Ph adjustment

HI Ramsey....get a kH test kit if your tank pH tests very low again. kH as you may know is a test for the water's buffering capabilty or carbonate hardness. Water with a low kH has minimal buffering capability and anything that tends to lower water pH will do it quickly rather than slowly. One thing that can lower pH is overfeeding and lack of frequent water changes. I agree with testing your tap water as a start. Let it sit for a few minutes or shake it up as there are dissolved gases in it that may cause a slight difference in the pH. If your tap is normal pH and your tank is truly acidic.....try frequent water changes to bring the pH back up and if the kH is truly ver low, that is one time where you may want to bring it up a bit. Good luck...I'll follow along with every one else. SH

I've attached an image of my tank prior to the driftwood going in. Can any of these plants cause the ph to rise?

Unlikely...some like anacharis can actually leach out calcium tho. SH

Looks a lot like my plants, (I think I see amazon swords, anachris, moneywort and some sort of thin leaf grass). They shouldn't have any effect on your pH. What size tank do you have (pardon me if you have already said and I missed it)? Smaller tanks seem to be harder to keep a stable pH in. I am experiencing a slight problem with my 2.5 gallon tanks but they are only dropping to around 6.0.

The bogwood will have an affect but should not drop your ph anywhere near 4, I would remove it though, at least for the time being. Your plants are fine, don't need to change anything there.

Your tap water is fine though so i would do at least a 25% water change and then repeat it in a couple of days. In fact keep up the water changes until your ph is back to 7 or thereabouts.

Good luck!

I've removed the driftwood and carried out a 25% water change. I'll wait for the new testing kit and re-test.

Thanks to all

I'll keep you updated.

Good luck.

how bigs your tank , it must be small if a peice of bog woods lowered it that fast and that low.
best to stick to tank decor that dosent alter ph in small tanks, as they can be unstable at the best of times.

The wood or even some lava rocks would work I know they raised the ph in my tank (not that I was trying to achieve that).

My tank is a Jewel Rio 180 (180 litres I believe).

An update this afternoon - after yesterdays 25% water change there was an improvement so this morning I used 'Ph Up' again and its now 7.0 Neutral Ph. I'll test it tonight and tomorrow morning again. My new test kit will be here tomroow so I'll re-do the tests with that.

The two Corys are swimmng about merrily.

After adding quite a few plants to my 29 gallon last week, my pH has now dropped to about 6.0. I am totally confused as to why that would cause a pH drop. You would think that would create more oxygen and possibly raise the pH slightly. I haven't ever had a problem in this tank. It has always stayed around 6.6 to 6.8. Anyone with ideas???