kh 2, gh close to 0. I want to start co2 this week.

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sherry

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what is the best way to buffer my tank.. crushed coral in the filter or baking soda in the water?

37 gallon cube
ph 6.5.
 
I prefer the crushed coral. With CC I don't have to dose on a regular basis and I can adjust my KH levels by changing the amount in the filter. The one drawback is that it probably isn't quite as exact as Backing Soda, but it's precise enough for what I need.
 
I usually recommend baking soda, simply because its easy/cheap to get, and you have more control as Purrbox says.

I'm a little more concerned with your pH being 6.5...is that from the tank or the tap water? if its tap water...was it rested?

You should have a more neutral to slightly alkaline pH, like 7.0-7.2. If something is lowering your pH below it's natural level you'll have problems using the pH/Kh chart to determine CO2 levels. the Chart only works when pH is correctly proportional to Kh.
 
With a Kh of 2 and a Gh of .1 a Ph of 6.5 is not unreasonable(straight from the tap before CO2 gets out). In fact if the Gh is really .1 then it is likely the Kh is really lower. Either way some buffering is needed before any CO2.
 
sorry to be a noob but i understand the correlation between Kh and Ph and how they relate to each other when using CO2, but what is Gh? and how much baking soda is usually used per gal when buffering?
 
GH (General hardness) measures the amount of calcium and magnesium in your water. Determines how "hard" or "soft" your water is. A good visual is to look in your bathroom for calcium deposits on your fixtures or shower walls. One teaspoon of baking soda added to 50 liters of water can raise the kH of the water by approx 4 degrees dH without a major affect on pH
 
ok that makes sense. I understand how hardness effects fish, but what does it do to plants?
 
Ca and Mg are both micronurients used by plants. Guys who are past NPK and Fe tend to focus on it and ratio relationships between the two. In sherry's case of low to no GH, Seachem's Equilibrium or Barr's GH Booster from Greg Watson would be a good place to start. Greg also sells CaMgCO3, which should raise kH and GH, but figuring out how to dose and its effects could be a headache, and I would bet individual ferts would be needed to get the levels right. HTH
 
when i added cc to my filter, it raised my kh from 2 to 10. at the same time my gh went from almost nothing to 10. is a gh of 10 bad? could it be from the cc? do i need to worry? the only way my high kh is a problem at this point is that if i want 30ppm of co2, i need to keep my ph at about 6.8/6.9, which is less than ideal for my snails, who prefer more neutral or even higher ph. however, there is so much calcium in the water from the cc, that this may offset the problem slightly...

i'm just confused about how gh factors into things...

sorry to hijack your threasd sherry--but you and i have similar setups :)
 
GH of 10 is not bad. GH made up of Ca or Mg with none of the other is bad. This is one reason why raising kH with baking soda is preferable to CC in a high light, CO2 injected setup. If your tap GH is also 0, you could add a TBL of Epsom salt to your trace mix bottle, or remove CC and dose baking soda to raise kH as well as Equilibrium or Poor Mans Equilibrium for GH.

Remember though that while important, these are micronutrients and pretty far down the list for troubleshooting, and it could be argued that you should not care about them unless you know NPK, CO2, light, and other trace mix dosing are good, and your plants show nutrient deficiency. Plant-wise, when people talk about hard and soft water plants they are usually speaking in terms of kH, not GH. HTH
 
Well said czcz. I also use baking soda as my water here contains a lot of borate; a non carbonate hardness that raises kh. Gives me false readings.
 
you should teach an aquarium plants 101 at the local community college, i would take it, stupid plant info filling up my already taxed brain, why do i like these damn fish so much??
 
95% of my fishkeeping is stressful. Its that 5% of perfect bliss that makes it all worthwhile.
 
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