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Newb to Planted Tanks, Multiple Questions


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I went to BA to check out the Discus Buffer Seachem product, just for my own curiosity again. Dont use this in your planted tank. It has a phosphate base and will considerably alter any of your fertilizing program. Again it is not required for Edmonton tapwater for either discus or plants.

Garhan

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If you feel that you must use something to reduce pH, Acid Buffer by Seachem (or Sodium bicarbonate) will do quite nicely without adding any phosphates. It also won't mess with the CO2 chart if you're trying to figure out how much CO2 is dissolved.

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I used it when I cycled the tank and I am hoping that is what is confusing me. I did a KH test where I had to add a drop to the sample until the water changed color and multiply by 10 to get the parts per million. I needed 13 drops to get it to change colour... Using the CO2 calculator on the forum here it ended up showing as 40 ppm of CO2 which is nowhere close to what it should be. (not to mention being lethal)

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The CO2 Calculator seems to use the 'degrees' not the PPM... multiply your PPM by 0.056 for the degrees, in your case about 7 degrees... Which working backwards I see your pH is about 8, and your 'true' CO2 is at around 2 ppm...

Unless my assumptions are all incorrect... in which case disregard this post, completely :wacko:

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Using the CO2 calculator on the forum here it ended up showing as 40 ppm of CO2 which is nowhere close to what it should be. (not to mention being lethal)

If Garhan's findings about the buffer you are using are correct, your CO2 calculations are invalid. The calculation assumes there is only a bicarbonate buffer present. In your case, you have a phosphate one on the top of it.

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