Help!

[FishGuest5123]

I have always been told not to attempt to change PH. Never attempted myself. Just what I’ve been told.

 

[Essjay]

Don't add chemicals to change the pH. We should try to keep the number of chemicals added to the tank as few as possible.

Can you tell us what the GH, KH and pH numbers are please?

 

[AJRenee]

That’s it! You changed the cartridge and threw out a lot of your BB. Never change your cartridge. Only swish it in tank water. Most of my cartridges are over 2 years old. The manufacturers just want to sell more and make money when they tell you to change it. Most of your beneficial bacteria grows on those cartridges. As far as cleaning your tank, never remove your fish. This causes them stress. Use a syphon hose to vacuum the substrate and drain the tank about 70%. Wipe the sides and refill with dechlorinated tap water as close as possible to same temp as tank water.

edited

Thank you so much I will do this today

 

[AJRenee]

Don't add chemicals to change the pH. We should try to keep the number of chemicals added to the tank as few as possible.

Can you tell us what the GH, KH and pH numbers are please?

Yes, the gh is “very hard” but the kh is “low” and the ph is low, like super low, at about 5.6. It used to be 7-7.5... and I know kh is a buffer for the ph, but with it being low, I feel like it’s not able
To do it’s job of maintaining stable levels and sorry, I have the test strips currently so I don’t have an exact number, but the ph is exact.

 

[Essjay]

How often do you do water changes, and how much?

The natural tendency of a tank is to become acidic, but KH is a buffer and stops the pH dropping. Where KH is very low it can get used up then there is nothing to to keep the pH stable. This is more likely to happen when insufficient water changes are done. Regular large water changes top up the KH. This is why I asked about your water change regime just in case.

 

[AJRenee]

How often do you do water changes, and how much?

The natural tendency of a tank is to become acidic, but KH is a buffer and stops the pH dropping. Where KH is very low it can get used up then there is nothing to to keep the pH stable. This is more likely to happen when insufficient water changes are done. Regular large water changes top up the KH. This is why I asked about your water change regime just in case.

Usually I do a weekly water change of about 15 percent or so! It is a smaller column tank, sometimes I will do twice a week 10 percent, just depending on the readings!
but I don’t usually do “large” water changes, but today I am going to.
Unfortunately we are Moving today (a short distance) so I HAVE to move the fish into a temporary transport tank that I bought along with a filter. I know it will stress them out but I figured I might as well change the water 50-60% while I am at it. Thoughts? They will probably only be in the temp holding for an hour, two tops.

 

[Essjay]

A 50%+ water change every week is the usual recommended amount. That would keep the KH topped up.

As for moving, yes you need to put the fish in a temporary container as moving a glass tank with water in it causes the water to slosh around which strains the seams and can lead to a leaking tank. But use the filter from the tank not a brand new one if possible. If it's not possible, keep the filter in some tank water, or remove the media and put that in tank water.
Set the tank back up as soon as you can.

 

[seangee]

Yes, the gh is “very hard” but the kh is “low” and the ph is low, like super low, at about 5.6. It used to be 7-7.5... and I know kh is a buffer for the ph, but with it being low, I feel like it’s not able
To do it’s job of maintaining stable levels and sorry, I have the test strips currently so I don’t have an exact number, but the ph is exact.

My KH is 0 but my pH is perfectly stable. I know that I need to change 70-80 percent in my tanks every week to keep it that way. That way the water in the tank is always similar to my source - so I would not have any issues if I need to do an emergency large change.

 

[Ch4rlie]

My KH is 0 but my pH is perfectly stable. I know that I need to change 70-80 percent in my tanks every week to keep it that way. That way the water in the tank is always similar to my source - so I would not have any issues if I need to do an emergency large change.

Do you use RO water?

0 kH is pure water and normally one would find pH around 7, neutral, in pure water.

Just curious.

 

[seangee]

Do you use RO water?

0 kH is pure water and normally one would find pH around 7, neutral, in pure water.

Just curious.

Yes I do. I let the tanks find their own pH. 2 of them are at around 5.3 and the 3rd is around 6. I re-mineralise the 4th tank (6dGH and 3dKH). That one is stable at 7.

 

[AJRenee]

Do you use RO water?

0 kH is pure water and normally one would find pH around 7, neutral, in pure water.

Just curious.

I use tap water, I fill
Up my gallon jugs, add prime to them as well as a small amount of the bio booster , water tests great, not to sound stupid, but what is RO water?

 

[AJRenee]

A 50%+ water change every week is the usual recommended amount. That would keep the KH topped up.

As for moving, yes you need to put the fish in a temporary container as moving a glass tank with water in it causes the water to slosh around which strains the seams and can lead to a leaking tank. But use the filter from the tank not a brand new one if possible. If it's not possible, keep the filter in some tank water, or remove the media and put that in tank water.
Set the tank back up as soon as you can.

Good news and bad news, all of my
Fish made it, except one, one of my cory catfish died from the move this morning, sad day I guess it was too much stress. The rest of the fish seem great, their color is back, and they are swimming around like normal and eating

 

[Ch4rlie]

I use tap water, I fill
Up my gallon jugs, add prime to them as well as a small amount of the bio booster , water tests great, not to sound stupid, but what is RO water?

Not stupid at all, the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask

RO water is Reverse Osmosis water, very basically it’s tap water going through 3-5 stages of filtration that takes out minerals out of water to make pure water that’s softer and it’s generally used in saltwater tank systems but some freshwater keepers use this to lower their pH or if thier tap water is bad quality for fish tanks.

 

[AJRenee]

Not stupid at all, the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask

RO water is Reverse Osmosis water, very basically it’s tap water going through 3-5 stages of filtration that takes out minerals out of water to make pure water that’s softer and it’s generally used in saltwater tank systems but some freshwater keepers use this to lower their pH or if thier tap water is bad quality for fish tanks.

Oh thank you! Is it unusual to have very hard water but low kh and ph? I mean I guess my fish are used to it! But I just want the ph stabilized a little more. I ordered an alkaline buffer... just trying to learn as I go.

 

[HoldenOn]

Not stupid at all, the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask

RO water is Reverse Osmosis water, very basically it’s tap water going through 3-5 stages of filtration that takes out minerals out of water to make pure water that’s softer and it’s generally used in saltwater tank systems but some freshwater keepers use this to lower their pH or if thier tap water is bad quality for fish tanks.

Don't mean to hijack, but should I be using RO? I never knew what that meant and I have a Reverse Osmosis filter. I've always heard fish do better at the lower end of their pH range.