using CO2 to alter pH

[tttnjfttt]

In an attempt to alter my pH, can I add CO2 w/o plants?

If the answer is no, I will go ahead and plant my tank, and have been researching how to add plants. I just don't want the additional responsability at the moment.

 

[sinistral]

You can add CO2. You just have to be careful about titrating the rate of CO2 produced so that it doesn't change the pH too dramatically at first. You also have to be cautious about maintaining low dissolved levels of CO2 in the tank (10-20ppm, I believe). You can calculate dissolved CO2 from pH and KH. Finally, I'd also recommend having two rigs ready as when one is just about exhausted you can swap in the other one with fresh yeast and a water/sugar mixture.

Out of curiosity, did you check the pH of dechlorinated water and the water after it had been sitting out for a few hours as bloozoo2 and others suggested in your other thread? I recall that your tap water pH straight from the tap is 9.0+... What is your tank pH?

You might also check out this really excellent FAQ about CO2. HTH~

 

[tttnjfttt]

My tank has unfortunately been maintained with chemicals up to this point, where I keep it around 7.4, and it does stay there for the entire week. This was at the suggestion of a LFS who has been around for 40 yrs, same owner....No more advice from them.

I did check the tap water with dechlorinator, and the pH was the same color (off the chart purple). Before I was told to play with chemicals, the pH in my tank would be close to 8.2, but I am going from memory here. I didn't let tap water sit for 24 hrs and test it, largely because of what the pH was in my tank after a week with no added chemicals (no ammonia, nitrite either).

I tried to buy a KH test yesterday at the LPS, but they were out of almost everything, so no luck there. I'm gonna go to a better store today, where hopefully they have one.

Thanks for that link, it had some good info in it. I'm still debating whether or not to plant. An hour ago when I posted I was iffy on it, but now I'm leaning towards it more and more.

Thanks for the help!

 

[sinistral]

Planted tanks are wonderful. You're right that there is definitely a learning curve and more management, but there's very little (IME) I've found in fishkeeping that matches keeping an arrangement of plants together with fish. There are loads of easy plants to keep. Plus the people who post in the planted section of the forum are first rate.

When I was getting into fishkeeping, I emailed a person from the Boston Aquarium Society for advice, and she told me "you WILL want to have plants". She was right!

You might want to check out this site and this one too for inspiration. Good luck if you do choose to add CO2...you may want to consult the plant people on the nuts and bolts of it as you may have questions about how to taper off using the pH product and add the CO2, and how to avoid having a dramatic pH shift, which would really be unfortunate...

EDIT: to correct link.

 

[houndour]

go planted you know you want to!

 

[Dorkhedeos]

the ph will rise once the co2 is gone. why not just use ph down?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, so I'm back from the store. I decided on getting some Hornwort, as they were out of the really common low light plants. I was hoping for Java Fern, but no luck. Once I can get some more money, I will be able to invest in a better light set up, so I can hopefully get more variety. I also was able to determine my KH = 6 and GH = 3

My current plan for getting the chemicals out and the CO2 in is to hopefully add it in the morning after church and immediately do a 15% water change, only adding dechlor. I'll also make note of what the pH is in the water after filling the tank up. Then every 30 min to an hour, I will check the pH again. Depending on how much it has dropped, I will do another water change. I'm guessing I will use a .4 change to warnt another water change. Hoping that is a narrow enough of a window to not majorly stress out the fish. I will keep this up all day, changing the water when necessary. Hopefully, by the time I go to bed I will be ready to just moniter the pH.

As for why I'm stopping chemically altering the pH, there are many reasons. The most common reason for this is these chemicals don't keep the pH stable. They will lower it initially, but it will often rebound back up. Also, Sinistral sent me a personal message about "Osmotic Stress" Which is something I believe might be going on in my tank. Basically, what happens is when you chemically lower your pH, your water can end up with more suspended solids/disolve more solids. This can end up messing with the amount of fluids inside the fish.