pH....anyone?

[Braddah]

so im testing my water today and i notice on my 20 gal it droped from 6.5 to about 6.2 (my test kit gives me a rough est.) can anyone explain a drop w/o adding anything to the water...( all oter parameters are normal...a-0, n-0) got any guesses

 

[smb]

Usually a rapid drop like that in pH happens when the water changes aren't done.

How often/how much are your water changes and what do you have in there?

 

[AquaNut]

Could be several things. For one thing, your pH reads differently at different times of the day. Do you have live plants in your tank? CO2 relates to your pH and plants suck it in during the day and give it off at night. Also, do you have any wood in your tank? Did you buy it or cure it yourself? Wood that hasn't been cured properly leaches tannic acid into the water, thereby lowering the pH. A few ideas that come to mind...

 

[Braddah]

SMB-i do a 10-20% once a week...i have 2 live plants in the tank...they have been in about 2 weeks...8 rasboras...4 adf's, 1 molly, 3 guppies...2 oto's....
Aqua-nut- no wood in the 20 but i want to put some wood in my 55 and was wondering about how to cure it...i have a bunch of wood and cant see paying $20 fo fake wood that looks like poo!....any help would be great...

 

[smb]

Sounds like to me you definately do the water changes well enough.

You do gravel cleanings at the same time correct? If so, then you got it down very well and my idea seems to be off.

To use wood you find, I would boil it very well.

 

[Great Lakes]

Two things that will drasyically affect your ph levels are the hardness of your water, and the dissolved CO2 content.

First, check your hardness levels. Soft water will promote low ph readings.

If your hardness is adequate, the addition of an airstone may help.

Is your water soft/low in ph from your source?

 

[Braddah]

i only clean my gravel every month or so...I was did a whole tank and gravel clean and ended up w/ a nitrate spike so i switch off...every 2 weeks i clean either the gravel or the filter but never both at the same time...GL-i have to test the h2o outta the tap...i dint think of that....i have to get a hardness test done at the lfs tommorro-

 

[Braddah]

ok so i think i figured out something.....i put some plant bulbs in the tank about 2 days before the pH drop so i thik that might have something to do with it...i took the out this morning after i tested (my test scale doesnt go low enough) so i have to do a water change...and my tap is 6.8....i am scared im going to lose alot of tank mates....i had 2 guppies die and lost 2 rasboras also .....any more advice?

 

[bigfish]

could be due to the rotting of material, excess food, plant debris etc also can make the Ph drop slowly. How are your ammonnia and nitrite readings?

If you have a spike in either ammonnia or nitrite or both then this could signal waste accumulating on or within the gravel.

HTH

Bigfish xx

 

[Braddah]

thats the thing...i havent had a spike in any of my water parameters...I had my h2o tested today and everything was good...hardness, alkilinity, nitritr/ate, ammo, all but my pH....I dunno, ive been doing h2o changes so well see how it goes...thanx for everyones help

 

[jerenycool]

i think it is cause of the water changes

 

[Braddah]

Jereny-i was keeping it at 6.6 or so and it droped to 6.2- my h2o outta the tap is 6.8 so it would be closer to neutral instead of acid b/c of the h2o changes....tanx though

 

[reg2k2]

You say the hardness is 'good'...did they give you a reading (esp. KH)?

 

[Braddah]

they did but i dont remember it was "moderate"??? does that sound right?

 

[reg2k2]

An old test of mine lists moderately hard at 80-150dg....the lower end of this could be marginal.
If the other suggestions here don't work, you might take another look (buy ur own test), just to be sure.