Just checked some pH levels.
8.4 in the tank with just dechlorinated water & running a filter, which tested at 8.2 3 days ago.
8.2 for the glass of dechlorinated water sitting there for 48 hours
8.4 for the glass of tap water @ 48 hours
8.4 for one of the plant storade tanks - running with filter, plants in pots, lights have been on for approx. 6 hours.
8.0 for the puffer tank, lights have been on for approx. 4 hours.
I have turned the light off in the plant storage tank and covered it with towels, and will take another sample to test later.
I have no idea what is happening.
I am going to be putting more planys in the dwarf puffer tank over the next few weeks, and some more bits of wood, etc. for them to explore, so I will probably have to go down the route of adding liquid CO2 at some point to help. I'll be interested to see what happens to the pH then.
I've also just read some information on banana leaves, mulberry leaves and catappa leaves being used in tanks. I'd heard of catappa leaves, but not the others (I mean, I was aware that the plants had leaves
, but not that they were dried and used in tanks). They say that they can lower pH, and that the mulberry leaves are a good source of foor for shrimp - might be useful for info for
@pandaman . They say the banana leaves have similar properties to the catappa, so I was wondering if it would be worth getting some (banana or catappa) for the tanks. If it does change the pH with it also impact the hardness of my water? If so, as long as it's not a big change, will this matter?
Basically, is there anything that can go wrong if I add any of these leaves to the tanks, as long as I do it slowly and keep an eye on the pH? Don't want to have an epic pH crash as the results don't bear thinking about.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks.