What PH do you run

[dthomo]

Hi All,

Just wondering what PH everyone runs in there tanks.

Im looking at running co2 in my tank but my KH is 1 and PH is under 6 im worried if I run co2 with my ph already that low and a very low KH that it cause all sorts of problems.

I have a heap of driftwood in the tank causing the low PH at the moment with no KH to keep it buffered my water from the tap is KH 1 and PH around 7.2 to 7.4.

Does anyone run co2 in there tank what ph and kh are you running.

Regards,
Dave

[Ness]

i run my breeders on 5.5 thereabouts

[BigDaddyAdo]

My tap water is 6.6 and i leave it at that.....



Ado

[DIY]

a KH of 1 and pH under 6 makes me think your waterchanges need to be increased due to a buildup of organic acids.. but it may be other buffering compunds or chemicals in your water though.

On my planted tank with co2, I "roughly" use the estimative index method of fertilising with dry ferts - I add Pottasium Bicarbonate to increase my KH from 0.8 to around 1.5 - this also adds potassium which is of course one of the macro ferts. I run a pH of 6.2 using a pH/co2 controller, this pH and a KH combination calculates to a co2 concentration of 28ppm (ignoring other buffering compunds and organic acids in the water of course).

On my tanks that I don't add anything to increase the KH, the water starts out at around pH 6.8-6.9 and gradually decreases as waste & organic acids in the tanks build up. For me and my water - I find pH is actually a better indicator of waterchange requirements than the typically used Nitrate measurement but of course pH changes readily in soft water.

To answer your question directly - I have run my planted tank as low as 5.9 and as high as 7.0 by changing the KH, I didn't find any particular benefit at any pH so just settled on 6.2 as a arbitary figure.