[stuckintexas]

anyone in the area raising or breeding german blue rams? i am a bit concerned with the water in arlington, 7.5ph...i will have ada amazonia in the tank so that should drop the ph. ill also have co2. the biggest worry is the water changes. the EI method of dosing calls for a 50% change at the end of each week. let say at the end of the week i have a ph of 6.8 (i dont know if this is accurate but i am guessing it could be because of the substrate im using and i hear co2 drops the ph but is that right?) and then i do a 50% and put in new water from the tap. wont that come out to 7.15 ph? wont that swing in ph be tough on the fish? any help is appreciated.

 

[stuckintexas]

thanks. is there a way to measure my tds?

 

[stuckintexas]

cool. thanks niko! but is this really important to measure? i mean my tds are what they are, i cant really change it unless i want to go with ro water...which i want to avoid due to cost. how about a co2 measure/checker thing? is that important when you are using DIY co2 fermentation? I was told by the guy at the LFS that if im using DIY co2 then i probably dont need to worry about putting in too much for the fish. what do you think?

 

[stuckintexas]

i am going to run 2 jugs for co2, they will be staggered by 1 week so i should have a consistent flow. the one issue im having right now is i dont know what my flow will be like. as of now i am going to use the hagen filter as a diffuser that you suggested and i will have my rena xp2 jet nozzle rippling the surface. i was thinking of using a koralia 1 but i dont want to have too much flow in my tank. my tank is the hex and it is narrow and tall. i suppose i can wait to see how the co2 bubbles disperse through the tank before i decide that i need more flow. what do you think?

 

[stuckintexas]

okay, flow seems to be good with the xp2 can filter. also, i have a feeling that staggering the co2 jugs by 7 days wont be enough and will lead to inconsistency as you mention niko. instead i may try a 4 day stagger. i will just wait to see when my bubble counter starts slowing down.