Live rock (high carbonate content) in discuss tank????

[jlinz]

Hello there.

I'm an experienced reef keeper and have recently decided to convert my 420 gallon reef tank to a planted discus tank. I really like the live rock auascaping that I have set up and would like to keep it as is. Live rock is high in carbonate and I'm curious about the true ability to buffer the water and alter the pH or KH. Obviously the low PH water will continue to dissolve the rock which will then add calcium carbonate to the water which will raise pH and KH but how much will it really do???

I plan to have a planted tank and will have CO2 injection. This will allow me to easily maintain a rock steady pH but that CO2 continues to dissolve the rock and release calcium carbonate. I understand that the amount of effect this will have will depend on the amount of CO2 injection and the amount of carbonate laiden rock but I'm curious to hear if others have tried this and if it's doable or if I should just entirely scrap the idea now.

I do plan to do 25% water changes twice weekly so I'm assuming that those water changes will allow me to keep the KH in check but never having done a low pH freshwater tank I'm only making an assumption. Obviously the pH will be managed by the CO2 injection but at what cost to the total kH conribution??

Thank you so much for you input!

[Hollowman]

If it is a problem to manage the Kh, then remove the thing that is making you scratch your head. Simple is often better.

[sayid]

Welcome to the world of discus;
It depends on how soft your water is among other factors , if you are living in Melbourne ,my water has ph 6.8 , gh 2 and kh 0 ,and i have had a few pot plant with substrate which released calcium carbonate and i got away with it , other wise as Hollowman said keep it simple.