chiahead

whenever I leave my co2 on 24/7 when I wake up the fish are gasping at the surface. I guess how youi get around it is lower the buble rate a bit so les Co2 gets in the tank but spread over the whole day so its all balanced. Interesting thought. That should keep it pretty stable. Doesnt the ph change a bit during the peak photo period when the plants are consuming co2?

Edward

You don’t run air stone, do you? There should be an air stone if there is fish to exchange gasses and keep the water fresh. Adjust it to the minimum possible flow. I haven’t notice pH fluctuations.

AaronT

So you are running an airstone and CO2 both on lower levels 24/7? That's a very interesting approach. I may have to try that sometime.

Are you using RO water to get a KH of 0 and then adding only GH back for the plants?

Bert H

This is a very interesting thread in that it proposes things that most do not do.

-A kh of 0, with CO2 injection
-pH of 5 or lower
-24/7 CO2 on a low kh tank
-airstone while CO2 is on not affecting CO2 levels.

This really points out how many different ways there are to achieve success in our chosen pursuits in this hobby.

I wonder how many other folks are running a similar set up?

AaronT

I thought of another question in the meantime. Are you able to keep shrimp in pH that low? Many of us keep Neocaridina and Caridina shrimp that are said to need a pH of 6.5-7.0 or so.

Edward

Yes that’s right, RO with CaCl2 at 20 ppm Ca. For Mg dosing PPS Mg solution.

hoppycalif

It used to be said that....phosphate causes algae, nitrate is poison, you gotta have red clay under the substrate, some plants have to have root feeding, etc. I suspect that those who say pH of 6.5-7.0 is needed for some animal life, whether shrimp or discus, or whatever, are just repeating what somebody told them. I know my cherry shrimp are doing very well and my pH varies quite a bit from water change to water change, so I suspect that shrimp react to dissolved solids and not pH, just as fish do.

Edward

Not sure. I don’t have shrimps.
The low KH aquarium is not for Brackish and Tanganyikan fish.

Zapins

Hmm, this is very interesting. I have a KH of 0 naturally from the tap. However, my plants showed signs of Co2 deficiency when the pH reached ~5. Since then I have been buffering the water to about 4 degrees, and have been cautious of raising it higher. I was using a pH controller at the time.

Do you think that the controller was the problem because it does not take much Co2 to maintain a pH of 5 with 0 KH (hence the deficiency)? If so, are pH controllers useless if using 0 KH?

As an after thought, are there any strong benefits to keeping a KH of 0 vs. keeping it at 1-3? You mentioned plants grow better, exactly how do they grow better?

Robert Hudson

It is much more common for people to have hard to very hard water out of the tap than soft water. So would you not agree if you have fairly hard water and are not adding anything to change the KH, then you can get a pretty accurate reading using a KH/pH chart right?

You must not have any snails either. Shrimp, snails, need high levels of calcium