Ada Soil Nightmare...

[BigIan]

well i`ve had a cup full of aqua soil sat in some water for 24 hrs and, housten we have a problem,
The ph is now 6.4 and a kh reading less than 1 ppm so i`m guessing that When i have the aqua soil in the tank with the addition of co2 aswell then the ph will drop down to 5.4 ish. and that not good...

So what can i use to buffer the water so i don`t have fish swimming in an acid bath??

 

[Themuleous]

Ive not used it myself, but ADA soils is well known to remove the KH from the aquarium water (add may actually have been designed that way, although I have no proof of that). Most of the people I have met that use it dont add any extra buffering capacity to the tank (which for interest would be to add bicarbonate of soda), rather they just run it with a KH of less than 1. These people also pump CO2 into the tank at a high rate.

I think the key to preventing problems is to carry out large water changes (as you would using the EI method) this should prevent it getting to 0, when pH swings might occur.

So basically dont worry about it, lots of people use ADA soil and CO2 with no problems. Unless you've got very sensitive fish that cant cope with low pH you should be fine so long as you keep up the water change.

Hopefully someone who actually uses it will be able to explain more.

Sam

 

[BigIan]

Thanks sam...
but surley a ph of less that 6 is a bit to acidic for the fish?
I was just worried as at 4 degreesi had a very low Kh any way,

 

[Graeme Edwards]

My KH test kit doesnt go below 10ppm and i also have aqua soil. I must admit i too get altitle confused about it all.
In my cube my PH was 6 and KH below 10ppm, so i couldnt get an acurate picture. If your worried about your fish check the GH and what PH they are comfitable with and go from there.
My concern using aqua soil is the Co2 content, the lower the KH the more Co2 needs to be disolved into the water.
SO, as long as you know what your fish can put up with and all the peramiters are good and water changes are regular, i think you should be ok.

Your not alon in the confusion when water chemistery and aqua soil in concerned.

R,
Graeme.

 

[BigIan]

It will be mostly angels in the tank with ottos and shrimp. so a ph of 6 shouldn`t be a problem.

i might just wing it, once the ammonia ect has died off i`ll add the fish and let them be my guide if they show signs of stress, i may have to add something to buffer the ph/kh, bicarbonate of soda does the trick dosent it?

 

[-=Joel=-]

Adding oyster shells might help as it breaks down over a period of months / years.

It boosted my PH from 5.5 - 7

Joel

 

[BigIan]

thats what i was thinking adding some to my filter, i`ve a load left over from when i had tangs and i was trying to harden the water....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

It will be mostly angels in the tank with ottos and shrimp. so a ph of 6 shouldn`t be a problem.

i might just wing it, once the ammonia ect has died off i`ll add the fish and let them be my guide if they show signs of stress, i may have to add something to buffer the ph/kh, bicarbonate of soda does the trick dosent it?

if we just make sure we keep the little blue filter from upstairs cycled then we can set up a 4 footer real quick if they're showing any signs of distress

 

[BigIan]

either that or either of the 2 small filters off the 80g

 

[Miss Wiggle]

either that or either of the 2 small filters off the 80g

yup, in fact if we're putting the rena on there we can get rid of those two filters so just keep em on until your happy with everything then we'll take em down anyway. sling that fluval cos i hate it and keep the little one as another 'back up'

 

[Themuleous]

My concern using aqua soil is the Co2 content, the lower the KH the more Co2 needs to be disolved into the water.

I dont think thats quite right there mate, one bubble per second will give the same amount of co2 in the tank whether the KH is 1 or 15.

Or that's as I understand it, but like most I'm not really that sure how the chemistry part works.

Sam

 

[Disco]

Many parts of the amazon will drop to a pH of 2 for much of the dry season. So a pH of 5.5 is not a problem. You may find that this anitial drop will stop after a couple of water changes but this will depend on how hard the water you are adding is. If you are concerned try adding a piece of tufa rock rather than something crushed because it is easier to take out if you no longer want it. However adding something like this will reduce disolved co2 as it reacts with the calcium, making adding co2 pointless!!!

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Themuleous Posted Yesterday, 09:38 PM
QUOTE(Moody @ Nov 10 2006, 02:52 PM)
My concern using aqua soil is the Co2 content, the lower the KH the more Co2 needs to be disolved into the water.

I dont think thats quite right there mate, one bubble per second will give the same amount of co2 in the tank whether the KH is 1 or 15.

Or that's as I understand it, but like most I'm not really that sure how the chemistry part works.

Sam

Yeah I understand what your saying sam.
One bubble of C02 dissolved is one bubble dissolved, BUT going by chucks calculator, with the amount i pump into my cube, normaly the PH would be around 6.8ish and Co2 would be around 40ppm say and KH about 70ppm! but with the aqua soil giving me a KH less than 10ppm, acording to the calculator my Co2 is only 18ppm.So acording to that. The lower the KH the lower the Co2.
Im going to look into this!

 

[voo]

Take a read of this:
http/www.floridadriftwood.com/page.asp?id=16

It explains the pH-KH-CO2 relationship. What's interesting is it says that phosphates throws off the CO2 test kits and the pH-KH-CO2 relationship, which would mean that anyone dosing EI can't calculate their CO2 levels??

 

[BigIan]

Well thanks to a crappy ebay shop i still havent revceved my co2 kit, but i hacve just spent al day stripping down cleaning and rebuilding my tank with the ada substrate and all my nice new plantlets,

i think i`m just going to wing it. when i get the co2 build it up slowly and keep an eye on the PH. and my fish if the fish look ill i`ll cut back on the co2. or buffer the ph some how....