Ph And Water Hardness

[emb1984]

Can someone explain the relation between pH, KH (which I believe is water hardness) and CO2. I'm finding it hard to grasp.

If I'm setting up my tank with adding CO2 and using a plant substrate by Tetra will the pH changes affect my fish?

My water at home is hard as far as I know (I recently moved about 10 miles and my old area was definately hard). Our water is Thames Valley.

When I set up my tank with substrate and CO2, fertailising once a week with an iron based fertilizer, no air stone and 1.7 whatts per gallon. 33 gallon tank (haven't looked into lighting yet). Plan to have around 30-50 plants under the "easy to very easy" to keep range.

 

[George Farmer]

Welcome!

Your water will be hard/high pH.

low KH = low pH. high KH = high pH. GH has no affect on pH but generally water with low/high KH will have low/high GH.

When CO2 is added the pH lowers. This allows us to test for CO2 by using KH as a constant. Use a table like this - http/www.tropica.dk/catalog/images/artic...ik/co2table.gif

The pH drop won't harm the fish. Tetras prefer a lower pH.

 

[BigIan]

i was about to post the same question, as i recently started adding my diy co2 and was wondering what to look for.