Controlling pH with DIY CO2?

My pH was 6.0 or below with a KH of 3 or 2

I added a golf ball size of Tufa rock broken up into 8 pieces and added it into my filter. 2 weeks or so later my PH was at 6.8 and my KH went up to about 4.
I unplug the power head diffuser at night.
My Val's would grow about a 1" or so a day and the black beard algae about 1/4" per day...

My fish at pH 6.0 or below they don't really swim around the tank, at 6.5 they do fine and are active as normal.

That's my experience.

Get a pH low range test kit, encase you go to 6.0 pH you can see if it's actually lower than what the standard test can read.
 
Thanks for all the useful info as always. If I add a power filter to agitate the surface will that help the pH to remain more stable or will that defeat the purpose of the CO2? If I could completely turn the CO2 off at night I would but all I can do is cut it down so there are only single micro bubbles about 2 per second. Now here is my other question: Can too much CO2 be harmful to plants (no fish/inverts. in the tank, I know I'm going to kick myself for asking this)?
 
The pH doesn't need to remain stable. Better to keep the CO2 going during the day and off at night.

Turning it off at night can be accomplished by sticking a two way valve on the input tube, with one exit going to the outside world. Just switch to this exit at night.
 
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