Daveedka the terrible

Can you provide some more info on the impact driftwood will have on KH and pH? I understand they'll go down due to acids in the wood, but is this continual or only until the acids are used up (is that possible? or does the wood rot at that point?), or...? Will the water changes mentioned help keep the water stable (assuming one has a high KH in one's tap water), or...?
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As general rules go, driftwood will only leach for a little while and then pretty much has no effect from then on. Different types of wood will leach more or less tannins than other types. As mentioned boiling and soaking will usually get the bulk of the tannins out and what remains and leaches into your tank can be removed via water changes or carbon. My experience has shown that the harder driftwoods leach less and softer wood more, but I do not know that to be a fact as I haven't tried every type of driftwood out there. Either way driftwoods effect is temparary and dwindles in time just as you have heard. if you are worried about the effect or it is a bigger effect than you want then crushed coral in the filter will counteract it nicely.

The water from my tap comes out with these readings.....

GH-40ppm
KH-60 mg/l
PH-7.8

I had no idea what any of that meant for my plants....not worried about the fish, they all do very well with my water it seems....but I wanted to know about the CO2 thing and KH.....found out that my water holds very little CO2 for my plants. I have been dosing with florish excel, but am wondering if that's enough given those readings.
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wow Your water is softer than mine. Excell of course doesn't effect Kh and will provide carbon well. If you plan to inject co2 your Kh is probably high enough. The thing you will want to watch for IMHO would be calcium and magnesium defeciencies in your plants. I had the unfortunate situation of not using enriched substrates, and everyone else I know around here is using enriched. Everyone has trouble with Ca abd Mg but I had more trouble since I got nothing from the substrate. I am uncertain how big this difference is or how long the enriched substrates will hide the water defeciencies, but everyone I know on my water supply has had to add Ca and Mg to get good growth.

dave
 
Thanks Dave ! I just started adding "Flourish" to the tanks as well..the first dose went in on Tues this week. The label says it adds calcium and magnesium along with some other elements......I'm going to guess it should be enough to start with. I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in the plants yet though......the only thing is, I'm not sure how often I should dose with the flourish...the bottle says once or twice a week. :huh:

Thanks for all your help !! :D
 
Thanks for all the great info dave. I really hope you don't mind me calling on you like this, but it is obvious you have the answers and are willing to share them. I eagerly await the article so I can learn the fine details.
 
Request For Fishy:

Can we change the topic to something more appropriate, like "pH: Your Fish Can't Read"?

Heh
Roan
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Unfortunately Roan Art, Changing thread title's is not something the poster can do. I tried this once, I'm not sure if the mods can but that's up to fishy anyhow. Either way the thread title caught my eye which was of course the intent. I got a good chuckle even before opening the thread. If you wonder where "Daveedka the Terrible' came from check the GCC thread entitled "explain your username"

Thanks for all the great info dave. I really hope you don't mind me calling on you like this, but it is obvious you have the answers and are willing to share them. I eagerly await the article so I can learn the fine details.
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I do not mind at all being called upon. Many folks here and elswhere have always been willing to share what they know and it would be borderline on criminal to not do the same for others when and If I can (at least in my mind).

I am currently in the editing stages of a massive article on another subject. I'll probably drop that bomb on the boards this weekend, and then plan to get serious about the Ph article. my guess is sometime around Christmas if I get a meter soon.

Dave
 
daveedka said:
Unfortunately Roan Art, Changing thread title's is not something the poster can do. I tried this once, I'm not sure if the mods can but that's up to fishy anyhow. Either way the thread title caught my eye which was of course the intent. I got a good chuckle even before opening the thread. If you wonder where "Daveedka the Terrible' came from check the GCC thread entitled "explain your username"
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That's about the only thread in General I haven't read :P Now I gotta read it.

Roan
 
Dave,

If there is anything I can do to help with the article feel free to let me know. I doubt I have the capacity to do anything, but you never know. And as a side note, you can change the thread title only if no one has responded.
 
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