Effect of DIY CO2 on pH

[DarkDH]

I tested my water, which the municiple JUST changed. I now I have a pH of 7.5ish.

I am planning to hook up DIY CO2 to my 20 gallon aquaruim, however I am worried that my pH will swing too much. The setup I will be using is a simple 2l bottle.

Will this affect my pH greatly? I am aiming for a 7 or 6.9ish. I'll go pick up a KH kit someday though. Since I use tap (conditioned b4 using), I bet that the water is sorta hard, but not that much (I live in Ann Arbor).

I need help!

Thank you

 

[Mgamer20o0]

shouldnt be a problem. i havent seen any effect on my fish from co2 so far.

 

[Bk718]

I would try and test the hardness of the water, if you can bring your tap water and tank water to a petstore and let them test everything out. If you have hard water then the ph swings wont really be that great. but then again if you have co2 running the ph will just drop, the swings arnt going to be great at all, or enough to hurt fish. I have very soft water here in NYC and out of tap my ph is 7ish, after co2 addition it drops to 5.5ish and stays there until about a month in when its time to change the co2 mix. fish are fine and plants are better.

 

[Squawkbert]

Wow - a 2 point swing? *somebody* needs a little GH booster!

Generally speaking, pH drop due to CO2 addition is no sweat at all. That said, the degree of pH drop per unit CO2 is governed bu the buffering capacity of the water - this, in turn, is largely a function of your GH/KH/TDS - in short, Everything dissolved in your water.