Tropical Fish Forums

[aquaBee]

Hey all. Just bought the Fluval Floral 7.9 gal planted aquarium kit. I've used the Fluval stratum substrate for plants, and I think it's driving my pH down really low. Every time the substrate is disturbed, esp today after I anchored down some dwarf baby tears and a regular baby tears plant, the pH just plummets. I can get away with doing 30-40% water changes and bringing the pH up to 6.8-7, but after diffusing CO2 (as I do twice daily), my pH is again down to 6.4-6.6. There is a regular Fluval carbon filter on the tank, and other than substrate and my 2 new plants, there's nothing else in the aquarium.

I plan on keeping fish that thrive in acidic conditions, but will this pH be harmful to the plants? And is it even too low for shrimp and my targeted fish population?

Would appreciate all the help I can get. I've never kept a tank this small and have never kept live plants! All my other aquariums were rockscaped.


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All bleeding stops eventually...

[diademhill]

What is the KH & GH?

[aquaBee]

I've never actually had to monitor those since pH has never been much of a problem for me before. I'll buy a test kit today and check those parameters. But to check my knowledge first, a lower KH can mean an unstable pH due to decreased buffering capacity, yes?

I'll post those values later today. Thanks as always!
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All bleeding stops eventually...

[aquaBee]

So I went to my LFS and they were quite stumped with my pH problem. They checked my KH and said it was just fine. So we were discussing buffers when I asked them to check my pH with their test kit to compare it to mine. Turns out my pH is really around 7.4 and my test kit probably went bad.

One question though. When you first get plants, is it expected that the leaves may go brown for a while and fall off, and subsequently, given the proper environmental conditions, new leaves grow and the plants appear healthier? My full-grown baby tears plant, which I've had for about 24-48 hours, is looking a little sickly... but the dwarf baby tears carpet plant is looking great.

Thanks as always!
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All bleeding stops eventually...