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rodder4hire · 04-21-2009, 07:37 AM

I am starting a 70 gallon "high tech" plant tank. Right now there are only a couple of plants and a few (a few less than yesterday) fish.

I am using gravel substrate, T5 lighting at 3.0 wpg, will be injecting CO2 when I get my plants, and plan to use the PPS pro dosing.

My questionis, using a Red Sea test kit, I get a kH of 0. My pH was 6.4. I raised my pH to 8.0 using baking soda, and my kH still reads as 0. As an aside, my gH was 140 ppm before adding the baking soda and killing half of my fish.

Could the test kit be not working??? I never even get the initial color (blue) when I test, it goes right to the pinkish color. I've been considering getting a different brand of kit to verify.

Won't I have difficulty getting CO2 to disolve and stay suspended at such a low kH?

04-21-2009, 07:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
rodder4hire Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 19 iTrader Ratings: 0 Plant Points: 1350	starting pps pro tank I am starting a 70 gallon "high tech" plant tank. Right now there are only a couple of plants and a few (a few less than yesterday) fish. I am using gravel substrate, T5 lighting at 3.0 wpg, will be injecting CO2 when I get my plants, and plan to use the PPS pro dosing. My questionis, using a Red Sea test kit, I get a kH of 0. My pH was 6.4. I raised my pH to 8.0 using baking soda, and my kH still reads as 0. As an aside, my gH was 140 ppm before adding the baking soda and killing half of my fish. Could the test kit be not working??? I never even get the initial color (blue) when I test, it goes right to the pinkish color. I've been considering getting a different brand of kit to verify. Won't I have difficulty getting CO2 to disolve and stay suspended at such a low kH?