PaulDiLollo said:
I just did a water test and the ammonia read between 1-2ppm. Nitrates were between 5-10ppm and ph was 6.4. Nitrite was 0. I have tested my tap water and both ammonia and nitrates were at 0. I'll keep doing smaller water changes to get the ph back up to 7. Like I said earler, the fish look fine. Swimming around, active, eating, etc.
Something else to be aware of, is the natural and normal lowering of the pH. The pH is related to the GH and KH, and the higher these latter two are, the more stable will be the pH because, to put it as simply as I can, the hardness "buffers" the pH which prevents fluctuations. However, this buffering capability is not endless, and the lower the GH/KH the more susceptible the pH will be to natural acidification and lower. This is not at all bad, so don't be alarmed. But it is important and has risks.
The GH previously was given as 71 and the KH as 53, presumably these numbers are in ppm (parts per million). This is soft water with a low carbonate hardness, so the pH will be more likely to lower, naturally, as the organics build. Provided you keep soft water fish species, this will not pose any real problem.
What I would do is monitor pH regularly. And here there are some points to keep in mind. Always test the pH at roughly the same time each day you test, such as early morning just after the tank light comes on, or some other time is OK. This is because there is a normal diurnal fluctuation in pH, so it will change during the day/night. By testing at approximately the same time each day you test, you will get a much better grasp of what the pH is doing, if anything. Second, the pH will be lowest in the morning, just before the tank light comes on, and highest in the evening when the tank light goes off. This is part of the diurnal fluctuation. By testing always in the morning, you will also have a better idea of just how l ow it tends to be.
I wouldn't be concerned about getting the tank pH up to the same as the tap water. As I've said, the natural tendency to acidify (lower) is going to occur here, because the GH/KH are low, and you do not want to be constantly doing things to cause even more fluctuation in the pH. This can be very detrimental to fish. Some change is fine, and these occur in nature. But we want to keep this minimum. Once you settle in to a normal water change schedule, which should be at least once a week, with the intended fish load, and changing around half the tank volume, you will see the pH stabilizing. Don't worry about water changes impacting this too much; I suspect they won't. But each aquarium will establish its own biological system, and this can vary from tank to tank; I have 8 tanks in my fish room, with identical water changers using plain tap water, and comparable fish loads, and there are varying pH levels that are quite stable.
It would be helpful to find out the source of the ammonia. But so long as the pH is below 7, this is at least not an issue for the fish. Are there live plants? These take up ammonia/ammonium quite rapidly, relative to the growth rate (faster growing plants like floating plants use more).
Byron.
