dielectric;39228 said:
if i change 50 gallons of water weekly using straight R/O (our tap water is really, really, really bad) how much baking soda would you add? and how much GH booster?
if 4.5 grams raises 4 gallon of water to 4dkh, and i add roughly 50 grams of NaCHO3, why do i get KH readings of 7? shouldnt 56.25 grams give me a reading of 4?
i know co2 charts are bogus but assuming my kh is 7 and my ph is 6.4 - 6.2 with inadequate co2 levels what ph would you shoot for? i've been fiddleing with my co2 and noticed when i really ramp it up and the ph drops to 6.0, the pearling really increases but when it hits 5.9 my discus show their stress bars, turn darkish, and hide/hover near the suface. is 6.0 my target? or am i decreasing it too fast?
i've been adding 12 grams of gh booster per 5 gallons of water. so every week ive been adding 120 grams of gh booster. this just seems like way too much, and yet my ramshorns are still having problems with their shells.
what gives?
RO does not remove all the KH?
Do you have a TDS/Ec meter?
Or test the KH from the RO...........that will answer that.
RO should remove almost all the GH however.
Most folks simply blend the RO wityh tap so they reduce the KH to some target level(say2-4 degree range). This waste much less water(RO waste 90% of the final water produced).
Snails have a coating that protects their shells.
Once broken, they do poorly, and the older the snail, the more likely they have had holes(fish picking at them, being mashed when pruning, rocks etc).
It's not a lack of Ca, or CO3.
They live in super soft water in natural systems and have no problems........
They also get plenty of Ca and CO3 in their diet.
However, most shell formers produce the shell via -OH and this causes a rise in the pH and the CaCO3 to form(pH of about 10.1 or so) and deposit in a very specific way to make their shell. No one has a pH this high, same for the ocean etc, yet they do just fine.
From your observations, I'd say 6.0-6.1 is the target range, it's a mix of fish and plant health to find it, we use test etc to get close, then tweak slowly from there.
Dark Discus is a sign you are adding too much, however..........(here's the part many over looked when talking about too much CO2), you also can add more O2 by increasing the circulation and turn over by the water(Filtration, surface skimming, water flow from powerheads , spray bar, surface movement, various flow patterns, aquascaping designs that allow for better mixing etc)
I add enough current on the surface to cause ripples, but not break the surface.
If you did not add plants etc, would you not add a good current along the surface for good O2?
Why would this change for a planted tank which has much less mixing due to all the plants and wood/Rock blocking the flows etc? We can always add a bit more CO2 to make up for any loss and in general, this is not significant unless we start breaking the water's surface and getting a lot of degassing.
We wanta good current to balance the O2 demand from the fish and also enough CO2 for the plants, in otherwords, high O2 and high CO2. If you have high CO2, but low O2, this is terrible for the fish and means you cannot add as much CO2 as you'd like, even if you can, your fish will be stressed and breathing harder than they should.
This issue with low O2 is really a problem that is pervasive through the planted hobby unfortunately. It's not just a function of adding too much CO2.
Respiration is both CO2 and O2 concentration, same for us.
I'd target say a KH of 3 with blended water, add about 1 teaspoon of Gh booster after each water per 50-60 Gal. My tap is a KH of 1-2 and a GH of 3, I add about 1 teaspoon after the water change per 60 Gal on aquarium.
Regards,
Tom Barr
