Tap PH is high, tank is not

[dthoffsett]

I'm on the 2nd day of fishless cycling and when I tested the water last night I noticed the PH has dropped. My tap water is PH 8.4 KH 5 GH 9, and as of last night my tank is PH 7.8 KH 5 GH 9. If I've research correctly I need to add epsom salt to rasie the hardness, but how to I get my tank PH to match my tap, I have plenty of time to experiment before my cycling is done, but I'd like to get this corrected before I add fish. I was also wondering if the epsom salt would affect catfish as I was planning on getting a bristlenose pleco. My current set up has play sand for substrate, river rock, and a small piece of driftwood.

 

[Mickslack]

I'm on the 2nd day of fishless cycling and when I tested the water last night I noticed the PH has dropped. My tap water is PH 8.4 KH 5 GH 9, and as of last night my tank is PH 7.8 KH 5 GH 9. If I've research correctly I need to add epsom salt to rasie the hardness, but how to I get my tank PH to match my tap, I have plenty of time to experiment before my cycling is done, but I'd like to get this corrected before I add fish. I was also wondering if the epsom salt would affect catfish as I was planning on getting a bristlenose pleco. My current set up has play sand for substrate, river rock, and a small piece of driftwood.

[snapback]920806[/snapback]​

you can buy ph adjusters from your lfs

 

[rdd1952]

Don't worry about the pH during your fishless cycle. It will jump all over the place as it is affected by ammonia concentrations. If you want to get an idea of what your pH will do after the tank is cycled and running, you can run a bucket of water, let it sit for a few days and then test it. What type fish do you plan to keep? Most fish can adapt to a wide range of pHs as long as it's stable. The driftwood can push the pH down. Peat in the filter also will lower it. By all means, don't use any of the pH adjusters. They will have your pH in constant swings and the fish will suffer.

 

[SkiFletch]

I agree, try and stay away from adjusters unless your pH gets wildly out of control. In a fishless cycle its even less important. Also, if your hardness goes down thats often times a good thing. Not many fish like hard water. Some/many can tolerate it, bu its often not good for most tropicals to be living in hard water. I wish I had lower hardness, but we've got it pretty difficult here in Buffalo as far as really hard water is concerned.

FYI its probably your piece of driftwood thats softening the water and lowering your pH, both of which are pretty good things.

 

[dthoffsett]

Thanks for your replies. This is my first try at fishless cycling (I've used fish in the past), and there wasn't any mention of PH fluctuations in any of the articles I read. So I panicked. As for the hardness, I need that to be a litter higher as I'm going to be putting Mbuna cichlids in. Also since the driftwood has only been in for two days I wouldn't think it would affect the water chemistry that fast. But I could be wrong. Anyways, thanks for the help everyone, it's nice to know you can go somewhere and get help when you think you've screwed something up.

 

[rdd1952]

Once the tank finishes cycling and you do the big water change to remove nitrates, just take another 3 or 4 days (before you add fish) of just adding enough ammonia to keep the bacteria fed and test the pH daily to see if it shows signs of dropping. With KH at 5, you could see it drift downward. One option would be to add some crushed coral the the filter or simply add it to the substrate. It will definitely raise the KH. That is what is in most of the substrates that are made specifically for cichlid tanks. Just be careful in what you add as it doesn't take much to raise it a good bit.