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Question regarding usage of kH/pH table in relation to CO2

659 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  ConfidentBlue
Hello everyone!

Might be a dumb question, but here we go!

I've been using a drop counter for my pressurized CO2 system but recently upgraded to a Apex Controller and set up the pH probe today to try this method instead.

It looks like my pH in the tank is 6.3 before any CO2 is added and I have a kH of 2.

According to the table I'm already at 30.1ppm of CO2 without even adding any to the tank so this has me a bit confused!

Maybe I'm reading the table wrong or I mis-understand its use.

I went ahead and set the controller to keep my pH at 6.1-6.2 but after a full day, my plants are no longer pearling like they use to and my drop checker is still blue.

Hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction.
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Can't really say why the tables are sometimes so far off but I do read about it lots of times. Maybe approach from a different way?
I started CO2 with the main concern on my fish. Kind of deal where if the plants made it fine but the fish came first. I also have a controller so I started with testing my PH and then very slowly worked my controller down over a few weeks. At some point, my fish began to act funny and I moved the PH up just a bit. In my case, it turned out to be almost an even 1.0 down from my normal PH (7.8 & 6.8) Just for a bit of slack, I now run 7.0 and fish and plants seem happy. I run African cichlids and was not really expecting to get that low for them to be happy but they keep on breeding!
The water may have acids in it not related to CO2.
Just of info, the water is RO/DI and i add Mosura to remineralize it.
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