how to increase kh or buffering?

[V10]

What's the safest way to increase the buffering ability of my tank. I recently got all the hardware/lights to start dosing my tank with co2 and have about 12-14 plants in it right now (waiting on next shipment at petsmart to get more).

Water to start was ph 7.4, kh 0, gh 0. I ran co2 for 1 day at 1 bubble per min and at lights off, my ph had dropped to 6.0, airstone kicked in at lights off, and this morning my ph was back at about 6.8ish. I turned of the co2 this morning as to not cause another ph swing.

I've read that I can add baking soda to the water, how much would I add for a 46gallon tank? Another article said to put crushed coral in my canister, but not sure where I can get that at, so I'm going to go with baking soda, just need help knowing how to dose it.

 

[Purrbox]

The safest method would be to dose the baking soda in a bucket of water for you water change. You'll want the make the change slowly so as to avoid shoking any fish in residence. Dose the bucket to your target KH and over the course of a few weeks/water changes, you tank will reach your target KH. You'll want to aim for at least 3 dKH. I don't know the exact amount that you will need to dose, but at least with using a bucket you can slowly add more testing intermintently until you determine the correct dose.

Crushed Coral should be available from any LFS that has supplies for Marine tanks. It's one of the substrates used in Marine tanks. I believe it might also be used as a substrate for Cichlid tanks, but I don't know for sure.

Just out of curiousity, your KH and GH seem awefully low. Is that how the water is out of the tap, or are you using RO water?

 

[jsoong]

Actually, Crushed coral is the safest (although it will take a few days). you basically add a large amount to your water (amount doesn't really matter) .... the water will dissolve the crush coral (or limestone, or shells) till it is saturated (around pH or 7.8), and then stop. once you reach equilibrium, the excess cc will hold your pH there whenever the KH drops by dissolving into the water. All you need to do is to add more cc as it is used up.

I'd reserve baking soda in an emergency if you need to match the KH when doing a large water change (as the cc will take a day or so to dissolve into the new water).

BTW 1/2 teaspoon baking soda per 100 liter (25gal) will raise KH by 1 ... you want a min of 3-5.

This si the reference: http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html#altering

 

[V10]

Awesome, thanks for clearing that up you 2.

and to answer your question, purrbox, my tap water measures 7.0ph, 0 kh and gh. Either that or the little test strips I use suck, my test tube kit does not have gh/kh tests so I had to use some strips I found sitting around. I just ordered a really nice master test kit by nutrafin and will measure again with that.

 

[rich311k]

If you have an LFS that you frequent often that sells saltwater fish, you may be able to get a small amount of CC for nothing. You would need years to go through a whole bag of the stuff.

 

[src]

I got a pound of CC for the extortionate price of $.67 - the nerve!

I doubt I will ever use all of it, so don't go overboard.

 

[JRagg]

I got a pound of CC for the extortionate price of $.67 - the nerve!

I doubt I will ever use all of it, so don't go overboard.

How dare they!
Do they actually expect people to buy it if it costs that much?!?!

/sarcasm

Man, that's cheap.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yes, test strips are usually notorious for being wrong. Use only liquid test kits. I use the Hagen Mater Test kit for testing my gh and kh.

Also, I just put a handful of CC in the filter in my 75G and it took my kh from 60 to 100. Took 2 weeks to get to that point. And that's what I would recommend, just place a handful of CC in your filter if possible. You'll only need to replace it maybe once every 2-3 months, maybe longer, depending on tank size.

 

[fish_4_all]

Now I feel ripped off because my LFS charges a whole $0.98 per pound. What a rip!

Anyway, get rid of the test strips! They said my KH and GH of my tap water were 250 and 375. When I got my liquid test kit, 178 and 250. They suck really bad. Only thing that works as far as test strips was the ammonia and nitrites. Nothing else was even close. NO3 normally tested at 80, liquid, 20.

Get the test kit before you try anything. You won't regret it.

 

[V10]

Went to a saltwater specialty shop in my area and they gave me a pound of cc, they were going to charge and then he said, just take it and remember me "when" you go to salt. Lol as if it was only a matter of time before I crossed over to the other side of the hobby.

My hagen/nutrafin test kit is scheduled to be in on monday, Big Al's rocks, 10 different test types for $39 + sh.

 

[Purrbox]

It's a pretty good master test kit (one of the ones I use). Please keep in mind that the calcium and iron kits really aren't useful for FW (the iron kit wouldn't be able to measure the levels we're dealing with). Also just a word of warning that the Nitrate kit can be rather tough to read. The colors don't match up very well for whatever reason. The rest of the kit is great and I've got no complaints.

 

[greenmaji]

CC was used alot as a SW tank substrate, if it had cost alot more it would have been tough back before people used alot of sand to get a SW tank up and rolling.

Hagen and Redsea's kits are suppose to be alot easer to read then AP's hope yours turn out well