New to Gex Soil, 0 KH????

[gene]

Hi all,

been using ada soil for my past few tanks. recently decided to use gex soil as i heard that nutrients value is low and that can stay in shape longer.

Measured my KH value and shocked that its at 0
ph measures about 5.5 - 6


anyone who doses kh powder to buff it to 2? im concern that using that will speed up the buffing capability of the soil.

[Urban Aquaria]

Just curious, any specific reason why you need to get the kH to 2?

Most of these types of planted tank soils are designed to lower both pH and kH initially for better plant growth, so its better to just let it control those parameters for you.

No point trying to fight an uphill battle by constantly putting in additional buffers to keep re-adjusting the kH higher, then seeing the soil pull it back down again.

That being said, the pH and kH lowering capability of such soils will gradually wear out after some time anyways (probably abit faster with Gex soils).

[gene]

Thought it will stabalise the ph. Regardless my shrimps seems fine.

On the contrary my weeping moss seems to be doing some adjustment

[Urban Aquaria]

Thought it will stabalise the ph.

Yes, if you have read advice online about keeping kH higher to stabilize pH, its correct info... but thats mainly for tanks which use inert or inactive substrates like gravel or sand.

In tanks which use specific soil types designed for planted aquascapes, the soil itself will actively control and buffer both the pH and kH, therefore the traditional pH/kH relationship doesn't apply anymore, so you don't need to do anything else (until the soil's buffering ability wears out).