Hello again everyone:
I am using a DIY Co2 bottle injected into the intake of my HOT Magnum
filter.It is working
well. My problem is my Ph is 7.2 and my Kh is
4. This gives me a Co2 rate of 6 mlg/liter.
barely more than I would have with no Co2
injection at all.
How do I lower my Ph without lowering my Kh?
I tried to raise my Kh with baking soda but
it raised my Ph,so I gained nothing.
I have been dosing Ph Down but My Ph just
bounces back up.
My Dh is high as well.But I don't want to get into
RO water and all that expense if I can avoid it.

Thanks in advance.
Good to see that Chuck and Tom are still in the
group as they helped me alot in the past.

Bruce

I am using a DIY Co2 bottle injected into the intake of my HOT Magnum
filter.It is working
well. My problem is my Ph is 7.2 and my Kh is
4. This gives me a Co2 rate of 6 mlg/liter.
barely more than I would have with no Co2
injection at all.

How do I lower my Ph without lowering my Kh?

Inject more CO2.

I tried to raise my Kh with baking soda but
it raised my Ph,so I gained nothing.

It will - at a given level of CO2, PH & KH will work hand in hand - to be
more exact, PH is a product of KH. As KH goes down, so does PH and vice
versa (assuming constant CO2)

I have been dosing Ph Down but My Ph just
bounces back up.

It will - don't bother with it (!)

My Dh is high as well.But I don't want to get into
RO water and all that expense if I can avoid it.

GH is a very different thing to KH. I am no chemist but as I understand it
Kh is a meaure of the amount of carbonate in the water while GH is a measure
of the amount of mineral ions in the water.

Your KH at 4 degrees is about as low as you want it - unless you want a very
acidic tank. You havn't said what you are trying to keep & what conditions
you are aiming for but if you want a lower PH your options are to either
reduce the KH which you can do by adding some peat to your filter or
alternatively you will have to add more CO2.

The water out my tap has a KH of about 9.5 Deg & my GH is at about 16 deg.
It also has 45-50ppm of Nitrates in it (yeuch!).

I have a rig I built for filtering water through peat - I make about 180
litres at a time & filter the water through a Nitragon nitrate filter when I
fill it up. I set the KH to about 5 degrees and in doing this the GH also
comes down to about 10-11 degrees (which I don't understand why but its no
bad thing so I'll take the deal!)

The resulting water has a base PH of around 7.8 (assuming 2-3ppm CO2.). When
I inject CO2 into it to 15ppm I get PH 7 in my tank.

HTH

I.

(Bruce Butz) wrote in message ...
Hello again everyone:
I am using a DIY Co2 bottle injected into the intake of my HOT Magnum
filter.It is working
well. My problem is my Ph is 7.2 and my Kh is
4. This gives me a Co2 rate of 6 mlg/liter.
barely more than I would have with no Co2
injection at all.
How do I lower my Ph without lowering my Kh?
I tried to raise my Kh with baking soda but
it raised my Ph,so I gained nothing.
I have been dosing Ph Down but My Ph just
bounces back up.
My Dh is high as well.But I don't want to get into
RO water and all that expense if I can avoid it.

Thanks in advance.
Good to see that Chuck and Tom are still in the
group as they helped me alot in the past.

All you need to do is simply add more CO2 till your pH is down to
6.6-6.8.
Plants grow using CO2, not pH down.
RO will not add CO2 to your tank either.

Adding CO2 is all you need to do and is the only thing that will solve
your issue here.
Consider getting gas CO2 as it is very easy and stable and infinitely
adjustable. This cost about the same as RO.
Add another DIY bottle or consider the gas tank. You can daisy chain
another CO2 enriched planted tank for about 20-25$ for each tank you
want to add CO2 to by adding another needle valve to the regulator
using a "T". Add as many as you have tanks that need CO2.
A 10-20lb gas tank cost about 8-15$ to fill and last about 1 year on a
135-200gallon worth of tank running 24/7.
I touch it perhaps once every 3-6 months for a few seconds.

It's money well spent. No one ever sell their CO2 gas tank systems:-)

But add another DIY bottle and make sure you keep up on the changes
with the bottle also. I changed mine weekly. Also check the pH in the
morning and at night right before the lights go off.
Regards,
Tom Barr





Bruce

Bruce Butz wrote:

Hello again everyone:
I am using a DIY Co2 bottle injected into the intake of my HOT Magnum
filter.It is working
well. My problem is my Ph is 7.2 and my Kh is
4. This gives me a Co2 rate of 6 mlg/liter.
barely more than I would have with no Co2
injection at all.
How do I lower my Ph without lowering my Kh?
I tried to raise my Kh with baking soda but
it raised my Ph,so I gained nothing.
I have been dosing Ph Down but My Ph just
bounces back up.

Sounds like you don't quite understand the relationship between pH, KH
and CO2 concentration. The pH level is the result of having xxx ppm in
the water with a given level of KH. Your KH of 4 degrees is probably ok
so long as it doesn't drop off. You just need to increase the volume
and/or efficiency of your CO2 injection. You don't say how big your tank
is. From what I've heard you would need about one 2-liter bottle per 20
gallons.

Using the pH down may have screwed up your ability to use the pH/KH/CO2
charts. One of the experts in this group would have to weigh in on that
one. But, I have yet to understand why anyone would want to use the pH
adjusters in the first place.




--

Scott Lewis