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Quick query

•Cai•

Member
Joined
4 Dec 2015
Messages
218
Location
Hartlepool
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to configure the best co2 injection for my 60litre planted tank. I have no fish or inverts in yet.
I've been checking ph with a ph pen every other day throughout injection period and light period.
Now, my pre-set ph I took down from tap was 7.3/7.4. I worked from this and aimed for the 1unit drop in ph which I was getting close to. I set my timer for 2.5 hours before lights on and have had it on for 6hours a day.
When I've checked my tank water today with ph pen before any co2 is to be injected I'm getting a reading of 7.7ph. That's a rise of 0.4. I checked my tap and it's still 7.3.
Why is this?
Can It possibly be down to having a high kh and GH within my tap water. As I'm using only tap water will the carbonates etc be getting left behind every water change causing the ph to rise?
I thought I was doing well until I've checked that reading today. I even recalibrated my ph pen as I thought that was problem.
My substrate is Ada Amazonia.
It's been cycling for 3weeks nearly now.
Hardscape is dragonstone which I believe is inert.
I get a green/yellow drop checker by lights off. Checking this morning it is blue.

Anyway, so much for the quick query lol
 
I've just read on the Internet that plants may possibly cause slight rise in ph as they take the co2 from water. Surely not as much as I'm injecting though. Any solidity to this?
 
Something In the tank is raising your kh. Do you have a kh test kit to check it?
 
Yes. My normal kh is around 12dkh. When I've tested the tank it's about 13dkh. Could this have anything to do with me dosing ei fertiliser?
 
I'm using dragonstone @hogan53. I did my research on this and it was across board inert. Again, substrate is Amazonia which is renowned for lowering ph and KH. Heads baffled.
 
Your tap water is pressurized and contain probably an extra amount of co2 when it comes from the tap. This co2 will deplete over time and so make the pH rise a little.

The same happens in 2 non co2 tanks. After a water change my pH drops to 7.4 which is fairly tap water value and with in 24 hours it rises and stabilizes pH 8.1. Still i do have about 5 kilo's of Mopani (savanna) wood in the big tank which makes it tea colored with tanines with in a few days the pH stays rock steady 8.1. The wood tanines don't affect the pH value. The smaller tank only has plants and reacts the same. I don't suspect the soil doing it, because in the past the same hapened with a tank with only inert gravel and a little amount of cabomba and egeria densa.

I didn't test it, but i guess thats the case.. Give it a try, leave a glass of tap water for a few days and measure that again. :)

Ps (edit)
And of course plants do that too.. That's the whole point of adding co2, they need it and use it..
F.e example if you have a pond with plants and measure the Ph in the morning, noon and evening. You measure a pH rise over the course of the day. The plants do that, because they change the water chemistry during the light cycle. The more sun slowly goes over the pond the more changes you measure, because the plants work fatser the more sun they get. In indoor tanks this is more stable, because there is no sun rise nor sun set as nature does and or no fluctuating light intesity. :)
 
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Sound @zozo i thought something was seriously amiss. I did try it with my water change water that had sat overnight and ph only rose 0.1unit. Il keep an eye on it. It's only the first time I've noticed it so maybe it's due to plants growing that bit extra lately. Ph has dropped ok since injection period has started anyway.
Tell me, why do the plants not pearl everyday? Some days it's alot and others hardly any. Off from original question alittle I know but it hardly deserves a thread for it.
Cheers everyone
 
:) I realy can't tell you what the reason is why plants pearl one day and don't the other without an obvious reason. Well there surely might be an obvious reason we probably just do not (know how to) measure for. :) This i see also happen in my tank, one day pearling like crazy and the other day they don't.. The plant which always pearls in my co2 tank is a mini java fern, it pearls the most of all, every day and is one of the slowest growers.

It probably has to do with something that also happens in our body with fluids.. That only if the tension is in near perfect ballance (Isotone) the permeability of cells is optimum and this will result in case of plants in bubbling. The other day the water and plant isn't as isotone and the permeability not optimum and so no bubbles. So the water is missing something or having to much of something preventing an optimal permeability for the plant cells. :) Just a guess it probably is something like that. Hard to explain in a nutshell and even more difficult in my case in understandable english.

Our body does the same for example if you do sports you might have noticed that one day you drink a dextro energy drink and you feel a boost of energy. The other day you drink it and you don't feel a thing. This is because even if the bottle description says Isotone sports drink, your blood contents prevents the drink contents to be isotone and be absorbed as quick by you cells as it did the day before.. :rolleyes::arghh::wacky::thumbup:
 
Apologies if anyone wants to comment on my original question. I sometimes get distracted with questions that just pop into my head :crazy:
 
If you intend on adding fish, it would be best to add them first before you try and tweak your CO2, as ultimately they will determine how much CO2 you can add. You could end up adding your fish and having too much CO2 (even if you follow the 1 point pH drop).

A 1 point pH drop is a general rule, so having a pH pen is useful in this regard. But the more you can increase CO2 availability to your plants, the better they will grow. The amount of CO2 you can add to your tank will be determined by what the live stock can handle.
 
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