Increasing KH

[face mcshooty]

my KH in my tape water is none existent this hasn’t been an issue because I always had larger fish and water changes were enough to keep my ph about 6 but I’m now trying to keep a community tank with plants so my ph has dropped to below 6 and that is causing an ammonia spike every night when the co2 builds up

More water: ph at night is lower than 6 in the day it’s 6.4 KH not detectable I know I have a little though mostly phosphate this low to at about 20 to 40 ppm

any way I’m just curious how you guys would increase my KH baking soda crushed coral or something else

 

[duanes]

Its quite normal for pH to drop at night if you have plants, because at night plants use oxygen, yet during the day they use CO2.
Crushed coral in a filter or sump, or aragonite added to the substrate might help stabilize pH a little.
Baking soda can sometimes be used, but it can be very temporary, and then unless you are consistent, can cause a yoyo effect.
I used aragonite in a fluidized bed reactor, experimenting with pH and alkalinity stability, and would add a tbsp to the reactor every couple weeks of so.

The fluidized reactor above was about 4 ft tall, and used about 4 lbs of aragonite (crushed coral)

 

[face mcshooty]

Its quite normal for pH to drop at night if you have plants, because at night plants use oxygen, yet during the day they use CO2.
Crushed coral in a filter or sump, or aragonite added to the substrate might help stabilize pH a little.
Baking soda can sometimes be used, but it can be very temporary, and then unless you are consistent, can cause a yoyo effect.
I used aragonite in a fluidized bed reactor, experimenting with pH and alkalinity stability, and would add a tbsp to the reactor every couple weeks of so.
View attachment 1533669View attachment 1533670
The fluidized reactor above was about 4 ft tall, and used about 4 lbs of aragonite (crushed coral)

Ya I was thinking about putting it in a canister filter I have a spare one I normally don’t really care about ph but I’m getting a mini cycle every night because the bacteria stops working it’s annoying lol by the way there’s no fish in this aquarium yet it just finished cycling about a week ago and I haven’t got fish yet