New To Live Plants

[dane261]

what is the ideal ph of water for live plants my ph is around 7.8 im moving house and getting a new tank and if needs be ill get water from my lfs but would rather not as its quite expensive in the long run i have heard of ro units but have not been told if they are effective

any help cheers dane

 

[anodized]

best is in the mid 6's range. there are a few plans that will grow in the upper pH ranges though. lowering PH is probably easiest using CO2 if you're going down that route. otherwise the plants will probably still grow, just a little slower even at 7.8

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[dane261]

how much does co2 lower you ph of the water

 

[anodized]

how much does co2 lower you ph of the water

depends on the KH

you can use this chart to tell you

 

[Dave Spencer]

People who inject CO2 try to aim for a target of 30ppm. 30ppm will give you a pH drop of roughly 1.

Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

I'll add that RO is very effective as it gives you 99.99% H2O, big difficulty is that is runs very slowly so you need a way of storing the RO water ready for a water change. I use food grade jerry cans (from a camping/caravaning shop) and just leave the RO unit running over night and during the day. Also remember that RO water is almost pure H2O so you need to add minerals and stuff back in which the fish and plants need in order to stay healthy. There are various products for this but these are expensive, easiest just to add say 75% RO water and 25% tap water, that's what most people do.

Sam

 

[dane261]

does the ro unit change to ph of the water and what does kh mean and when you mean lowering by 1 and not point 1
i know these are problys easy questions but i would rather know alot before i start so i dont waste money

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[xing]

kh is the carbonate hardness - how much carbon is dissolved in the water. If you measure your kh and ph you can use the chart above to work out co2 in ppm (parts per million) i.e. ph 7.6 and kh of 6 equates to approx 5ppm co2. if you add more co2 into the water up to 30ppm this will reduce ph to approx 6.8 (on the chart) assuming kh remains stable.

i'm not sure of the chemistry behind it because I would have assumed that by adding co2 (and thus increasing carbon content of water) you would increase the kh level - maybe you do but you also alter ph level. maybe someone else can comment.

All I know is that since adding co2 my ph has dropped from an out of the tap 7.0-7.2 to a tank level of 6.6-6.8 and my plants love it (but there may be other factors at work - bogwood, for instance)

HTH

 

[Dave Spencer]

kh is the carbonate hardness - how much carbon is dissolved in the water. If you measure your kh and ph you can use the chart above to work out co2 in ppm (parts per million) i.e. ph 7.6 and kh of 6 equates to approx 5ppm co2. if you add more co2 into the water up to 30ppm this will reduce ph to approx 6.8 (on the chart) assuming kh remains stable.

It is actually the measurement of carbonate and bicarbonate ions in the water, as in Calcium Carbonate. Carbonate hardness can be seen as the buffering capacity of the water ie. its resistance to a change in pH. Injecting CO2 produces Carbonic Acid which lowers the pH.