New Tank....Very Low PH. WHY???

[outdoorzgirl]

I have a 55 gallon tank that I have had set up for 4 weeks. It seems to be about halfway through the cycling process. My ammonia levels have now dropped to about a .5. My nitrite level has soared to around a 5.0. I checked my ph last night and it registered a 6.0!! Can high nitrite levels cause low ph readings? Is that common while a tank is cycling. Can a low ph kill my beneficial bacteria. Please HELP!!! I forgot to mention that my tap water has a naturally low ph of around 6.4 or so.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Hi outdoorzgirl and WELCOME!!

If the Ph out of your tap is 6.4 then no a drop of .4 degress is not uncommon. It will not harm your beneficial bacteria either.

It could however cause problems for your fish once you have fish. Depending on the type of fish you are going to have there are several things you can do.

One is to keep fish that normally live in a lower Ph. or....

Two there are ways to raise the Ph. If you let us know what type of fish you are thinking of keeping we could advise you on the correct Ph for them and give you recommendations on how to adjust the Ph.

Personally I don't like to mess with the Ph.

CM

 

[wetwetwet]

I'm with cm on that one - wouldn't likr to mess with the water or as little as possable

It would advisable to get fish that suit your water parameters - and ther is plenty that suit softer acidic conditions.

If it were me I'd be very tempted to go for discuss and a large school of tetras, cardinals/neons - would make a stunning display B)

jmho

 

[outdoorzgirl]

I was thinking of just keeping a variety of tetras. Neons, glowlights. pristellas. I have 5 blind cave fish (type of tetra) in my tank right now, with a few guppies. I hope that wasn't a mistake. The guppies were from an old 10 gallon which is cycled..which tested for a 6.0 ph level also. I never really tested the 10 gallon for ph levels before since I just had a few guppies in there. How will fish in the entire tetra family handle my kind of ph? What about the guppies? And does this mean that on down the line my hubbies dream of a cichlid tank is out of the question? I seen that both of you were opposed to using products to alter the ph level. IS that because it is so much trouble to keep the ph consistent? Thank you so much for your help! Several years ago in my old home I had a 55 gallon community tank, but never had any ph problems. I don't know what they are putting in my tap to cause it to be like it is. Oh what about a cory cat? How do they like a lower ph?

 

[Very Fishy]

Tetras prefer acidic water(low PH). You should have no problem with tetras. Livebearers(guppies, swordtails) however prefer slightly alkaline water. Baking soda can be added to the water to raise the PH. If you can get your PH close to neutral, you should not have a problem with either of these fish. It is just abit more work to be adjusting your PH.