65 Gallon Planted Tank - Need Help!

[Essjay]

That's a thought.

@jtino what is the pH of your tank water and freshly run tap water?

 

[jtino]

below is a pic of high range PH and regular PH. the test tubes on the left of each bottle are from my tap water. the test tubes on the right are from my tank. looking at the high range PH differences is this an issue? PH level seems to be 8.8 from tap and the PH level in the tank right now seems to be 7.8. with the regular PH theres not much of a difference.

 

[jtino]

Same as the others, I'm stumped. In my experience, my fish seem to really enjoy water changes, getting all playful and often spawning right after a change.
Maybe as was suggested, they're finding the water coming back in too fast and it's scaring them. Can you put the new water into buckets, mix in the declor and let it sit for a few mins, then pour it back in more slowly? I pour using a jug onto a plastic plate floating on the top, so as not to kick up the sand or disturb the plants/fish too much.

Can you describe what you mean when you say they don't look good after a water change?

@Essjay could it be a pH thing?

they all look very dull in color and they aren't really swimming around. but after a day or 2 they look better, but then i have to change the water again because of the spikes. at first i thought i was changing the water too frequently, but the rule of thumb is do water changes when you see ammonia and nitrite and thats why im stumped lol

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

they all look very dull in color and they aren't really swimming around. but after a day or 2 they look better, but then i have to change the water again because of the spikes. at first i thought i was changing the water too frequently, but the rule of thumb is do water changes when you see ammonia and nitrite and thats why im stumped lol

I suspect it might be the difference in pH causing issues, having seen those pics. And yep, normally when there's ammonia/nitrite or nitrates are high, a water change is in order, since these are toxic to fish. But if there's an issue with fluctuating pH too, then that can cause issues. But! I'm not good at the chemistry stuff, and I get lost with pH/GH/KH talk, while @Essjay has her chemistry degrees and really knows her stuff, as does @Wills , so hang on and see what they have to say about the pH tests

 

[jtino]

Thanks for all the feedback @AdoraBelle Dearheart very helpful!

I dont mind doing water changes when needed, especially now that i know it could be the PH level in causing these fish stress. now i just need to find out what is causing these ammonia spikes every couple days. i dont think a difference in these PH levels would cause these spikes

 

[Essjay]

From the photo, your tank and tap pH are both in the high pH range so you can ignore the lower range one for now.


There's quite a difference between tap and tank water. If you are on mains water it's possible your water provider is adding something to the water to raise the pH.
The next thing to do is leave a glass of water standing for 24 hours then test the pH of that. At this stage, just use the high range. If the stood water is lower than freshly run tap water, something is gassing out when it stands, and the tank water has stood for some time as well. The usual advice in these circumstances is to run water into a container a day or two before a water change and use that for water changes. But with 65 gallons, that would mean a pretty big storage container.
Lets see what happens to the pH when tap water is allowed to stand.

 

[jtino]

Is it possible that my bathroom faucet, which is where i get my water from to put in the tank, is a different PH level than my kitchen sink, which was in the picture i provided you?

i just tested the PH from my actual water source (bathroom faucet) and the PH level looks to be at 7.6, which is around the same as the water in the tank. my apologies, as i thought both would be the same. now im really unsure what the issue is ha

 

[Wills]

Loads of really good advice here already Your tank looks awesome but I would recommend adding some of those stems I mentioned I think they will really help the situation. Being open topped you could also add some riparian planting too with things like peace lillys and monsterra will really help the situation.

In terms of if you are still cycling, until you have no ammonia or nitrite regularly you are still cycling.

Along with the ph working out your hardness is going to help too. You can buy hardness tests - the liquid ones are the best and you take a vial of water and using 2 bottles add drops until you get a colour change the number of drops indicates your water hardness. In the meantime you can get an idea off your water companies website, they sometimes have a search function for a zip or post code to give you some of the ratings.

Do you know why your two taps are giving different readings for ph? Do you have a water filter or any kind of water cylinder? Eg does your kitchen feed off a direct hot water and your bathroom come off a hot water cylinder?

Wills

 

[Essjay]

Do you have a water softener of any kind which softens water for the bathroom but not the kitchen?

 

[jtino]

Do you have a water softener of any kind which softens water for the bathroom but not the kitchen?

I dont have any water softener, but i could get some today as i will be going to the fish store. do i need that if my water source is 7.6 - 7.8 PH?

 

[jtino]

Loads of really good advice here already Your tank looks awesome but I would recommend adding some of those stems I mentioned I think they will really help the situation. Being open topped you could also add some riparian planting too with things like peace lillys and monsterra will really help the situation.

In terms of if you are still cycling, until you have no ammonia or nitrite regularly you are still cycling.

Along with the ph working out your hardness is going to help too. You can buy hardness tests - the liquid ones are the best and you take a vial of water and using 2 bottles add drops until you get a colour change the number of drops indicates your water hardness. In the meantime you can get an idea off your water companies website, they sometimes have a search function for a zip or post code to give you some of the ratings.

Do you know why your two taps are giving different readings for ph? Do you have a water filter or any kind of water cylinder? Eg does your kitchen feed off a direct hot water and your bathroom come off a hot water cylinder?

Wills

Thank you! I'll definitely look into some of those plants. i think ill be getting Limniphilla sessiflora and Cardamine lyrata to start off. do you recommend replacing any plants i already have or just leave as is and just add?

If i dont want to get your suggested plants right away, would i just continue to do water changes until the cycle gets caught up? and should i stop adding seachem stability when doing water changes?

I'm not sure why my taps are different. thats something ill have to look into when i get a chance.

 

[Essjay]

Re water softeners - no don't buy anything. It's just that we've had members with hard water who have softeners fitted so when they look up their hardness on their water supplier's website it is different from the water coming out of their taps. I wondered if you had one which might account for the difference in your pH between the kitchen and bathroom.