Cycle Crashed

[Coolysd]

If your KH (carbonate hardness) is low or non-existent, then nothing can neutralize these acids. This is one reason to make water changes, to bring that buffer up or by adding some sodium bicarbonate or Alkalinity Up to slowly raise the alkalinity up to 6.8-7.0 or to wherever you need it to be for your fish species.

I currently have these items on hand. Which would be best?
Baking Soda
API PH UP
Seachem Neutral Regulator
With all that I've read about "don't chase your PH", this makes me anxious

 

[Colin_T]

View attachment 348922
This my tap water reading. So crazy!

Is that really your tap water?
If yes, then disregard what I said about doing a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.25ppm. DO NOT do big water changes if you have high levels of ammonia in the tap water, especially with a high pH.

If the tap water has 0 ammonia and a relatively normal pH, then you can do big water changes but don't do any for a couple of weeks until the water company makes the water safe.

You need to contact your water company and let them know there is huge amounts of ammonia in the tap water. They need to reduce the amount they are adding. You could also write to the press and let them know the water company is poisoning its customers with ammonia. And maybe write to the government and tell them the water company has screwed up and is poisoning people.

Some water companies add chloramine to drinking water to kill things in it. Chloramine is a mixture of chlorine and ammonia. If they mess up the ratios you get lots of ammonia in the water and ammonia is poisonous to all life forms, not just fish. It kills people, birds, reptiles and animals. There should be no free ammonia in the drinking water. The water company needs to fix this.

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I currently have these items on hand. Which would be best?
Baking Soda
API PH UP
Seachem Neutral Regulator
With all that I've read about "don't chase your PH", this makes me anxious

If the baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate and nothing else, you can add a small amount of that to a bucket of aquarium water. Let the bicarb dissolve and then add some of that water to the aquarium. Let it mix for 30-60 minutes and then test the pH. You only want to raise the pH a little bit at a time (6.0 to 6.2) and then wait a day or two before raising it a bit more.

The other way you can raise the pH, which is slower but safer, is to add some shells, dead coral or limestone rock. You add a small amount to the aquarium, then wait a week or two and see how the pH goes. If it's still too low, you add a bit more and wait another week. Continue adding small amounts each week until the pH gets to a better level. Once the pH is at a level you want, you stop adding shells, dead coral or limestone and they will hold the pH at that level.

 

[Fishfunn]

If you are happy with your current pH level, then I wouldn't do anything but water changes. If you wanted to raise your pH, I guess I would use the SeaChem Neutral Regulator, but that is my preference. I don't chase pH either since my tap water is good quality and I keep fish that like acidic water.

 

[MaloK]

It was taken directly from the tap.

It's atrocious.

Here are the most current params as of 6pm PST.
Amon .5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 6.0
Temp 74.8
View attachment 348965
I also tested KH. The below pic is 1drop, 2drops and 3drops. I'm not sure
exactly what this means so if I could get some direction, it would be much appreciated!
View attachment 348966

You are supposed to add one drop at the time, the solution start being blue, then add one drop at the time and mix, repeat until it turns yellow. the number of drops, see the table of conversion to have the reading.

If you put only one drop and it turns yellow immediately, Your water has nearly no buffer. There are not too many fishes that like water like that.

 

[Essjay]

If that's the API KH tester, it turned yellow with the first drop so your KH is less than 1 dH aka under 17 ppm. That's why the pH in the tank drops; the natural tendency of a tank is to become acidic and in yours there's nothing to stop it.

 

[Fishfunn]

Hi @Coolysd:
I would follow Colin_T's advice using Baking Soda to raise the pH by increasing your KH using sodium bicarbonate.

If the baking soda contains sodium bicarbonate and nothing else, you can add a small amount of that to a bucket of aquarium water. Let the bicarb dissolve and then add some of that water to the aquarium. Let it mix for 30-60 minutes and then test the pH. You only want to raise the pH a little bit at a time (6.0 to 6.2) and then wait a day or two before raising it a bit more.

 

[Coolysd]

Good morning!!
Yesterday afternoon I added the Seachem Neutral Regulator. After 2 hours, checked the PH, it went from 6.0 to 6.6. Checked it again at 8pm, it was 6.4 and KH was 3 or 53.7.
This mornings parameters:
Amon 1
NH3 .0006
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 6.0
KH 2 or 35.8
Temp 76.1

Getting ready to do a 10-15% wc and add the Seachem. The tank itself is crystal clear and the fam seem to be doing okay. I added some Anacharis yesterday and am going to put some fake plants back in just for more hiding places for them (my gut says they miss them lol). I'm guessing that's about all I can do. Just keep monitoring and adjust accordingly.
Thanks again everyone for all of your time and energy that y'all invested in my babies!! I appreciate you more than you know!!

 

[Coolysd]

Just a little preview for y'all. With this shoulder injury (torn rotator cuff) I'm frequently having to take small breaks to rest and just say OUCH !! Even while pushing thru most of the pain it still takes FOREVER to do the smallest task. I'll be lucky to finish up today.