NetMax wrote:

Always happy to help new hobbyists, but I think your Borellii
pictures
expose you as a more experienced hobbyist ;~) (nice pics BTW).

Thank you. I have been keeping fish off and on since 1968, and I've
learned a little along the way. My first forays were "pet store" tries
only though. Later, I _was_ in the house when some jewel cichlids laid
eggs several times, (meaning it was none of my doing) but I couldn't
get the fry past about two weeks. So this time I wanted to set up my
tanks to support a cichlid pair and raise the fry. I have read ALOT
these past few months. Thanks to you, Apisto Dave, Tom B, Don Z, Neil,
fishaholics, and the krib, to name just a few, I've not made too many
mistakes and the babies are truly a remarkable reward for me.

The specs you supplied are tap or tank? To do this properly, they
should
be tap after aging for a day. Presuming that this is so, then your
buffer is about 1.6dkH which is very low. This makes your water both
pH
unstable, but also very malleable if you wanted to change the pH.
Looking at your hardness 2.8dgH (very soft), your water source is
probably a river through municipal supply. Your 7.4pH might be
natural,
or the effects of the treatment plant might be faded (you might be
living
far from the plant, or in a old neighborhood with rusty pipes). Your
NO3
level is perfectly normal, so tank is either properly maintained, or
low
fish load, or lots of plants soaking up the nitrates.

Wow, you done good. The 7.4 is my tap water aged, and also within
about .2 of my tanks, which are all only 2 months old. Our water
source here is from a huge natural resevoir (stream fed lake) in the
Cascade mountains. I got the water parameters from the Utilities dept.
and was floored to see they treat it to ph 8.5! And you also guessed
right; I'm in an old neighborhood far from the treatment plant.


For the purposes of plant growth, CO2 injection will be very
effective
(possibly over-effective, watch your pH carefully, especially at
night).
As it is a 55g (the more water you have, the slower it will react),
this
will act in your favour to absorb pH peaks.

If the CO2 is to effect a lower pH, I wouldn't do it. A natural pH
of
7.4 is not worth changing for anybody. If for plants, the danger is
pH
crash due to low buffer. Prowl around the r.a.f.p. newsgroup to see
what
they are recommending to counteract this. An electronic pH probe
coupled
to a CO2 tank is one solution. I've heard that some tannins have a
buffering effect. Baking soda will boost kH to help maintain your pH

(but don't use it to increase pH). A small DIY setup will probably
give
you the plant boost without driving your pH too low if you are up on
your
maintenance and boost the kH a tiny bit (crushed coral in your
filters?).

I've got a little (~1 cup) of crushed corral mixed in the gravel now.
It's been in the gravel for many years. I should probably add a little
more for swing protection, eh? One plant source says;

"This relationship (pH/KH/C02) will break down at extremely low KH
levels (below 1 degree), when there isn't enough carbonate to
completely buffer the acids present. In that case, the pH can drop
quickly and dramatically. But if the KH is 1 degree or higher, then the
size of the pH swing when injecting CO2 will be determined only by the
amount of CO2 dissolved in the water."

I just recieved my regulator and diffuser last night, I'll pick up a
bottle this weekend. I'm going to go at it slowly and try about 15ppm
CO2 at first, see if I can maintain that and monitor the ph.

Thanks again for your insight and advice. It always helps to get a bit
of a sanity check from someone who's further along the curve.

steve