I have a 125 G planted tank with Lake Malawi cichlids and clown loaches. Lately I have been doing a great job growing algae, BBA to be specific. Tom recommends jacking up the CO2 to 30ppm for best results when it comes to plants and algae.
After looking at the charts relating CO2, KH, and pH ... it looks like it would be difficult to get the CO2 up to that level without letting the pH drop too much or increasing KH a lot. My fish have lived at ph=7.2 KH=10 for a long time and they seem to be doing quite well, one has even had a healthy batch of babies twice in the past year.
Most Malawi fans would aim for pH 7.6 or higher, but if I was to settle for 7.2 then it would call for about KH=19 to compensate for 30ppm CO2. Or I could let it drop to 7.0. Seems pretty far from native conditions for these fish.
Any comments or guidance ? Has anyone here tried this before ?
George
After looking at the charts relating CO2, KH, and pH ... it looks like it would be difficult to get the CO2 up to that level without letting the pH drop too much or increasing KH a lot. My fish have lived at ph=7.2 KH=10 for a long time and they seem to be doing quite well, one has even had a healthy batch of babies twice in the past year.
Most Malawi fans would aim for pH 7.6 or higher, but if I was to settle for 7.2 then it would call for about KH=19 to compensate for 30ppm CO2. Or I could let it drop to 7.0. Seems pretty far from native conditions for these fish.
Any comments or guidance ? Has anyone here tried this before ?
George