Co2 And Ph Levels

[scotty]

i'm thinking of buying a co2 kit for my tank,my only concern is that my ph is about 6.2 which is ideal for the fish i have in my tank,if i add co2 will this not lower my ph levels further,if so would this harm my fish?

cheers

scott

 

[snowflake311]

yes Co2 can lower Ph. it depends on what you keep your C02 level at. You should ask this questoin in the planted section you will get a better reply there.

 

[mark4785]

i'm thinking of buying a co2 kit for my tank,my only concern is that my ph is about 6.2 which is ideal for the fish i have in my tank,if i add co2 will this not lower my ph levels further,if so would this harm my fish?

cheers

scott

If a PH of 6.2 is ideal for your fish then I wouldn't advise installing a c02 system as it will introduce carbon dioxide/carbonic acid into the water making the water more acidic. I believe such systems are only necessary for densely planted tanks with no fish. I've never used a c02 kit so it may be that you can control precisely how much c02 your plants need to utilize without excess c02 being left in the water; you will need to wait for an answer from someone with more experience than me.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If your natural water is pH 6.2, I'm presuming your gH and kH values must be considerably lower than mine (240 and 200 mg/l respectively)?

Adding the CO[sub]2 [/sub]to my setup lowered the pH from 8.2 to 7.5/7.6 at 30 bubbles per minute.

The end for your resulting pH could be perfect for a collection of "black water" species of fish... I cannot recall what your stocking plans were now, although I do recall going on about "ack-advisore" having a hissy-fit (I am envious of goldfish's powers of memory recall some days

).

I have not looked into this aspect in any detail at all, but I've read a few posts where experienced keepers say that pH changes in itself do not upset fish, but if the gH and kH change between the shop tank and your tank there is good odds of streess-related illnesses during the settling in period.

 

[Christoff]

If your natural water is pH 6.2, I'm presuming your gH and kH values must be considerably lower than mine (240 and 200 mg/l respectively)?

Adding the CO[sub]2 [/sub]to my setup lowered the pH from 8.2 to 7.5/7.6 at 30 bubbles per minute.

The end for your resulting pH could be perfect for a collection of "black water" species of fish... I cannot recall what your stocking plans were now, although I do recall going on about "ack-advisore" having a hissy-fit (I am envious of goldfish's powers of memory recall some days

).

I have not looked into this aspect in any detail at all, but I've read a few posts where experienced keepers say that pH changes in itself do not upset fish, but if the gH and kH change between the shop tank and your tank there is good odds of streess-related illnesses during the settling in period.

Thought I'd add that I too have read a lot of posts detailing how CO2 induced pH changes do not harm fish and should be ignored. As mentioned, it's the gH and kH changing pH that you need to worry about. Will try and dig out a link to an artile I found explaining the chemistry behind this...

 

[scotty]

my stocking is for my juwel rio 125,with juwel 1000lph internal filter and fluval u2 internal filter.
well panted aswell
i do 50% waterchanges per week,water stats are always perfect before water changes so probably wouldn't have to change as much,but just got into the habit of changing 50%

4 ottos
10 neons
6 cory lorentensis
4 panda cory
2 bolivian rams
1 male apisto
2 female apisto
6 rosy tetras

cheers
scott

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If I'm not mistaken, they will all love that low pH!