also remember that this ph change may be affected also by the hardness of water. I have soft water so out the tap its 7.0-7.4 but once i had diy co2 in there it dropped to 5.2 . Fish were fine and plants were better
So, Bk, you are saying that pH just has to be monitored all the time and that the fish will just adjust to acidic water? My tap is about 7.4 and the KH is about 300ppm. I am starting to use half RO and half treated tap.
Is there a way to regulate the CO2 input?
Is there a way to regulate the CO2 input?
regulating diy will just make it a waste of co2 and may cause algae issues. Its diy just set it up and forget about it for a good 3 weeks.
I have very soft water here in NYC thats why i get such a drop in pH.
With yours you probably wont see a big drop since your tap will buffer it out slightly. I would say with diy co2 if diffused correctly your ph will be about 6.5-6.8. I wouldnt use RO water since that will give a greater drop since it has 0 buffer capacity
pH of 6.5-6.8 is fine and will work for most fish.
I have very soft water here in NYC thats why i get such a drop in pH.
With yours you probably wont see a big drop since your tap will buffer it out slightly. I would say with diy co2 if diffused correctly your ph will be about 6.5-6.8. I wouldnt use RO water since that will give a greater drop since it has 0 buffer capacity
pH of 6.5-6.8 is fine and will work for most fish.
PH Changes due to CO2 won't affect your fish...the only thing you have to worry about is putting more then like 50-60ppm (I think that was the figure) of CO2 in your water...suffocating your fish...which is nearly impossible to do in a DIY system.
Fish barely care about pH. It's given far too much importance. All the evidence, both scientific and anecdotal, is that damage attributed to pH changes is actually due to osmotic changes. Since adding CO2 doesn't change the osmotic potential of the water, it's a matter of complete indifference to the fish. My quarantine tank runs nearly a full pH point higher than my planted display tank. I drip acclimate because of temperature differences, but the fish still go from pH 7.6 to pH 6.8 in a matter of half an hour with no ill effects. Many experienced fishkeepers report much bigger tolerated changes, as long as there isn't a large associated TDS (total dissolved solids) shift.
1 - The pH drop from CO2 doesn't bother the fish. Mine rises and falls everyday... my co2 is turned off at night.
2 - You're very unlikely to OD your tank with co2. I had 3 bottles (2L bottles) going into my 29g and never could get enough co2 in with diy.
If you want to control how fast co2 is coming from your bottle, adjust the amount of yeast you add to your mixture and how many bottles you're using on the tank. If you use more than one, stagger the days you refill them.
2 - You're very unlikely to OD your tank with co2. I had 3 bottles (2L bottles) going into my 29g and never could get enough co2 in with diy.
If you want to control how fast co2 is coming from your bottle, adjust the amount of yeast you add to your mixture and how many bottles you're using on the tank. If you use more than one, stagger the days you refill them.
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