ph control

[Ness]

how do you guys control your ph in your trickle systems?
with a kh of 3 and a gh of 6 i would think it to be easy. the ph settles at about 7.5 after ageing. talking to other keepers that say they never
look at what thier ph reads as long as the hardness is looked after
all goes well.

[Bald_noggin]

I use a CO2 controller to inject CO2 into the water to bring the pH back down to 6.7-6.8

Depending on what fish you are keeping, 7.5 might be fine but if you are keeping discus, bringing the pH back to less than 7 is a good idea.

There is a relationship too between KH (alkalinty or carbonitic hardness) and pH.

[Ness]

injecting co2 into an unplanted trickle system seems like a waste of time and money. and it would just gas off. any other ideas?

[mistakes r crucial]

Ph Down, Hydrochloric acid, Peat, Indian Almond leaves, there's a heap of alternatives you can use.
MAC

[Ness]

what ph do you guys breed in. i find that as i add hcl acid it uses all the carbonates and im afraid that ill get a ph crash although that doesn't seem to be the case. the water here seems to have a big buffering capacity. i've just got some indian almond leaves yesterday. they have dropped the ph quite a bit. they stain the water alot but i dont care about that.

[Xtreme]

Hi Ross,
Just keep the almond leaves in they work well
just keep an eye on the ph as it might go down a bit depending on how many leaves u used
Also peat works well too
Mayb use it in ur makeup water

HTH
Wayne

[ozarowana]

You can breed fine in a pH of 7.5, I've found it's the hardness that gives you poor results as opposed to great ones.

I have experienced and seen good hatch rates in tap water and poor hatch rates in RO water. Although I really believe that if the fish aren't in tip top shape then adding RO water helps alot with hatch rates. Healthy parents means healthy viable sperm and eggs.

Also look at what I wrote here http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13771