Ideal Water Perameters

[betty]

Hi!

I have a 65 gallon system with sump and bio balls and have finally purchased a co2 system from Aquarium Plant.com. I now sells a system that combines the jbj and milwaukee to achieve the best of both of the systems. Fish are Angels, clown loaches, queen arabesque, farlowellas, gouramis, ottos, tetras, zebras and florida flag fish. I use half ro water and half tap and would hope to switch to tap which recently read PH 7.5, KH 40 ppm and GH 100 ppm (nutrafin test kit). Usually the tap is much higher in GH (around 140 ppm). Lighting is 300 watts aqua life.

Questions. Should I use tap water or is GH too high in the tap water.

What is the ideal PH to set the auto Ph regulator at.

What is the ideal KH. I add Kent super buffer at water changes and try to keep it at 60 ppm. Can I keep it lower and add less buffer chemical? The chart I printed for PH / KH simply has numbers like 4, 5 and my test kit says to multipy by 10. So is 40 really 4 on the chart you guys refer to.

Other readings are Am (0), Nit (5-10), Phosphates (.25) and PH currently (7.5).

Co2 readings are 4 with yeast sugar mixture using a Red Sea test kit.

I fertilize a small protion daily. Plants are growing well and algae is normally under control. Fish lately are eating plants (swords) for some reason. Guess I should get some romaine lettuce or spinach for them.

Thanks for any help someone can offer. Betty

 

[djlen]

Betty - your gH is fine, but your kH needs to be raised to 3.0 - 3.5(55 - 65ppm) to be an effective buffer for CO2 injection. 40ppm = 2.2°kH.
Get yourself some crushed coral to put into a filter bag and put 2 - 3tbsps. of it into your filter to increase and maintain kH.
It will take the coral a short time to become affective so keep testing, making sure it's where it should be while the coral starts to work.
Your N reading is good.....P is a bit low, but make changes very slowly and gradually if you are not experiencing algae issues. Slow changes and observation are the way to go at this point.
A pH of 6.8 with a kH of 3.5(62ppm)= 17ppm CO2. IMO, 6.8 would be a good target ph, but do it gradually, over a period of a few weeks, and observe while adjusting.

Len

 

[kamla]

Gjlen, if you add Coral to the filter, wouldn’t the KH keeping going up ..
I know weekly water change might bring it down, But as long as the coral is in the tank the KH will keep increasing …
Right???

What would be safe range, and when achieved should the coral be taken out then.

Thanks for educating me… J

 

[betty]

betty

HI,

OOPS, It was a typo. My KH is 60 - 70. I used the crushed coral and added baking solda to the new water I used for water changes and yes it increased my KH but seemed to increase my GH and PH as well. That is why I switched to the buffer powder the LFS sold me. Now my GH which was 140 - 160 has gone down. Does coral increase the GH?

Thanks for your response. betty

 

[plantbrain]

Corasl does increase GH, Ca mainly, maybe some trace Mg.
Dolomite adds KH and Ca/Mg both. It's easy to get finely ground which makes it easier to dissolve.

I'd just use the tap given your goals and fish.
RO makes good drinking water though.

There is no ideal KH or GH really, anything from KH of 1-2 and up.
pH: it's 1/2 the measurement alogn with KH to determine CO2.

So you can have a low KH and low pH and have enough CO2, likewise you can have a higher pH and higher KH and still have the same CO2 level and dosing needs.

I'd stick with the tap and not bother.
I'd also suggest not using a pH controller, use a monitor, not a controller.
Then you can adjust the CO2 manually and more effectively.

Regards,
Tom Barr


Regards,
Tom Barr