Ph Problem During Cycling

[mancton]

My cycles goin well, got a good build up of nitrates now but ive hit a brick wall the ph has dropped from 7.2 to 6.0 it has happened before so I did a water change that worked but ive heard u can use bicarbonate of soda. Any tips on dosage levels and how frequently?

 

[snazy]

Are there fish in the tank? You don't want to play with the Ph and soda if you do have fish. One of the reasons for Ph drop during cycling is the high ammounts of ammonia that need to be processed which naturally acidifies the water. Out of curiosity but how much ammonia are you dosing, how often,what are the exact readings and when did you start the cycle?
I'd do a large water change again and if it's a fishless cycle, you can add soda bicarbonate to keep the Ph high for the cycle to finish. There is almost no cycle going at Ph of 6, the bacteria gets inhibited at this value and the cycle may stall.

 

[mancton]

Hi snazy im doing a fishless cycle using mature filter media from my sisters tank. Started it 2 weeks ago using jayes ammonia (5ppm) and was dropping to 0.25ppm in roughly 24 hrs so dosed up to 3-4ppm. Todays readings are ph6.0 ammonia 4ppm nitrite 0ppm nitrate 40ppm using API liquid test. Dosing 2ml of ammonia when it drops to 0.25ppm no more than once in 24hrs

 

[snazy]

It's more than likely the high ammounts of ammonia causing a ph crash. It is so common I am sick reading about it. You need to raise the Ph though if you don't want the cycle to stall so I'd go for the soda during the cycle. If the ammonia is processed within 24 hours, normally it's better if you half the dose to 2ppm until you pass the nitrite stage, otherwise you'll end up with sky high readings of nitrite and again stalled cycled. Strange that you have nitrates and not nitrites? What are the nitrates in your tap water? If that ammonia is getting processed straight into nitrates without nitrite reading then you are done with the cycle, you are just multiplying bacteria to handle 4ppm fish ammonia With the mature media you are using you should be very close to the end of it.

Monitor your Ph in the future in case your water is not hard enough to keep it stable but I wouldn't jump to conclusions before you observe in normal fish-in conditions.

 

[mancton]

I had sky high nitrite readings last week then as the forums say the dissappered overnite. I'll sort the ph out today and keep an eye on it for another week before putting my first fish in. Thanks for the help

 

[Essjay]

I'd completely forgotten about this until the link was posted in another thread http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/312063-my-ph-keeps-dropping/

 

[Gvilleguy]

I don't see Robby on here very much, but that was a very helpful thread to me! (the pH dropping one)