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Re: hair algae from hell
> >Why are you trying to _raise_ your pH? Your plants would do >better
> at a lower pH, and were probably able to out compete the >algae until
> you did this to them.
>
> When I inherited the tank, the ph was around 5 and the water had no
> detectable hardness. The pH went up as I got the water hardness up.
>
> I'd like the pH to get back down to 7, but I'm not happy with having an
> unbuffered/no hardness tank. I suspect (hope?) the pH will drift back
> down over time.
This may sound like a dumb question, but how does a tank have a pH? That
is, if you've changed the water at all since you inherited the tank, the pH
and hardness should match your tap water. It's very unusual to have tap
water at a pH of 5 because that risks wearing away the pipes.
If your water source is a pH of 5, then you can try placing shells in the
tank where water would move over them. Shells or coral gravel, the right
quantity, can keep a low pH tank at a steady 7.0 and raise hardness.
If your water's pH is dropping because of some feature of the tank that you
inherited with the tank--substrate, ...--then change that and you'll be
better off than playing with the water chemistry.
Greg. Tong
San Francisco, CA, USA
gtong at sirius_com
"Every infinity is composed of only two halves."