I'm looking into 1) I. werneri, 2) M. praecox, 3) peacock gudgeons (name?),
and 4) P. furcatus. Is my hardness suitable?
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I've found that the peacock gudgeons do much better in higher pH conditions.
7.2 to 7.5. This might be a better pH for the furcatus too. I think that the
"usual" CO2 conditions tend to push this lower. It might be worthwhile to
leave the CO2 off of that tank and only use it (CO2) with the werneri and
praecox, which would probably be better off in separate tanks.
The reason one would "worry" about a low KH when adding CO2 is that your system
doesn't have much buffering power thus you can get some pretty large pH swings.
Too much KH and you end up using lots of CO2.
Three degrees (53.7 ppm) of carbonate hardness, if I remember was considered
low on the (?water chemistry FAQ) when CO2 was going to be added. That's
somewhere on the
http://cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria They recommended something in the range of
5-7 degrees hardness. A 1/2 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) per
10 gallons (38 liters) will increase your hardness 2 degrees. BTW for those
converting, 1 teaspoon = 5 cc. And since it was reported incorrectly earlier 1
tablespoon (1T) = 3 teaspoons. I was waiting for our resident fish cook to
catch that but I guess SHE only uses pinches instead of actual measurements :-)
Gary Lange
gwlang at ccmail.monsanto.com
Rainbowfish Study Group