Very Acidic Aquarium...

[RHiSC]

ive got a 4ft tank which has been set up for about 18 months... there are a dozen south american cichlids, 6 silver sharks, 1 red tailed shark, and 1 suckermouth catfish. this communal tank has been running with no problems at all for all this time, although slowly the water has become very acidic - off the chart i have, but prob around 5.0... very yellow with the PH indicator.

nomatter what i do i cant seem to raise the PH... ive tried adding bicarb soda and seachem PH neutraliser and lots of water changes, but still nothing!

apart from the low PH the fish seem to be thriving... the cichlids bred a few times and ive got about fifty 6 month old fry in another tank, but the PH in there is stable at 7.

 

[rdd1952]

Are you sure your test kit (strips or liquid) is accurate The fish you mentioned, generally prefer slightly acidic water but 5 is low. If you haven't been able to raise it with bicarb, then it would lead me to believe the test is bad. Have you tested your tap pH just to test the kit? What is the tap pH and how often/how much do you do water changes?

 

[Davo86]

Hi
Do you have a lot of bogwood or peat in the tank?
What are the other parameters? i.e. ammonia, nitrate and nitrite and hardness ??
Also what are the other dimensions of the tank? it sounds like it is heavily stocked, 6 silver sharks alone is more than enough fish for a 4 foot tank
How often and do you do water changes and what % is changed? bad water quality will cause ph to drop

 

[RHiSC]

its 1200x460x460... around 55gal... i wouldn't think it is overstocked at all.

ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate is around 15ppm... not sure about hardness.

weekly water change, around 10%.

 

[RHiSC]

just checked the tap PH and it is 7.0

ill make a quick video to see whether you think the tank is overstocked or not.

 

[maximinimus]

Silver Sharks can grow over 12" in length, 6x12 = 72" of silver sharks
Common Plec(suckermouth catfish) - 12" in length
RTBS - 5" in length
12 new world cichlids (can be up to 12" depending on species) or 3" if talking about dwarf species

Total of 115-230" of fish in a 67 Gallon tank

I'm sorry to tell you, but you are severely overstocked.

 

[RHiSC]

ok heres a quick vid... 12mb file, right click and save as.

http/www.chasers.com.au/images/fish.mpg

please let me know what you think... i know these fish grow large, but currently they aren't

 

[Davo86]

I can't open the file at present, could you list the fish you have?
along with the filtration,

actually now i've downloaded the file i can't open it as it says its not a movie file???

 

[rocknurworld2006]

were do u stay?

and do u ahve bogwood or peat in tank?

 

[vinylman]

As Maximinimus says, very badly overstocked. You really need to have a rethink about the fish you want to keep.

 

[rdd1952]

Being overstocked wouldn't have that effect on pH. High nitrates can drive pH down but that isn't a problem. If you are really concerned about it, I would suggest stepping up the amount of the water chagnes gradually. That will raise the pH back up slowly over several weeks. Maybe do 15% this week, 20% next week and increase 5% or so per week until you are up to 50%. That should get your pH back up nearer to tap. But in the long run, if your fish are doing fine, there really isn't a problem although, I would hate no knowing just how low it was.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

You may have really really low kh if your ph is that low. If the waterchanges that rdd doesnt help, try adding some crushed coral to your filter media and see how it goes.

 

[RHiSC]

ok ill try more frequent water changes... and like i said, the fish seem to be doing very well

was anybody able to watch the file?

 

[maximinimus]

ok ill try more frequent water changes... and like i said, the fish seem to be doing very well

was anybody able to watch the file?

I had a quick look at that video yesterday, as stated you are severely overstocked

 

[rocknurworld2006]

ok ill try more frequent water changes... and like i said, the fish seem to be doing very well

was anybody able to watch the file?

water are your full water stats ie ammonia etc

do u have bogwood or peat in the tank

and were are you from?