jami3847

So my tank 1 seems to have low pH. Since I set it up the ph has almost always read at 6 or lower even when using the test strips and a API master test kit.

Why does my ph go down so much? How do I get it to raise naturally. I added a two inch piece of cuttle bone and it doesnt seem to help. At first I was adding water that had been through the drinking water filter but I thought that could be my ph problem so I stopped that was on 4/5/09 when I tested the tap. Since then I have only used tap water. Some days I prep with having up to four gallons set aside some days I go strait from the tap. I do use stress coat in each gallon we add.

Thanks for any and all idea's.

Tank 1
Date/time Amonia nitrite nitrate PH
Should be 0 PPM 0 ppm >20 ppm 7
4/5/09 Tap 0 0 0 7.2 - 7.6
4/5/2009 .25 -.50 0-.25 0-5 <6
4/10/2009 .25 - .50 .25 - .50 0 - 5 <6
4/10/2009 .25 - .50 0 - .25 0 - 5 6.4 - 6.6
4/17/2009 0.25 0 0 <6
4/19/2009 .25 - .50 0 0 <6
4/22/2009 .25 - .50 0-.25 5 <6
4/26/2009 .25 -.50 0 5 -10 <6
5/2/2009 .25 -.50 0 10 <6

Tank 2
5/1/2009 0 0 0 6.8-7
5/2/2009 0 0 0-5 6.8 - 7

Shawnie

Hi jami...if you can find some stress coat+, you can use tap water immediately and add it with the stress coat right to your tank..no need to let it sit...to raise your ph naturally, add some crushed coral ...you can get some at your LFS or even at a beach in some sea shells that you might find..just boil them well first...

jami3847

I do add stress coat before I put the water in the tank. And I don't always prepare for a water change ahead of time so sometimes I do use water straight out of the tap and treat it before I add it. I have many sea shells around as I am a collector when I go to the beach. Some are up to 10+ years old. I would just need to boil them first, but for how long?

Shawnie

im not sure, but I think you need to crush them up a bit...or have some break in them so the coral leaks out...but not positive...and boil them for 10-15 min will be good....

jami3847

Thanks so much!!!

Nate McFin

I would not raise the Ph personally. Looking at your dates and test there I see that your second tank doesn't seem to change much.
Your first tank goes is at 6 and your second is at 6.8-7. Alot of people would love to have 6.8-7 (myself incuded)
Your first tank seems to have something causing the Ph to fluctuate. So I would ask a few questions before I change it. 1. What is in the tank that might cause the Ph to change? driftwood? Ceramics? Type of substrate? What type of fish and how may? How often do you do water changes?
Both tanks should be close to the same unless it is being changed by something in there. Having said that there can be some natural cause-
both tanks look uncycled or in a mini cycle at least. The cycle can cause Nitric acid or Nitrous acid from nitrates and nitrites causing the ph to drop.
I would stabilize the tanks and then look at Ph. Most likely you wont have to mess with it. It looks like tank 1 is overstocked as well which could well be the problem.

cerianthus

It seems that your tank has not fully established yet. If pH is too low, will have difficult time establishing benficial bacteria as they would not fare well at low low pH.

Since your striaght tap w/o filtering is at higher pH, How about simple daily but small (10-20% Max) water change using higher pH water until pH is somewhere around 6.5(slightly above 6.0). then let the tank finish cycling.

Once tank is well cycled , would/should address pH problem at such time if there are any issues.

As NM stated, many reasones for pH crash. It could be combination of many such as high concentration of CO2 (Carbonic Acid in water), All protein matters produces Amino Acids as protein catablizes, Taniic/Humic Acids from Driftwoods/Peat Moss/decaying plant matterswoukld also chip in on pH drop and more .

Usually Tap Water Filter would remove minerals (dissoved solids) thereby soften the water, low buffering ability (cant not fight/resist the drop of pH). So would not use filtered tap when having pH drop issues.

Once tank is cycled, post again and will assit according to readings at such time.
If you can mix filtered water w/ unfiltered water to make pH of 7, would be great. Ratio can/should be determined by you thru experiments.

Hope all goes well!

navyscuba

I would say crushed coral, limestone or Shells.

cerianthus

Why go thru all that trouble if one has resources on their lap , filtered (probably soft and low in pH watere, like RO unit and Unfiltered water @ 7.6 which would be somewhat hard. Eventually one should be able to find the balance w/o such cc/shells media more naturally.

jami3847

Thank you all. I think I'll wait it out a little longer and step up water changes. This way I can monitor the inheritated tank whose ph seems to be ok after two days of having it.

The tank that has low PH has always read on the low side but I think thats because for the first month I used filtered tap water. When I thought this could be the problem I stopped filtering the water but I don't think scott did. For the last month I have only used tap water that has been treated with stress coat. This tank has regular aquariam gravel for a substrait. Three plastic plants two air bubblers. One two inch piece of Cuttle Bone. Two small ceramic hideouts.

I think for now we'll keep the inherted tank fairly empty except for the two fake plants it has so I can compare the two after a month or two.

jami3847

So after todays check the new tank's ph is 6.4 so it too is decreasing. Does water naturally decrease its PH? What causes a decrease in PH? Or better yet what effects a waters PH level?

Thanks - Jamie

Nate McFin

You got into a tough question there. Water contains minerals. The amount of minerals in the water determine the General Hardness or GH of the water. The less minerals the softer the water the more minerals the harder the water.
KH is the carbonate hardness of the water. KH affects how well the water will hold a stable PH. It is referred to as buffering capablity KH is very much like a sponge for acid in the water. The minerals in the water can absorb a certain amount of acid (caused by nitrates and nitrites) The higher the KH the more stable the Ph. So your water has a very low KH and GH (soft water)
The you have Ph- you know what this is. The problem here is that when you change one it affect the others. Raise KH and you raise Ph. Lower PH ,you lower KH.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/start_up/start_up7.html

AlyeskaGirl

Here's a link of helpful info about pH

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/107