clarification/questions about pH, GH, KH (in-depth)

[wilkyb]

2 hours ago, Hobbit said:

Aha!!! We have found one of the core misconceptions!!

Hydrogen DOES have a proton. In its neutral state, it has one proton and one electron. So as a cation (H+), it doesn’t have any electrons at all. It is simply a proton all by itself.

Now that you know that hydrogen has a proton, hopefully that clears up a lot.

I haven’t read the rest of your replies yet, but I just had to jump on this piece of knowledge because I think it’s one of the links we’ve been missing. 😃

BRAIN BLAST!!!

[wilkyb]

2 hours ago, Fish Folk said:

Adding CO2 leads to major pH complications, since it is essentially cutting into the buffer as it works through the tank. What can happen (has happened for us) is that a tank pH will be resting on a plateau, so-to-speak, as CO2 is being added, but will suddenly run out of "buffer" (hardness) and crash into an acid vat (i.e. going from 7.8 pH to 6.0 overnight). Fish die . . . 

Yup, this happened in my cycling aquarium two or three nights ago where I was running co2 for an afternoon. I did an ammonia test and it read ~1.5ppm. The pH went from 7.25 down to 6.25... the three guppies I have were very docile then. I’m not sure if how much the co2 caused the drop in pH, & how much the ammonia caused the pH swing. This was day 5 of setting up this aquarium. I did a 50% water change and the pH is up to 7.6

Edited January 21, 2021 by wilkyb

[wilkyb]

42 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

Temperature, flow and aeration really affect things as well in an aquarium. I think you'll enjoy chasing this whole thread for a long time. However, most aquarists will probably discover new nuances to things if they allow a chance to proceed, step by step, from the elementary organic / chemical matters (e.g. getting a strong biological colony started to power through the nitrogen cycle) to secondary issues of pH, hardness, etc. before dialing in more acutely. 

I have lots of flow in this baby! I made sure if I’m going to spend $100 CDN on plants that they’re not going to die!

I’m taking my time with cycling, and not doing too much at once, keeping water parameters stable. I’m not too upset when I see a yellow leaf or two; the plants are just adapting to the new environment

[Hobbit]

@Streetwise I would consider them somewhat similar in that you can add them to adjust the pH of your tank. However I don’t think that tannins actually provide a pH stabilizing effect like carbonate and bicarbonate (which is what you get from crushed coral), which can either give up or take up hydrogen ions depending on the water’s pH. That buffering effect is what makes carbonates (KH) so important in our aquariums. 

Also tannins are large organic molecules while carbonate is a really tiny molecule. But that’s just a fun fact.

[Streetwise]

@Hobbit, I found this for you: