Chozon1

Seems like I'm asking a lot of questions at the moment.

My pH has been dropping pretty rapidly for the past couple of days. I changed all the water completely and my Ph read 6.8. I was fine with that. For the past month it had been readin up in the sevens. But over the course of a week it reads down at 6.2. I read over in the Ph forum that plants leach minerals from the water, causing the PH to lower. My water is really soft anyway, and the drop started after I started put in the Anacharis. Is that what it is? And how low until the Ph starts being dangerous to fish?

aquarist48

Good morning Chozon1. It's been my experience that the lower the pH the harder it is to maintain. I haven't heard that plants can cause a pH drop. (that doesn't mean it isn't so). Here is a link concerning pH that you may find helpful. Too, there really isn't a stable pH period. The best we can do is try to maintain a certain level of pH via water changes, driftwood, crushed coral.
What is the pH from your tap?
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/107
Ken

Chozon1

Uh...seems I've been making a mistake.

I tested my tap, and it's about as low as it can get. In fact, the test readings won't go lower. It's at a six.

But I may have been letting old PH testing chemicals get into the tube I was using. I switched tubes and got almost a 7.0

...Sorry.

aquarist48

No need to apologize. 7.0 is good.

Nate McFin

Plants drop Ph if you have water that has a very low KH (soft water). The plants use up the buffers (KH) in the water and when the KH drops the Ph must drop with it.
It is very common to have Ph drops when you have soft water w(with plants). My water has 1 KH and to keep my plants happy and my PH stable I do 2 water changes per week. I also add calcium carbonate to the filter to help maintain it as well. Without lots of water changes my PH would drop from 7.6 to 6.2 in under a week.
Many planted tank owners who have soft water will use reverse osmosis water and add the buffers themselves to raise the KH to the desired level.
I hope this makes sense. LOL

Chozon1

It does, in a way. I'll have to look up some of the stuff, but I get what you're saying for the basics. My water is ludicrously soft. I only have the test strips to measure hardness, but they don't even register.