DIY CO2 and very soft water

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: DIY CO2 and very soft water
From: Ezio Ferro <eferro at comau_com>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 17:29:50 +0200

Hi Farzan,

> I know that in order to keep the CO2 from drastically lowering the pH, the
> water should be relatively hard. However, since tetra's like soft water, My
> tank has very soft water (<30 ppm). The current pH is 7.4, temp 77 deg F,
> with amonia, chlorine / chloramine and nitrite all at undetectable levels.
> My question is, how much of a lowering can I expect once the CO2 is added?
> I do not want it to drop below 6.8, as this would be determental for the
> fish. Is there any way to control this once the reaction has started?  I am
> planning on turning on an air-stone or just disconnecting the CO2 at night.

I had 5 months ago same your problem. 
Then I started yeast CO2 with a little of pain.

The water PH is now at 6.5 and stable.
There are two possibilities to control PH:

1) Encrease/decrease the yeast quantity in generator
2) Switch an areator during night, to compensate CO2 generated from
plants.

For my tank isn't necessary any of two. The PH fluctuation from
day/night is
very little and doesn't seems to stress Tetras.

-- 
Ciao.    Ezio in a cloudy and raining Torino.

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FERRO Ezio     Torino - ITALIA                (_)

Quando il gioco si fa' duro,          When the going gets tough,
e' il duro che inizia a giocare.      the tough get going.
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