PH problems are not over

[freshy]

I guess my ph problems are not over. Todasy's readings say that my tanks ph is 5!!! That's pretty low, isn't it? And my KH is practically non-existant (less than 1). I have tested my tap water after letting it sit overnight and its ph is between 7.5 and 8. There's something inthe tank lowering it but I have absolutely no idea what it coul be. I haven't got any plants yet, just te gravel the filter, the heater and the powerhead. I did a water change to see if that levels things up, but I'm afraid it won't (just a pessimistic hunch that I have). Maybe I shouldn't have done a water change at all, I don't know.

One more thing that worries me is that, although I've been fishless cycling for over a month now, my tank seems to be going under a mini-cycle because my ammonia readings are up again after coming down to 0ppm for a week or so! Could this be due to the low PH?

I have continued to adding the daily half dose of ammonia. Should I keep doing this and see what happens? Should I do something different? Should I forget about the whole thing? (geez I hope not!)

I wish someone could help me about the ph and kh thing. Thanks in advance

 

[jrd77]

What are the gH and kH of your tap water?

I THINK low gH and kH have something to do with the water's ability to maintain it's pH. If those values are low/soft then that might explain why your pH keeps dropping. I am however not sure what you can do to make your water harder and better able to maintain pH except that using an additive such as Kent buffer... I use this product due to my extremely soft water here where I live and it works great.

As far as your fishless cycling questions, that's gotta be someone else...not my strong suit.

Best of luck!

 

[CathyG]

Freshy, there must be something in your system that is lowering the PH?...A PH of 5 is not good, especially when compared to your tap water. Try taking out some of your gravel, place it in a bucket of your matured tap water (that you left to stand overnight) and see if the gravel is lowering your PH...

Do you have peat in your filter at all? Bogwood in your tank?

You could also try raising the PH slowly by adding something like a conch shell (or any shell formation) which slowly leeches calcium into your water. (Though I think finding the cause is better than trying to fix it)

However you may decide to chemically alter your water (with PH Up products, and KH buffering agents) each water change will nullify your efforts, and potentially sress your fish (when you get them) with PH swings (which are worse than a PH reading outside of each fish's recommended range) and you will be potentially fighting a losing battle until you identify the cause IMO.

Re the cycling, do you have a Nitrite reading yet? (or a Nitrate?) If so, reduce the amount of Ammonia you are adding

 

[freshy]

Hi guys! Thanks for your replies!

My tank GH is not so low my last GH reading was 8.
My tapwater: GH=5 KH=7

I don't have either a peat (sorry, but I don't even know what that is) or bogwood. I'm honestly trying to figure out what could be causing my ph to drop like that but I'm at my wit's end. I'll try adding gravel from the tank to my tapwater and see what happens.

And, Yes I have nitrites showing. Actually it was when nitrites spiked that my ammo came down the first time, so I though the first part of the cycle was done and cut down the daily dose in half (I'm still adding that hal a dose). I also have very high nitrates.

Oh man! I really wouldn't want to mess with chemicals and manipulating the ph

 

[CathyG]

Freshy, reduce your Ammonia dose again, see what happens If you read up on the nitrogen cycle, you will realise that your tank is maturing as it should be, just cut down the Ammonia a little and let the nitrifying bacteria do their job...

Let us know how the substrate test goes!

You are right to not want to chemically alter your PH, it is worth finding out the cause...chemical alteration is only a short term solution, and can lead to fish stress

 

[BlueIce]

to raise ph safely and maintain it...

get a pair of panty hose...cut off the foot section...fill with crushed coral and tie off...either put behind rocks'/plants or put into your filter....
works wonders

 

[freshy]

OK I tested my tapwater (after letting it sit for a day) with gravel from the tank in it and I got PH=8.5 and after the water change the tank's at 7.5. I'll keep an eye on that hoping it wont get much lower (finger crossed!)

I put a few live plants in the tank today. I hope they can help with the cycling. And I started adding hal-a-half a dose of ammonia. I've been doing my homework as you can see. Let's see what happens.

My readings today went back to "normal". What I mean by that is ammo, NO2 and NO3 have dropped significantly but I assume that's because of the water change I did a few days ago. I hope this levels would keep steady. However, my KH is still very low (KH=3). I've read that low KH can cause sudden ph swings, and that can't be good.

Man, I hope this tank finishes its cycle soon as I'm running out of chemicals from my test kit!

 

[reg2k2]

Stable pH usu. requires minimum 4-5dKH. My tank reads 3degrees and is stable.

If the low KH reading were from the tap, I'd go w/ Blue Ice's suggestion...I use coral in the filter myself (tap's KH=0).
Not sure why the difference betw. your tap and tank(KH), but as it seems to be coming up, I'd wait a bit and see.

btw, gravel would not lower pH...tho some forms of rock might raise it.