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Re: KH, pH, CO2, and I
There's been lots of speculation about exactly what's involved here, but
the impression I'm getting is that while a high KH doesn't explicitly
prevent the pH from changing, it tends to keep the pH high. And when your
pH is already on the high side this can appear to be the same effect.
More importantly, there are lots of factors that might affect the apparent
lack of pH change in my tank. The one factor nobody has mentioned is the
questionable accuracy of my pH test kit. I've never found a really good
one, and when your pH is between 7.4 and 7.8 it's in that "grey area" at
the high end of the low-range kits and the low end of the high-range kits,
and it's hard to get an accurate result.
At any rate, I do know two things: my pH doesn't change drastically and
doesn't ever harm the fish, and the plants generally grow like crazy
regardless of the apparent amount of CO2 they're getting. So I'm going to
leave things as they are, strange or not.
And I'll focus on my new 15gal high tank, which will be a challenge since
it won't have CO2 injection for a while. (I'm just not motivated to do the
yeast thing, and I'll be getting a canister when I set up a bigger tank in
the future...)
--
michael moncur mgm at starlingtech_com http://www.starlingtech.com/
"Exit, pursued by a bear."
-- Stage direction in Shakespeare's _The_Winter's_Tale_