Low Ph And Kh In Plated Tank.

wandgrudd

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Right have been keeping fish for 15+ years have had reasonable success with plants
Now I have 3 tanks on the go 2 of which are running fine but have only been going about 2 months.

Now the main tank in the house has been going for just over a 2 years and has never caused any problems until now.

But is suffering from a low ph reading, which is concerning me as I am intending to start using the Co2 on this tank which I understand will lower the ph even more.

The tank is fully planted which as you can image aren’t doing that well with low light and no co2 and only the occasional dose of fertiliser.


Now from doing some research it looks like my problems could be down to a low KH reading which I understand could be caused by the plants? (i.e. not being given any fertiliser)

All tank in habitants are healthy and no deaths in 5+ months

Test readings.


NO2 - 0
N03 - 10
GH – around 14
KH – around 3
pH 6.5



Tank - juwel Rio 400
Filter - standard juwel + Tetra Tec EX 700
lighting - standard juwel (week point)(but soon to have 2 more 4 foot cubes added )
no c02 (as of yet)
15% water change every 2 weeks.


So do I need to raise the ph and amount of KH in the tank and what’s the best way of doing this?


thanks
Andrew :)
 
Your pH and KH look fine to me. If you are worreid though then you can add small amounts of Bicarbonate of Soda.
 
Oh ok.
It is definetly possible for the plants to bring down the KH. Mine do.
The pH may be perhaps you have some sort of pH buffer in there that brings the pH down to 6.5.
 
First thing I notice is that your tap water has a KH of 10 and your tank water has a KH of about 3. This would suggest that your KH is being lowered by something in your tank. Do you have bogwood in there? A KH of 3 is fine for adding CO2. I run mine at around the 4 mark and inject loads of CO2. At the moment my pH is 6.1 with no probs, indeed everything is thriving. Generally speaking as long as your KH is above 2 you should be OK with injecting CO2. Some people even have KH=0 but they do lots of large regular water changes. I tend not to worry about pH but keep an eye on it as it is an indication of my CO2 levels.

The main concern I'd have at the moment is figuring out why your KH is dropping so much from your tap water levels. Your water changes are a bit on the low side. I'd be inclined to increase both frequency and quantity. Fish and plants love fresh water. To give you an idea I do about 60% every week.

James
 
I have 4dKH, a pH of 6.2, carry out 50% water changes every six days and inject lots of CO2 for plant growth.

I agree with JamesC 100%.
 
yes i have two 15inch+ bits of bog wood in. will have to start doing a bigger water change.

i run two other tanks and none of them suffer with low kh/ph and the only thing different is the bog wood. all my tanks run on sand and pond compost. will have to keep an eye on it and start doing a bigger water change.

not sure 60% is going to happen that's 240 litres a week if i did it like that would take me forever but will in cress it to 25% a week for a month and see what happens.

thanks Andrew.
 
not sure 60% is going to happen that's 240 litres a week if i did it like that would take me forever but will in cress it to 25% a week for a month and see what happens.

thanks Andrew.

Tank maintenance is vital. Perhaps you should downgrade the size of your tank if you are not prepared to carry out the necessary water changes. Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh.
 
Bogwood it is then. A friend at work has a very large tank with some very large pieces of bogwood to match and does very small water changes. He noticed he was losing fish so did some tests. KH came out at 0 and pH was about 5.3. His tap KH is 15 so goes to show what an effect bogwood can have on KH. More regular water changes will help to keep your KH up.

200 litre water changes isn't that hard. Use a python or one of these - http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1310. Well worth it if you have large tanks.

James
 

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