Drop In Ph

[smithyif]

just wondering if anybody out there can help , ive had my aquarium about 8 weeks now , ive been doing regular water changes approx 20% to 50% every day to cycle my aquarium , my nitrites , nitrates and ammonia are not dropping BUT my PH is ,and is now approx 5.5 can anybody help me please cheers Ian

 

[iffles]

5.5! wow thats low! allowing the pH to go too low can sometimes stop a cycle. lol, do you have any fish in there? (fish in or fish less?) are you adding ammonia?

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Smithy and Welcome to TFF!

It would certainly be helpful if you can confirm whether or not there is fish in the tank.

Generally speaking, when pH drops to 6.0, the cycle stalls (the bacteria stay alive but stop processing fish waste). When the pH drops to aroud 5.5, the bacteria start to die off.

It sounds like your water is very soft, and therefore prone to pH crashes, and this is inhibiting your cycle.

Can you let us know what pH your tap water is?

Once we get answers to these things, we will be able to help further.

Cheers

BTT

 

[smithyif]

5.5! wow thats low! allowing the pH to go too low can sometimes stop a cycle. lol, do you have any fish in there? (fish in or fish less?) are you adding ammonia?

hello ive got 20 fish in the tank , and i have not added ammonia yet , would you suggest adding it?

 

[smithyif]

Hi Smithy and Welcome to TFF!

It would certainly be helpful if you can confirm whether or not there is fish in the tank.

Generally speaking, when pH drops to 6.0, the cycle stalls (the bacteria stay alive but stop processing fish waste). When the pH drops to aroud 5.5, the bacteria start to die off.

It sounds like your water is very soft, and therefore prone to pH crashes, and this is inhibiting your cycle.

Can you let us know what pH your tap water is?

Once we get answers to these things, we will be able to help further.

Cheers

BTT

Hello BTT i do have fish in the tank approx 20 tetras guppies and 1 red tail shark and the PH of the tap water is approx 8.0

 

[arobinson1984]

Certainly DO NOT add ammonia to the tank, you only add ammonia if you are performing a fishless cycle which you are not if you already have fish in there.

What have you got in the tank? Do you have any wood such as bogwood? as this would lower the PH.

If your tap water is at PH 8 then something in the tank must be lowering it, you need to perform a LARGE water change asap to raise the PH back up as already mentioned above, at the current level of PH 5.5 the cycle will have stalled. Change as much water as you can, about 90% just basically leave enough water in to cover the fish. As long as your roughly temperature match the new water and use dechlor then the large water change wont have any negative effects.

Andy

 

[ibuyafish]

No, the fish produce ammonia so you won't need to add it from what I understand.

Having a pH of 8 for tap seems high to me. How are you testing your pH, are you using test strips or chemicals? Either way, try testing your water times, one right after the other. If the samples are shifting then you have bad strips or chems. If they are the same then your testing equipment is fine.

 

[drobbyb]

Toward the end of a cycle, nitrates can often lower pH, but if you are doing multiple water changes it has to be something else. Sorry not much help this time, but I thought that we could at least cross one off the list.

 

[OldMan47]

Where you seem to be is at a stage where the fish waste is supplying more ammonia than the tank can readily process properly. In essence you are the biological filter for your fish by doing large partial water changes. You need to measure the pH of your tap water and try to maintain the pH of the tank above 7.0 by doing water changes. If you cannot maintain a healthy pH value on the tank using water changes, your next choice would be to add a pH stabilizer to the water. The most common way to do that is to put some crushed coral or crushed shells into the flow path of the filter. Since shells and coral are composed mostly of calcium carbonate, they will tend to raise the pH as they dissolve in low pH tank water and will add to both the hardness and KH of your water. That means it will become harder for things to drop the tank water's pH. If you are still developing the bacterial colony of your filter, the better pH will help that process to its finish. If you have an established cycle, it will help keep the bacteria alive and growing.

 

[smithyif]

No, the fish produce ammonia so you won't need to add it from what I understand.

Having a pH of 8 for tap seems high to me. How are you testing your pH, are you using test strips or chemicals? Either way, try testing your water times, one right after the other. If the samples are shifting then you have bad strips or chems. If they are the same then your testing equipment is fine.

Hi im using nutafin mini master liquid test kit ,ive tested the water and the testes all show PH of 8 , thankyou for the help cheers Ian

Certainly DO NOT add ammonia to the tank, you only add ammonia if you are performing a fishless cycle which you are not if you already have fish in there.

What have you got in the tank? Do you have any wood such as bogwood? as this would lower the PH.

If your tap water is at PH 8 then something in the tank must be lowering it, you need to perform a LARGE water change asap to raise the PH back up as already mentioned above, at the current level of PH 5.5 the cycle will have stalled. Change as much water as you can, about 90% just basically leave enough water in to cover the fish. As long as your roughly temperature match the new water and use dechlor then the large water change wont have any negative effects.

Andy

Hello Andy and thankyou for your time in helping me out , i did have some drift/bogwood in the tank , which i have now removed and also done a 90% water change ,all the water i added was about 24oC which is the same temp as in the tank , once again thankyou for the help , i`ll let you know the out come when i test the water in 24 hrs , cheers Ian