Need Help With My Ph

[Malawi MaD]

Thanks Steve and your welcome, anytime

 

[justin85]

Bicarb will take the PH upto a max of 8.2 but 7.8 is a more normal pH for the mbuna. Then, when the buffer us added that will hold and stablise your water hardness as well as the PH. Only need to add to what you take out when it comes to weekly water changes. A few people do use the epsom salts which will buffer it, but I much prefer to use malawi salts personally as that has an assortment of about 8 minerals. The minerals affect the fishes osmoregulation so the nearer you can get to the make up of the water in the lake the better.

I'm using TMC Tropic Marin Pro Cichlid Mineral Malawi & Tanganjika Salt

 

[Malawi MaD]

Ok, ive never used that personally but im pretty sure it will be very similar to the seachem lake salts. How much bicarb/epsom salts are you/have you added? If the TM Pro Cichlid Mineral works similar to the lake salts then all that's needed is 1 teaspoon of the bicarb and/or epsom salts per 25L then add your cichlid buffers to stabilise your water(as long as the desired PH is reached). Its strange why its suddenly decreased?
When are your fish coming??

For now Id add the bicarb and the recommend dosage of the Pro cichlid minerals (not sure if its 5ml per 40 to 45L) I know that's the dosage with most buffers. Then I'd just leave it running for three or four days and see where it settles at. You can always bring the pH up with bi-carb or Cichlid Buffer if it stubbornly stays low. That way you will have a better idea of whether you will need to add anything when doing water changes in the future.

Just remember Don't confuse Cichlid salts (which raises GH AKA permanent hardness AKA Calcium hardness and also adds trace elements) with Cichlid Buffer (which raises KH AKA temporary hardness AKA carbonate hardness).

 

[justin85]

I have added no bicarb or epsom salt yet, just the TMC tropic. My fish are coming Tuesday before 12:00. There is nothing in the tank that would lower the PH and for the 3 week fishless cycle it was stable at 7.5 but the KH and GH were both low so I decided to try out the TMC, the one you have recommended I can't seem to get anywhere in the uk.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Right ok, there's your problem then, the TMC Im pretty sure will only stabilise and buffer your general hardness, It says it will raise the PH but I cant see it, as its used to introduce the correct minerals as well as acting as a buffer. Its very similar to the lake salts i use but i still have to use the bicarb and epsom salts as that's what raises the PH. Id still add the bicarb and epsom and monitor it for the next few days, once its reached the PH your wanting then add the TMC cichlid pro mineral, this in turn will stabilise your PH (plus the coral in your filters will help out too). Some LFS's have the seachem products but i buy mine of ebay?

 

[justin85]

Right ok, there's your problem then, the TMC Im pretty sure will only stabilise and buffer your general hardness, It says it will raise the PH but I cant see it, as its used to introduce the correct minerals as well as acting as a buffer. Its very similar to the lake salts i use but i still have to use the bicarb and epsom salts as that's what raises the PH. Id still add the bicarb and epsom and monitor it for the next few days, once its reached the PH your wanting then add the TMC cichlid pro mineral, this in turn will stabilise your PH (plus the coral in your filters will help out too). Some LFS's have the seachem products but i buy mine of ebay?

Nope, nothing on eBay. Just searched google and iv found some but not sure which one it is, anyways at the moment the water in my tank has a nitrate reading of 110+ so should I do a water change and then try and get the parameters right do you think ?

 

[justin85]

Just an update, I did a large water change just now and when I was adding the water back in to the tank I was calculating the volume so it will be easier to add the bicarb/epson salt and TMC pro. So I left about 25L in the bottom of the tank and in the filters there is also 25L in total, so 50L left in the tank + filters, So I added 2 tsp of Bicarb and 2 tsp of Epson salt to start with. I have got 2x 25L water drums for my water changes so this makes it verry easy for me to add everything, so I then added 4x 25L drums and to each of them I added 1 tsp of each Bicarb and Epson salt. Does this sound about right ?

After the tank was full I added the TMC pro which following the instructions worked out as 7 1/2 spoons (it come with a spoon so im not 100% on the exact amount) And then topped up the ammonia to 4ppm.

I hope that i've done this right first time as it will save time and another water change!

I am going to do a test in a hour of all the paramiters and I will post the results, Wish me luck

 

[Malawi MaD]

Sounds good Justin, just keep monitoring it. You can add if you need to at a later date. The drums will really help you out to when it comes to adding when you do water changes etc..

 

[justin85]

Sounds good Justin, just keep monitoring it. You can add if you need to at a later date. The drums will really help you out to when it comes to adding when you do water changes etc..

Just did a test, And all looks good Apart from 1 reading which I really didnt want to see and I hope drops out tomorrow Nitrite

PH: 8.4

Ammonia: 4

Nitrite: 0.8

Nitrate: 10

KH: 180

GH: 160

Any idea why I would get a Nitrite reading on a cycled tank ?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Not to sure, you haven't been adding food or anything have you during the cycle? Id check it again tomorrow if its providing the same reading, then do another slight water change. Seems strange why your getting that reading but It should settle a lot more once the fish get in there and you should be able to get the nitrates down no problem with a water change. Dont worry mate it will all settle

 

[justin85]

Not to sure, you haven't been adding food or anything have you during the cycle? Id check it again tomorrow if its providing the same reading, then do another slight water change. Seems strange why your getting that reading but It should settle a lot more once the fish get in there and you should be able to get the nitrates down no problem with a water change. Dont worry mate it will all settle

Nope, no food added just ammonia daily up to 4ppm, The nitrates dont worry me as I will do at the least one more water change before adding the fish, its the Nitrite reading I really wasn't expecting to see. I will test again tomorrow and if the Nitrite has not gone down, I will try adding less ammonia.

Thanks for your help tho mate, really appreciate it (first time keeping cichlids)



edit:

The Nitrate readying before the water change today was 110+ so I did well to get it right down to just 10.

 

[Malawi MaD]

I meant nitrite sorry about that, you should be able to get this down to without too much of a problem. Your welcome, anytime, just ask

 

[Malawi MaD]

Also what fish are you getting, forgot to ask (if you dont mind me asking )

 

[justin85]

10x Pseudotropheus Saulosi

I was advised on a different post by some people on here that these were best suited for my tank size. ( I wanted bigger mbuna but I took the advice of people who keep these fish )
I will probably get no more that 20 total but I'm buying them young so I can't pick the sex of them, fingers crossed I don't end up with $hit loads of makes lol

 

[Malawi MaD]

10x Pseudotropheus Saulosi

I was advised on a different post by some people on here that these were best suited for my tank size. ( I wanted bigger mbuna but I took the advice of people who keep these fish )
I will probably get no more that 20 total but I'm buying them young so I can't pick the sex of them, fingers crossed I don't end up with $hit loads of makes lol

Pseudo saulosi are a really nice fish, both brilliant looking males and females. What size tank do you have? There is a few other species you could have if you have a slightly smaller tank. Saulosi are a good fish to start with too, with you not been able to sex them its not to bad if you have more males than females, they are much more forgiving species compared to most. So your 10 should be fine as they settle.
Dont forget to update the stats when you test tomorrow, fingers crossed the nitrite has sorted itself out.