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Thread: My CO2/PH/KH mystery

  1. #1
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    My CO2/PH/KH mystery

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    Hi,

    Hope you guys can help me figure out what's with my tank. Tank is 3 x 1.5 x 1.5ft with 2x55W PL, using JBL base fert and Lapis (Lonestar) gravel. Only other foreign objects are a few pieces of driftwood.

    I'm using pressurized CO2 cylinder at 1.5bps through an internal reactor. My current readings are approx. 6.5PH and 4KH. According to the CO2 chart, that'll give me 37.9ppm of CO2. Is that possible at only 1.5bps? I've read that others are pumping about 2-3bps to hit 20+ppm of CO2 in similar size tank.

    My plants are bubbling moderately, but I would expect more bubbling if CO2 were really at 37.9ppm. Fish and shrimp are fine and healthy. There has always been a very irritating slight amount of BBA. No other visible form of algae. NO3 (10ppm) and PO4 (0.5-1ppm) levels remain more or less constant at pretty low levels throughout the week. I add about 10ppm NO3 spread over the week, and PO4 is from feeding the livestock. Ferts I use include Lushgrow Aqua, Flourish Iron and individual mixtures from KNO3 and KH2PO4 (when necessary). I suspect that something is skewing my PH so I can't calculate my CO2 reading accurately and I'm not pumping in enough for the plants to outcompete the BBA. The only other thing I add (very rarely) to the tank is some CaCO3 (from eggshells).

    Would it be safe to increase my CO2 and see how the tank reacts? What possible dangers are there besides livestock suffocating?

  2. #2
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    I think Tom Barr made some comments recently about this? If the CO2 is in doubt, simply add 5-10ppm more CO2 and monitor the fishes behaviour. If the fishes are fine, add the full 10+ ppm of CO2 should get you to the close range of the 20-30ppm. Anyway, critters are the limit of how much CO2 you can pump in. The plants simply love it when it is high and good. [:]

    Regards
    Peter Gwee
    Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger

  3. #3
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    Yep, I've been raising the CO2 very slowly over the last week and monitoring for signs of stress in the livestock. I just wasn't sure if there would be any plant/algae issues with too much CO2 and also really curious to see if anyone else has had the same unexplained PH and found out what was causing it.

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