George Farmer
ad aqua
I've just PM'd this to a fellow member regarding my thoughts.
Please note I have never run a pH controller so by rights you can discount a lot of what I say. Anyone that runs a controller please comment on your experiences.
I just thought with the recent CO2 fever that some of you may be interested in my take on things.
Please feel free to comment (zig - I undertand you've done a fair bit of research on these?)
PM
Are you sure you want a pH controller?
I considered buying one but did some thinking before wanting to part with my hard-earned cash.
The advantage is that they keep the CO2 and pH stable ā but is this advantage worth the price tag, and is it really an advantage at all? Let me elaborate. In nature, for instance a heavily planted river or lake the pH fluctuates by a fair amount, far more than in my tank that has CO2 injected 24/7. Fish can adapt easily to these pH changes because they are very gradual over the 24 hours. One only really needs to worry about pH shock when introducing new fish or performing massive water changes etc. So we can safely assume that a stable pH is not really an advantage to the fish, in fact you could argue that it may be more unnatural to have such a stable pH, particularly for fish that originate in heavily planted environments.
Now to the plants. It is widely known that stable CO2 is the best for plants. But I still get a stable CO2 injecting 24/7. My pH varies by 0.2 to 0.4 max. in 24 hours. I have never had so little algae and my plants and fish are the healthiest theyāve ever been. I very much doubt a pH controller would make any noticeable difference.
If the wasting of CO2 is an issue (plants generally donāt use CO2 at night), then a solenoid coupled to the lighting solves that. Iām considering one, depending on how long my cylinder lasts.
Just thought Iād let you know my thoughts. After all theyāre not cheap and Iāve even heard of horror stories about pH controllers malfunctioning and continuously pumping CO2 and killing all the fish.
Anyway, it's obviously up to you, just expressing my humble opinions and experiences.
Please note I have never run a pH controller so by rights you can discount a lot of what I say. Anyone that runs a controller please comment on your experiences.
I just thought with the recent CO2 fever that some of you may be interested in my take on things.
Please feel free to comment (zig - I undertand you've done a fair bit of research on these?)
PM
Are you sure you want a pH controller?
I considered buying one but did some thinking before wanting to part with my hard-earned cash.
The advantage is that they keep the CO2 and pH stable ā but is this advantage worth the price tag, and is it really an advantage at all? Let me elaborate. In nature, for instance a heavily planted river or lake the pH fluctuates by a fair amount, far more than in my tank that has CO2 injected 24/7. Fish can adapt easily to these pH changes because they are very gradual over the 24 hours. One only really needs to worry about pH shock when introducing new fish or performing massive water changes etc. So we can safely assume that a stable pH is not really an advantage to the fish, in fact you could argue that it may be more unnatural to have such a stable pH, particularly for fish that originate in heavily planted environments.
Now to the plants. It is widely known that stable CO2 is the best for plants. But I still get a stable CO2 injecting 24/7. My pH varies by 0.2 to 0.4 max. in 24 hours. I have never had so little algae and my plants and fish are the healthiest theyāve ever been. I very much doubt a pH controller would make any noticeable difference.
If the wasting of CO2 is an issue (plants generally donāt use CO2 at night), then a solenoid coupled to the lighting solves that. Iām considering one, depending on how long my cylinder lasts.
Just thought Iād let you know my thoughts. After all theyāre not cheap and Iāve even heard of horror stories about pH controllers malfunctioning and continuously pumping CO2 and killing all the fish.
Anyway, it's obviously up to you, just expressing my humble opinions and experiences.