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Avalon · 06-19-2006, 05:25 PM

Hi Darrell. I've got a small tank with water param's close to yours. I found that dumping in CO2 doesn't help, and you certainly can't keep fish (my tank only has 1 lone oto cat). There's a certain range, within roughly 0.2-0.4 ph that you can work in without having algae issues. The success with such casual measurements lies within the lighting. Use less (duration or intensity), and you will lessen the need for CO2, although I have found that less intensity works better. My plants don't pearl at all under 6.5 wpg, but I'm growing Tonina belem and manaus like a champ.

I'm very interested in this low-to-no KH thing. I usually get a 2-4 dKH reading from mixing RO with tap, but I've never really checked after the drop from the Florabase substrate. I assume it will drop the KH 2-3 degrees. But it appears that the longer I go without a w/c, the better my plants look. My little oto doesn't seem to mind, but when the CO2 was high he sure did. I cut the amount of CO2 in half and he seems fine now, and my plants are still growing well (except for my L. pantanal with broad leaves, but it still grows like it was supposed to have them).

I set up my little 10g tank (I usually keep large ones) to experiment with. Right now it's for soft water, since I have liquid rock flowing from my tap. You can grow many a plant in very hard water, but it can be very difficult, particularly with large aquariums (75g and over). If you want high light, you need tons of CO2, which can harm fish. Low light works much better. My next (continuing) experiment in my little tank will be the PPS. If I can figure out how to keep higher light, soft water plants, and not have to change RO water in a larger tank very often, I will have entered planted tank nirvana!

06-19-2006, 05:25 PM	#27 (permalink)
Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ft. Worth, TX Posts: 291 iTrader Ratings: 29 iTrader Positive Rating: 100% Plant Points: 15205	Hi Darrell. I've got a small tank with water param's close to yours. I found that dumping in CO2 doesn't help, and you certainly can't keep fish (my tank only has 1 lone oto cat). There's a certain range, within roughly 0.2-0.4 ph that you can work in without having algae issues. The success with such casual measurements lies within the lighting. Use less (duration or intensity), and you will lessen the need for CO2, although I have found that less intensity works better. My plants don't pearl at all under 6.5 wpg, but I'm growing Tonina belem and manaus like a champ. I'm very interested in this low-to-no KH thing. I usually get a 2-4 dKH reading from mixing RO with tap, but I've never really checked after the drop from the Florabase substrate. I assume it will drop the KH 2-3 degrees. But it appears that the longer I go without a w/c, the better my plants look. My little oto doesn't seem to mind, but when the CO2 was high he sure did. I cut the amount of CO2 in half and he seems fine now, and my plants are still growing well (except for my L. pantanal with broad leaves, but it still grows like it was supposed to have them). I set up my little 10g tank (I usually keep large ones) to experiment with. Right now it's for soft water, since I have liquid rock flowing from my tap. You can grow many a plant in very hard water, but it can be very difficult, particularly with large aquariums (75g and over). If you want high light, you need tons of CO2, which can harm fish. Low light works much better. My next (continuing) experiment in my little tank will be the PPS. If I can figure out how to keep higher light, soft water plants, and not have to change RO water in a larger tank very often, I will have entered planted tank nirvana!